Massachusetts Man Dies Trying To Restore Power In Vermont

A terrible tragedy occurred recently that serves as a reminder of the dangers of working with electricity and power lines. According to the Vermont State Police, a lineworker died on the job last Thursday morning, December 1st.

The VSP reported that they've launched an investigation into the death of a Green Mountain Power employee who died after being seriously injured at his work site around 11 a.m. last Thursday morning.

The Green Mountain Power employee, 41-year-old Lucas Donahue of Colrain, Massachusetts, was working on restoring electric service following an outage caused by power lines resting on fallen trees.

This was in the area of Reed Hill Road in Halifax, Vermont. First responders were notified about his injury at around 11 a.m. but by the time they arrived at the scene, Donahue had died.

According to the Vermont State Police, it was not immediately clear how Donahue was injured in the first place. However, the investigation indicated that his death was accidental and non-suspicious.

This incident again re-emphasizes the fact that downed power lines, even if they look relatively harmless, might be carrying a strong current of electricity. Strong enough to cause serious injury or possibly death.

If you happen to be in an area where you notice downed power lines, move away from them and anything they happen to be touching as quickly as possible. NEVER attempt to move a downed power line even with another object such as a stick. The reason is even normally non-conductive materials have the potential to conduct electricity and electrocute you.

For more on the story, check out Vermont State Police's website here.