Man Killed Working on Billboard

A maintenance worker was crushed to death Wednesday morning as he was replacing lightbulbs on a shopping center billboard.

Terry Lynn Flammang, 32, of Lakewood was maneuvering himself in the basket of a cherry picker to work on the sign shortly after 8:30 a.m., said Capt. Paul Hunter of the Orange County Fire Authority.

“For some reason, his upper body was crushed between [the basket] and the main frame structure of the sign,” Hunter said.

Authorities said Flammang, who was married and had a 3-year-old son, was employed by Day-lite Maintenance, which specializes in lighting fixtures for industrial buildings.

Lt. Douglas Dickerson of the Brea Police Department, which patrols Yorba Linda, said a preliminary investigation revealed that a plastic pipe that secures the billboard while work is being done gave way and pinned the worker between the sturdy plastic sign and the boom.

“We’re speculating that this is what happened,” Dickerson said. “It’s a very unusual incident. You almost have to be one of those people that does this kind of work to understand what happened.”

A co-worker on another boom did not see the accident but heard the victim’s cry for help, officials said.

He called 911, but Flammang died before paramedics arrived.

For a couple of hours, the lifeless man was suspended about 20 feet above the ground, covered with yellow tarp, as fire officials, uncertain what had caused the accident, tried to figure out the best way to get him down.