Thursday, August 20, 2015

An American Electric Power employee was electrocuted when he touched a 19,000 volt line, his turck caught fire

By Eric Lyttle 
The Columbus Dispatch

Thursday August 20, 2015


An American Electric Power employee was flown to Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center in cardiac arrest this morning after touching a live power line at a construction site in Licking County.

The jolt, which scanner traffic indicated might have been as much as 19,000 volts, was strong enough to spark a fire to the AEP work truck and a nearby utility pole, and caused a power outage to more than 400 Heath businesses and residences, including the Indian Mound Mall and a number of traffic signals.

The incident occurred at about 11:20 a.m. at a 60,000-square-foot building under construction on the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority campus near the southeast corner of the intersection at James Parkway and Kaiser Drive.

AEP Ohio spokesman Jeff Rennie said that all power to the area was restored shortly before 1 p.m.

No other information on the victim was available.