AUGUST 22, 2015
SHARONVILLE, OHIO
Two workers were hospitalized after a construction accident in Sharonville on Friday afternoon.
The incident happened in a cherry picker (an articulating manlift) just off Main Street near Reading Road shortly before 2 p.m.
Witnesses described the incident as a loud noise, then a ball of fire.
"I was sitting at the front desk in our reception area and there was a big ball of fire. The fire went through down the pole. I don't know if it was a wire or what, but it was a pretty big ball of fire," witness Richard Villers said.
Sharonville police said both men were contract workers for the city and were stripping paint and power-washing a pole when something happened.
Police said that the men made contact with electricity from overhead power lines.
Villers said he ran out of his office after what he saw and the two workers were still in the bucket.
Villers called 911 and raced down to the fire department.
"One guy was able to still manage the bucket but the other guy was on the floor of the bucket," Villers said. "It didn't look like he was in very good shape."
Other 911 callers reported seeing one of the men in the cherry picker on fire.
911: "And what is on fire?
Caller 1: "A man."
911: "An actual person?"
Caller 1: "Yes."
911: "Is he injured at all?"
Caller 2: "It looks someone is not moving in the cherry picker, now he's moving a little bit, but he's burnt up really good."
Both men were taken to UC Medical Center for treatment. Police said they were both seriously hurt.
They have not released the men's names or the name of the company they work for.
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August 24, 2015
Sharonville, Ohio
A man using a boom lift caught fire on Friday after getting too close to overhead power lines in Sharonville, Ohio.
Two men were using an articulated boom lift – a JLG rented from Sunbelt Rentals – to strip and then power wash street lighting poles, prior to painting them, when a fireball erupted from overhead power lines, hitting one of the men in the platform before racing down the pole to earth.
The other man managed to lower the platform, while witnesses of the incident called the emergency services and reported that a man had just exploded. Both men were rushed to a hospital in Cincinnati where the one man was reported to be in critical condition.
