31 Year-Old Fire Chief Electrocuted in North Carolina, November 15, 1986

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Description:
  Death in the Line of Duty…a Summary of a NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation
  
  The chief of a volunteer fire department was electrocuted while attempting to free an injured person from a vehicle involved in an accident. At the time of his death he was holding a winch cable which came in contact with downed, energized power lines. The fire chief was also a full time paid fire fighter at a nearby city fire department. A car had gone off the road, striking a utility pole carrying a 7200 volt three phase power line. One conductor was on the ground and two were suspended approximately 3 to 5 feet above the ground. A steel cable was passed between a conductor on the ground and two sagging conductors, and attached to the luggage rack of the accident vehicle. The ground was wet from a prior rain. Six firemen, the chief, an emergency medical technician (EMT) and a bystander were holding on to the steel cable, when they were told to stand back. Five firemen let go, the luggage rack pulled loose from the car and contacted the energized lines, electrocuting the chief and the bystander. One fireman and the EMT received severe electrical burns. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was not successful in reviving the fire chief. Recommendations include deenergizing all power lines in the vicinity of an accident scene before any rescue attempt, use of personal protective equipment by all fire personnel, allowing only authorized rescue personnel to assist in rescue procedures, training firemen in recognition and appreciation of hazards, and assigning responsibility for coordinating activities at an accident site.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Electric Injuries Electricity Emergency Responders Firefighters Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Electric-power-transmission-lines Electrical-hazards FACE-87-16 NIOSH-Author OSHA Region 4 Rescue-measures Rescue-workers Safety-practices
• FACE - Firefighter:
  Cause of Death: Trauma ; Traumatic Cause: Miscellaneous
• Series:
  Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP)
• Subseries:
  Death in the Line of Duty Report
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFFFACE8716
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00174325
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB88-154505
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 87-16, 1986 Nov ; :1-5
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  92 - Public Administration - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1986/11/15
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:403c9591a7260a57291e13c0e3bad915f9963daa35ecf3721dcf9e2983012a086062f8db2bf803148684d8a33f06515e634f77e00a4c9938826ad8a08a00afa5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/164004/cdc_164004_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 280.85 KB ]