2 Men Electrocuted by Power Line

Two men were electrocuted Monday morning when the equipment they were using to repair a faulty water well pump touched a 12,000-volt power line overhead, authorities said.

The workers, both employees of American Water Well Service of Agua Dulce, apparently raised a 35-foot derrick into the electrical wires as they prepared to pull the pump from the ground, Los Angeles County Fire Department and coroner’s officials said.

The force of the electrical current knocked the man controlling the machinery from the rig and threw the other, who had been leaning against it, several feet away, said Daniel Aikin, a coroner’s investigator.

Both men were pronounced dead at the scene, an unoccupied five-acre ranch in the 33000 block of North Hubbard Road.

“I can definitely say it was an accident,” Aikin said.

Officials said one of the dead men was in his mid to late 20s and the other was in his early to mid 40s. Their identities were withheld pending notification of their families, said coroner’s spokesman Scott Carrier.

Because the ranch is located in a sparsely populated area where the homes are about a mile apart, the first firefighters summoned to the scene about 10 a.m. did not know about the electrocutions. They were called by a neighbor who reported seeing smoke from a small grass fire that started when the derrick touched the wire, officials said.

When they arrived, firefighters discovered the men on the ground and the equipment, its engine running, still touching the power wires. Southern California Edison was called to shut off power to the lines, but about 30 minutes passed between the time of the accident and when rescuers were safely able to tend to the victims.

The ground next to the well was seared where the burned men landed after receiving the blasts of high voltage. Neighbors said they had barely started their work, having not even enough time to completely dismantle a shack that housed the well, when the accident occurred.

Eddie Palmer, who owns another water well company named Aqua Drill, said the ranch was in foreclosure proceedings and that the well needed to be fixed to facilitate a sale. Most of the homes in Acton get their water from wells.

Palmer said the existing well, which had long been plagued by problems, was at least 20 years old and was probably put in before the power lines. Several years ago, the wires were strung almost directly above the well, 25 feet overhead, and that made repairs much more hazardous, he said.

“At one time it wasn’t dangerous at all, but when the power line was relocated, it became dangerous,” he said. “It’s something we preach to our men all the time: ‘Always look up.’ ”

Another neighbor, Bill Cartwright, said American Water Wells has a good reputation in the Antelope Valley and that both the workers who died were experienced. At that hour of the morning, they might not have seen the lines at all because of the bright sunlight, Cartwright speculated.

“They were probably just blinded,” said Cartwright’s wife, Kathy.

Investigators from the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health were at the accident scene Monday to determine if any regulations may have been violated that could have contributed to the accident, said Rick Rice, a department spokesman.

Employers are required to train workers how to avoid common hazards and the investigators want to know if the men received such training, Rice said. In 1993, the last year for which statistics are available, 19 of the 657 workers who were killed in industrial accidents in California were electrocuted, he said.

The offices of American Water Wells were closed Monday afternoon and the firm’s owner did not return a phone call.