By Edd Davis
An out-of-state worker is at Huntsville Hospital this morning after suffering a high voltage electrical shock around 6:30 last night while working in the Athens High School gymnasium.
The unidentified man, said to be 27 years old in scanner reports, was part of a team of workers with a North Carolina contractor installing energy efficiency packages in city schools, said Athens Fire Chief Danny Southard whose department responded to the scene of the accident.
Southard said he was told the man was on the second level of the gym where the bleachers were rolled back in near the wall. The man received an electrical shock of about 270 volts, according to scanner reports. He reportedly then sat down on the top of the bleachers and collapsed shortly after. A coworker called 911 and CPR was initiated on top of the bleachers.
Engine No. 1 at city hall was first on the scene.
“The man was in full arrest when they arrived,” said Southard. “They started working on him and administered two shocks with our AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) and his respiration came back. CPR was also going on during this whole time.”
Athens-Limestone Hospital paramedics arrived and took over resuscitation efforts. Chief Southard said meanwhile Athens Police Department officers helped construct a plan for removing the man from the top of the bleachers. The worker was taken to ALH where he was further stabilized and transported by MedFlight to Huntsville Hospital. Information on his condition was not available at press time.
The four who responded from the fire department are Mike Clem, battalion chief; David Ledford, captain; Neil Gooch, driver; and Aaron Harper, firefighter. Southard credited them and the AED equipment with playing a key role in also saving the life of a woman during a rescue Saturday at an Athens Piggly Wiggly.
“I should publicly thank Sen. Tom Butler for helping us secure the grant to acquire the AED equipment, which played such a vital role in both of these incidents,” said Southard
