Power Lost, Too : Electrical Jolt Severely Burns Crane Worker

A service worker was critically burned by a high-voltage jolt of electricity Tuesday morning when he attempted to enter the cab of a crane to move its extended boom, which was touching overhead power lines, Cypress police said.

The accident knocked out power to 2,300 customers in the north part of the city for at least 17 minutes, Southern California Edison Co. officials said.

William Keith Churchill, 31, of Huntington Beach, an employee of Clarke Crane Service, had been moving a crane and, apparently without knowing it, brought the extended boom in contact with power lines, said Cypress Police Lt. Bob Bandurraga.

Saw Smoke

The vehicle became charged with electricity, but Churchill was not affected while sitting in the cab, Bandurraga said. “If he had stayed in, he would have been all right” because he was safe while inside the “energized” vehicle, Bandurraga said.

Churchill did not know anything was wrong until he got out and saw smoke coming from under the machinery, police said. He tried to get back in to move the vehicle, but as soon as Churchill touched the door he was jolted, police said.

Caused 3rd-Degree Burns

The charge--which an Edison spokesman said came from a 12,000-volt line--”blew out the right side of his hip” and caused third-degree burns, Bandurraga said.

A co-worker said Churchill was knocked unconscious but police said he was conscious and in a great deal of pain by the time he was airlifted by helicopter to UCI Medical Center’s burn ward. He was listed in critical condition Tuesday afternoon.

Crane Assistant

Clarke Crane Service secretary Carol Foster said Churchill is an “oiler,” an assistant to a crane operator. The five-ton truck crane with boom and jib had been in a driveway when it came in contact with the power lines, she said.

Edison spokesman Gene Carter said power was knocked out at 9:57 a.m. and all but 10 customers in the affected area had electricity restored by 10:14 a.m. The rest had power by 11:39 a.m., he said.

Bandurraga said the outage knocked out traffic signals and created traffic control problems throughout the city, although no accidents were reported. Lincoln Avenue at Watson Street was briefly closed to allow the medical helicopter to land, he said.