Two arborists working from a boom lift, were electrocuted on Friday in West Jordon, Utah - south of Salt Lake City - after they came into contact with an overhead power line.
Information is limited at the moment, but according to the local police the boom lift, a JLG telescopic from the Sunbelt fleet, came into contact with the power lines while they were removing limbs from a tree, and then caught fire. The two apparently died before they could be reached.
The homeowner stated that before they started the job on Tuesday, they had called the power company - Rocky Mountain Power - to have the power turned off, but were told that unless it was an emergency, they would take two or three weeks to process the request.
The home owner said let's wait for the power to be cut off, but the tree workers - a father and son team, assisted by the son’s best friend - said they would be extra careful and that it would be OK, and so pressed ahead with the work. The father was not hurt in the incident.
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