FOUR-HOUR SUCCESSFUL RESCUE – A tower technician was rescued Friday afternoon from a Verizon monopole adjacent to a substation in Burleson, Texas. His two co-workers were uninjured and could descend to the bottom of the 200-foot structure. Photo credits: Screenshots from WFAA rescue video below.
UPDATE: February 5, 2025 – According to OSHA, the employer of the tower technician who was rescued was True North Management Services, LLC of Fenton, MO. The agency will not provide any additional information until they complete their investigation.
A tower technician on a cell phone tower in Burleson, Texas, was critically injured on Friday afternoon after coming into contact with a high-voltage power line.
According to Burleson Fire Chief Casey Davis, three workers were on the tower located in the 800 block of North Burleson Boulevard when a call for help was made at 11:50 a.m., reporting that one of the workers had been electrocuted.
When firefighters arrived to begin the emergency rescue operation, according to Davis, two of the workers had just descended the tower, but the third individual remained stranded due to his injuries.
To ensure a safe rescue, Oncor de-energized the adjacent substation at around 1 p.m., temporarily cutting power to approximately 5,000 customers.
By 3:50 p.m., firefighters had secured the injured worker into a harness and safely lowered him to a fire department ladder truck. Due to the severity of his injuries and exposure to wind and cold, the worker was in critical condition but remained conscious and communicative with rescuers. The firefighters were EMTs, enabling them to assess and provide care during the rescue.
Davis noted that the worker’s condition was promising. He was transported by ambulance to a burn facility for further treatment.
The 200-foot monopole cell tower, owned by Verizon, is located within a substation perimeter along northbound Interstate 35W, between Burly Corporation and AutoNation.
Burleson’s firefighters received multial aid from Fort Worth Fire.
At the time of the rescue, authorities had not identified who the tech was nor the company he was employed by working on what appeared to be a Verizon upgrade since they are the only tenant on the structure erected in 1997.
OSHA has been notified of the accident, Davis said.
Ten feet: The minimum working distance from power lines
It is unknown if any line with equipment the crew was using made contact with an energized line or if there was an arc flash.
According to rescue photographs and Google Earth measurements, the monopole appears to be about 12 to 16 feet from the nearest electrical line at the substation.
When a job safety analysis is performed, overhead power lines near the work site must be identified. The electric utility should be contacted to determine the voltage and mandatory minimum approach distance specified by OSHA and the state’s high voltage safety laws.
OSHA’s minimum distance is 10 feet and it increases as the voltage increases. Work inside of the OSHA or state minimum is prohibited.
This is not the first time the Burleson Fire Department has performed a high-angle rescue on a communications tower. In 2011, they rescued a tower technician from the top of a 750-foot guyed tower when he suffered from heat exhaustion and could not descend.
The tech reportedly took his harness off and was lying on an antenna platform. Rescuers were able to talk him back into his harness. It took seven hours to bring him down, sometimes with the temperature soaring to 100 degrees.
