Man Struck by Lightning in Critical Condition

A man was struck by lightning in an office parking lot during a storm on Thursday, leaving him in critical condition, officials said.

Guy Arnone, 30, of Canyon Country, was walking near the building where he works for Funders Mortgage Corp. when the accident happened at about 4 p.m., according to witnesses.

“I was looking out the window and a lightning bolt just came straight down and hit him,” said Shaun Johnston, who was watching from the building’s second floor, where he works for the Reservation Center travel agency. “The explosion was very loud.”

Added Cary Goldberg, president of the travel agency: “He lit up like a Christmas tree.”

The lightning entered Arnone through the abdomen and exited through the left thigh, said Capt. Richard Leach, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Immediately after the lightning strike, co-workers rushed down to the parking lot to try and help Arnone, who ended up face down.

“He looked like he was dead,” said Johnston. “His chin was cut and there was blood all over him.” Jason Schneider, a former emergency technician now working for Reservation Center, used his training to try and help.

“I checked to see if he was breathing,” Schneider said. “I gave him two breaths. I checked for a pulse. He had a faint pulse.”

Meanwhile, other co-workers, many of them visibly shaken, began to gather, said Goldberg.

“You have to think positive,” he said he told the crowd.

“The whole building was shaken,” Goldberg said.

When emergency crews arrived, they found Arnone without vital signs.

“We had to assist him with ventilation,” Leach said.

Arnone was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center. “We don’t know the full extent of his injuries,” said Anne Lipman, a hospital spokeswoman. “But he is in critical condition.”

One witness said he had burns on his body, and that the cut on his chin appeared likely to have been been caused by his fall after being struck.

Arnone lives in a 3-year-old development of single-family homes in the Canyon Country area. Neighbors, who did not want to be identified, said the community is a close-knit one and that Arnone lived there with a woman and little girl.

“Extremely, wonderfully nice people,” said one neighbor. “Our prayers are with them, that’s for sure.”

After Arnone was taken to the hospital, some co-workers and friends were sobbing, Goldberg said.

“We just wanted to see if anyone knew anything about how he was doing,” said Lisa Munoz, a client of Arnone’s who rushed to the scene after she heard about the accident.

“It really makes you think about your mortality,” said Schneider. “Any of us could have been walking out there. It could have been me.”

An average of 100 people in the United States are killed by lightning every year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That’s more than are killed by hurricanes and tornadoes combined.

But lightning deaths are far rarer in Southern California that in other parts of the country that get more stormy weather.

“I’ve lived 33 years in the Valley,” said Goldberg, “and I’ve never seen anything like this happen before.”

The skies over the San Fernando Valley had been mostly partly cloudy on Thursday before the thunderstorm came on swiftly in the late afternoon.

The storm originated in the Hawaii area, according to Rob Kaczmarek, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides The Times with weather information. It moved in quickly because it was carried by jet-stream movement in the atmosphere that usually stays north of the area.

He said there wasn’t much moisture in the clouds, so the storm produced mainly brief showers.

Times correspondent Danica Kirka contributed to this story.