‘X-Files’ Worker Electrocuted

A member of a preproduction crew working on the season premiere of the hit series “The X-Files” was electrocuted and six others were injured Monday when a power line sent 4,800 volts through a scaffolding.

“It charged the entire scaffolding,” Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells said. Six of the victims were standing 15 feet up and one person was on the ground, he said.

It was not immediately clear how the power line came into contact with the scaffolding, which was set up at the rear of a three-story apartment building in the 2200 block of South Beverly Glen Boulevard in Westwood.

The crew was a rigging team working on the season premiere of “The X-Files,” a series about the paranormal produced by 20th Century Fox.

Studio spokesman Steven Melnick identified the man killed as Jim Engh. He said he did not know Engh’s age or how long he had worked for the show.

Filming at the location was to begin today, Melnick said. He said he was not sure whether the filming would go forward as planned. None of the actors in the series, which stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny, was present when the accident occurred at 12:40 p.m.

Engh, who was on the scaffolding, went into cardiac arrest. He was taken to Century City Hospital where he was pronounced dead, said spokeswoman Ria Brown.

A second person was in critical condition at another hospital, Melnick said.

The other five victims were treated and released, he said.