A fire captain was killed and three other firefighters were injured in Pennsylvania when the bucket of an aerial platform came too close to electrical wires.

The incident occurred while personnel were fighting a residential structure fire. During operations, the captain and another firefighter raised the aerial platform bucket to a higher elevation. When the bucket came near power lines, an arc of electricity jumped from the lines to the bucket and ran down the extended aerial to the ground. Both occupants of the platform and two other firefighters standing near the truck received severe electrical shocks. The captain died at the hospital. The other three victims were expected to recover.

For more information about this and other firefighter deaths in 2008, go to www.usfa.fema.gov/fatalities.