Feb. 09--A man in his 30s was hospitalized Wednesday morning after being electrocuted as he worked on a wind turbine in eastern Solano County, officials reported.
The unidentified victim was cleaning inside the turbine's tower out at the end of Stewart Lane in Rio Vista shortly before 11 a.m. when the accident took place, said Montezuma Fire Protection District Asst. Chief Dan Schindler. Part of an ongoing project, the turbine supposedly did not have power running to it but had been running off a generator, Schindler said.
Working with a cleaning solution, the victim unintentionally touched several electrical wires inside the turbine, resulting in a jolt of approximately 110 volts of electricity traveling through his body, knocking him from the straight ladder he was standing on, Schindler said.
However, because of his safety equipment, the victim's fall was only about 6 feet.
"He was tied in with a harness and everything and so the safety equipment saved him from falling all the way down," Schindler said.
Members of the Montezuma Fire Protection District responded to provide medical attention before a CALSTAR air ambulance was called and transported the victim to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, Schindler said.
In addition to the injuries sustained by the shock, which Schindler said he did not know the full extent of, the victim also suffered minor injuries as a result of his fall, including a possible broken collar bone. Schindler added that the
victim did not remember falling and "he may have blacked out."
The incident and why there was power going to the turbine at the time of the accident is still under investigation, Schindler said.
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