LANCASTER, Pa. — Two 17-year-old boys were seriously injured Saturday night after being burned with 14,000 volts of electricity while they were on the roof of a railroad car parked on tracks near the 700 block of New Holland Avenue, the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal reports.
Jeff Klein and Brett Birdwell, both of Stroudsburg, Monroe County, suffered severe burns shortly before 10:20 p.m. after contacting an Amtrak rail line cable, said Battalion Chief Scott Bonholtzer of Lancaster city’s fire department.
“Their burns are as bad as it can get before death,” Bonholtzer said. “It was so bad one of the victims’ clothes were nearly burned off and his wallet had melted.”
Klein has second- and third-degree burns on 75 percent of his body. He was listed in critical condition Sunday night at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. Birdwell was burned on 35 percent of his body, with severe injuries to his arms, face and neck. He was listed in guarded condition Sunday night at Crozer-Chester Burn Center in Delaware County.
Firefighters were dispatched at 10:19 p.m. to railroad tracks near Grandview Plaza shopping center at East Ross Street and New Holland Avenue after witnesses reported seeing a bright flash in the sky.
The tracks where the Norfolk Southern Railroad freight car was located are elevated about 50 feet from the street. Firefighters used a 75-foot ladder truck to access the top of the freight car.
The electrified cable is strung about seven feet above the roof of the freight car.
“The cable was electrified when our firefighters reached the victims,” Bonholtzer said. “Everyone had to crawl on their hands and knees to reach the boys.”
Both teens were conscious but disoriented when firefighters reached them.
It took about 30 minutes for paramedics to load the teens into fiberglass baskets and lower them to the ground.
Klein was taken to Lancaster General Hospital and later flown to Temple. A helicopter landed in a parking lot on East Ross Street to take Birdwell to Crozer-Chester.
Cecilia Cummings, an Amtrak spokeswoman, said Klein and Birdwell were trespassing.
“These people were on railroad property illegally,” Cummings said. “Regardless, this is a tragedy that will be investigated and hopefully prevented from happening again.”
Klein and Birdwell were staying in Lancaster for the weekend with one of Klein’s relatives, who lives on Gilbert Avenue.
The teens apparently scaled the freight car. Bonholtzer said a skateboard was found on top of the railroad car. Klein apparently grabbed the electrified cable. Birdwell was shocked while apparently trying to help Klein, Bonholtzer said.
“Very little common sense was used,” Bonholtzer said, “It was not easy for them to climb up there in the first place. Had it not been for people seeing the flash and calling 911, they could have laid up there for a long time before being found.”