Ice Bucket Challenge Goes Awry, Firefighter Critically Hurt, In Kentucky
“It’s only fun and games until somebody gets hurt!” Mom’s advice is ringing true in Kentucky after several firefighters were injured, one critically, in an “Ice Bucket Challenge” gone horribly awry.
Four Kentucky firefighters were injured – one critically – after helping college students with the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” fad that’s currently going around the internet. Here’s what happened, according to CNN:
Around 11:00 A.M. Thursday, firefighters from the Campbellsville Fire and Rescue Department were helping the Campbellsville University Band do their own Ice Bucket Challenge.
UPDATE: 4 firefighters shocked while helping w/ Campbellsville U’s #ALSicebucketchallenge ID’d http://t.co/dJ3oQWFNuA pic.twitter.com/LRQEpFCkmi
— WBTV News (@WBTV_News) August 21, 2014
The firefighters were using their equipment to spray water on the band from above their heads, from a bucket atop a ladder. As the firefighters were bringing the ladder back down to the ground, it came close enough to the electrical lines that the current jumped. Police Chief Tim Hazlette told CNN:
“From talking with the power company, if you get within a distance of 3 to 4 feet, the energy that surrounds the high-voltage wire will actually arc over another object, in this case being the personnel occupying the bucket.”
Two firefighters in the bucket and two on the ground received burns, at least one of them critically. No students on the ground were injured. The firefighters in the bucket, Capt. Tony Grider, 41, and firefighter Simon Quinn, 22, were eventually taken to the University of Louisville Medical Center Burn Unit. As of this post, it is unclear which of them received the critical burns. The two firefighters on the ground were Capt. Steve Marrs, 37, and Alex Johnson, 28.
Nursing student Julie Smith told MSN:
“It’s tragic, I feel for all the band members who were still there when it happened, that they had to see that.”
Power was knocked out to several thousand customers in Campbellsville, including the University.
The “Ice Bucket Challenge” is an internet fad that’s been going around since early July. Users dump a bucket of ice water on their heads and challenge their friends to do it. They then post the results on YouTube to raise awareness and/or money for the disease ALS (See this Inquisitr article). Whether or not the Ice Bucket Challenge fad does any actual good is a matter of debate, just like whether or not wearing pink “for breast cancer” does any good, according to the Indianapolis Star.
As of this post, there are no known other instances of people getting seriously hurt doing the “Ice Bucket Challenge.”
Image courtesy of: WHAS
