Landlord Electrocuted 7/7/07

 

Saturday was supposed to be a lucky day 7/7/7. However, not for our neighbor's landlord, he was electrocuted.

 

At the time, I had friends over for a cook out and we saw the rescue squad show up along with others from the volunteer fire department. Shortly after, the sheriff’s department came over and told me what had happened and asked if I would go over to check for any hazardous issues in the crawl space that might cause a fire before letting the people that live there go back inside. I asked one of my friends to go with me just to have another set of eyes and hands if needed.

 

We started with pulling the meter and then checking the main to make sure all electricity was off. We got under the house and what we found was down right disgusting. He was using a faulty extension cord and this cord was a total mess.  It was spliced together in several places with duct tape and electrical tape. The cord was made from at least two if not more cords. There were two three-way splitters used, and a drop light with a metal cage. This cord was plugged into a light outlet that did not have a proper keyless screw base fixture on the box, just two wires attached to the plug/light socket. The grounds were up in the box not used. The plug/light socket was not grounded at all. Where he had been working was next to a metal duct system and a leaking plumbing pipe. This extension cord mess was on the ground under him and from the description from the sheriffs department, was across him as well.

 

The neighbor told me some other details after we checked everything out. Before the rescue squad pulled him out, my neighbor told me that he tried to pull his landlord out by trying to get him on a tarp to drag him out. He could not do this and at that time the rescue squad arrived. They went under the house and checked for a pulse and got hit as well. That's when they shut the power off to the house. From the rescue squad's description he had been under the house for several hours before anyone went to check on him.

 

Just wanted to share this with everyone and to remind all that life is very short. Take every precaution that there is. Use proper cords, GFI and other necessary safety devices.

 

Take care,

 

Rob

Calvary Electrical Services, Inc.