5 remain in intensive care after lightning strike

July 21, 2008 12:53 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Christopher Baxter, Globe Correspondent

Five people remain in intensive care today after lightning struck a tree yesterday and injured 10 people at a Dorchester soccer game.

The five men in intensive care range in age from 23 to 39 and include a man who was in cardiac arrest when emergency responders arrived at Franklin Field, said Boston EMS Chief Rich Serino.

At least one of the intensive care victims -- Cruz Garay -- is in critical condition, according to a spokeswoman for Boston Medical Center. A 13-year-old boy is in good condition at Children's Hospital in Boston. The names and conditions of the other victims have not been released.

During a press conference today at Boston EMS headquarters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians described a chaotic scene after the lightning strike. First responders could not see beyond the hood of their ambulances due to heavy rains, and ran through the howling wind to find victims lying on the ground.

"These people responded under very difficult circumstances," Serino said today as he stood with three EMTs and two paramedics who arrived first on the scene.

Bystanders and soccer players helped EMS officials carry victims to ambulances. Some victims were burned and laying unconscious on the ground. Others complained of numb legs, Serino said.

For new EMT Stan Majorowski, it was his first real test after graduating from the academy on July 2. "It's not something that's going to leave my head any time soon," Majorowski said.

Four of the victims were taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital. Doctors have discharged an 18-year-old man, but three others remain hospitalized there, including a 39-year-old man in intensive care, Serino said.

The other three victims in intensive care are at Boston Medical Center. They are men aged 23, 32, and 44, Serino said. Two people were taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. They have both been released.

The 10 spectators had sought refuge under a tree that was then struck by lightning during the thunderstorm that swept across the region.

The victims, all males, had burns consistent with lightning strikes, authorities said. Paramedics monitored victims' hearts - including electrocardiograms on at least three of the injured - while transporting them to various hospitals, officials said. Witnesses said some of the victims were given cardiopulmonary resuscitation as they were taken away.

"They [the victims] sought the quickest shelter, but unfortunately, lightning strikes the tallest object, and that was the tallest tree in the area," Michael Bosse, an EMS deputy supervisor, said at Boston Medical Center last night. Later he added, "I've been on the job 27 years, and I've never had 10 people struck by lightning at once."

The storm tore through the Boston area about 3:30 p.m. and dropped nearly an inch of rain in less than an hour, according to the National Weather Service.

Wind speeds in some parts of Greater Boston hit 45 miles per hour. Across the region, the storm downed trees and power lines, washed out streets, and knocked out traffic lights, weather service and police officials said. Several boats in Boston Harbor sent out distress signals.

One person was injured when lightning struck a restaurant in Hingham. Part of Interstate 93 flooded near Columbia Road, backing up traffic for miles.

A National Grid spokeswoman said fewer than 1,000 customers throughout the state were without power last night. Another 4,000 NStar customers in and around Boston will not have service restored until late this morning, said a spokesman.

Rebecca Gould, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton, said the storm struck quickly.

"It's a lot of rain to fall in less than an hour," she said. "I have not seen that happen very often."

The storm arrived in the midst of a tie game of a local soccer league at Dorchester's Franklin Field. Many spectators fled for shelter just as the wind kicked up and the rain seemingly came down sideways, making it difficult to see, witnesses said.

Some said the lightning sounded like a bomb when it struck the tree. The bolt, they said, almost appeared to be purple.

The tree, the tallest object in the immediate area, stood at the edge of Franklin Field and near a sidewalk on Talbot Avenue.
Jose Herrera, 53, was watching the game from beneath the tree when he heard a thunderous noise about 3:30 p.m. and then saw people falling all around him.

He said he was surprised he was not hit, since he was holding an umbrella at his side.

"A couple of people fell on my feet," Herrera said. "I couldn't believe it. I didn't know what to do."
In the moments after the lightning strike, many people fled from the tree, while others rushed to pull the injured away, even as windswept rain pummeled them and lightning continued to light up the sky.

Nearly all the injured were unconscious, witnesses said.

"Every time we tried picking someone up, we feared another lightning strike was coming," said Hector Rivera, a 21-year-old spectator who helped carry people from the tree.

Added Vincent Tavares, a 19-year-old player from Somerville: "We couldn't leave them like that."

Some people performed CPR while waiting for ambulances to arrive. "It was still raining hard," Rivera said.

The first three paramedic units arrived in less than four minutes while three other units were there in less than eight minutes, officials said. A total of 14 emergency workers responded, not including police and fire personnel.

On average, about 400 people a year are struck by lightning, said Gould of the National Weather Service.
Yesterday's victims, she said, were in a tough situation: While standing under a tree during a lightning storm is not advisable, standing on a soccer field can be equally as dangerous.

"Soccer fields are flat, and generally there are no trees around so people standing on the fields are the tallest thing," Gould said.

The best thing to do, she said, is seek protection inside a building or a car. Otherwise, Gould said, the best thing to do is to crouch to the ground in a ball while only having your feet actually touch the ground.

"You want to have as little contact with the ground as possible," she said, "so there's a smaller chance of lightning traveling to you."

Yesterday's flash storm followed an earlier wave of storms that hit Western Massachusetts on Friday and Saturday, causing two towns to declare a state of emergency and leaving 300 families in Berkshire, Franklin, and Hampshire counties without power yesterday afternoon.

More thunderstorms are expected today.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report. Globe correspondent John Forrester contributed.