Lineman working on power lines downed by Alabama tornadoes dies after fall from utility pole
Published 5:31 am Wednesday, March 31, 2021
A lineman working on power lines in west Alabama after last week’s tornados died after falling from a utility pole.
Daryl Jones, General Manager at Black Warrior EMC, said the lineman was working Monday morning to restore power to areas that had been hit by Thursday’s tornadoes.
Company officials said they are withholding the worker’s name out of respect for the family.
“Black Warrior EMC is mourning the loss of one of its employees who was fatally injured this morning while working on power lines in the cooperative’s territory in Hale County,” a statement from the Alabama Rural Electric Association said.
“We in the Black Warrior EMC family are profoundly saddened by this loss,” Jones said. “Our prayers are with his family and his co-workers as we work to process this tragedy which has devastated our cooperative family.”
Counselors have been called in to help the cooperative’s employees deal with the loss.
Black Warrior EMC serves more than 22,000 members in 12 counties in southwest Alabama. It is one of 22 rural electric distribution cooperatives in Alabama, which together provide electricity to more than one million Alabamians or a quarter of the state’s population, and they maintain more than 71,000 miles of power line.