Utility Worker Cleaning Storm Debris in North Carolina Dies
10/15/2017
TAYLORSVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina sheriff says a utility worker has been killed after cutting a tree which had fallen on a power line following a severe storm.
Alexander County Sheriff Chris Bowman told local media outlets that 31-year-old Brian Keith Wilmoth was cutting the tree Wednesday morning. Bowman said as Wilmoth cut the tree, the power lines sprang up and threw the tree on him.
The accident occurred just before 4:30 a.m. at an intersection west of Taylorsville.
Wilmoth was identified as a worker for Asplundh Tree Expert Co. and Energy United. His is the first confirmed fatality tied to the storms that rolled through the area on Monday.
Related News
From Archive
Sign up to Receive Our Newsletter
- OSHA investigates fatal trench collapse at Conroe construction site
- Final Lake Erie sewer tunnel project set to begin after decades-long $3 billion effort
- Texas811 launches real-time excavation detection to prevent utility strikes
- Oil pipeline struck during fiber optic construction spills into L.A. storm drains
- Fiber drilling strike triggers major sewer failure, lawsuits in Florida
- Fatal trench collapse in Mass. leads to $4.6 million OSHA penalty, dozens of violations
- Texas811 launches real-time excavation detection to prevent utility strikes
- Race Communications breaks ground on Bakersfield fiber network
- Final Lake Erie sewer tunnel project set to begin after decades-long $3 billion effort
- Inside Infrastructure: Utility locators warn of systemic failures in damage prevention process

Comments