By Ani Martinez
The Miami Herald
Copyright 2007 The Miami Herald
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A 38-year-old man was knocked unconscious and seriously injured Wednesday while working on power lines near downtown Fort Lauderdale.
The man, who was contracted by Florida Power & Light, was working in the 900 block of Northwest Sixth Avenue around 4 p.m. when the accident happened.
“A big old line came down. A fire came up and hit him,” said Michael Glynn, who witnessed the incident and called 911. “He collapsed inside one of those buckets that are lifted by trucks.”
Rescue teams administered CPR on scene and took him to Broward General Medical Center on a ventilator.
Glynn, who was across the street at a mechanic shop, ran over to alert the other FPL workers to what happened.
One man was working on other lines from a bucket and another was on the ground.
The men were transferring power lines from wooden poles to concrete poles, according to Detective Kathy Collins, spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.
“The other men had no idea what happened. I ran over to tell them,” Glynn said.
“He didn’t appear to be alive,” he said.
“Rescue hit him with a defibrillator at least five times,” Glynn said.
When Fort Lauderdale rescue teams arrived, he was unconscious in full cardiac arrest, said Fort Lauderdale Battalion Chief John Ramirez.
“They brought him back. He has a pulse,” Ramirez said. “He made it.”
The man has burns on his chest and arms and a bloody nose, Collins said.
The man, a subcontractor for BSJ Power of Port St. Lucie, was not immediately identified.