Ice Bucket Challenge goes wrong
By Dylan Lovan and Matthew Lee, AP
August 23, 2014, 12:01 am TWN
In this photo captured from the Internet on Friday, Aug. 22, four firefighters are injured when a fire truck's ladder gets too close to a power line after they help college students take part in the Ice Bucket Challenge. (Photo Captured from the Internet)
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Kentucky -- A charity stunt that has grown into a social media phenomenon went terribly wrong for four Kentucky firefighters when a fire truck's ladder got too close to a power line after they dumped water on college students who were taking part in an Ice Bucket Challenge. Campbellsville Police Chief Tim Hazlette said the power line was never touched Thursday morning, but it carried such a high voltage that it was able to energize the ladder truck, shocking the firefighters.
The two in the bucket were at a hospital burn unit early Friday. One was in critical condition and the other was in fair condition, the hospital said. The other firefighters were treated and released.
The firefighters had just taken part in the challenge that helps raise money for ALS research. They dumped water on the Campbellsville University's marching band, but most of the students had already left the area and no students were hurt.
University nursing student Julie Smith said she was nearby and spoke to a couple of friends who witnessed the firefighters being shocked and said “they are taking it really hard.”
“It's tragic, I feel for all the band members who were still there when it happened, that they had to see that,” Smith said. Smith later led a prayer vigil with about 100 people on the campus Thursday night.
Power was knocked out for about an hour to 4,500 customers, including the school, said Natasha Collins, a spokeswoman for Kentucky Utilities, which owns the line.
The ice bucket challenge has been sweeping social media websites. The ALS Association said it has raised more than US$41 million.
Police said Capt. Tony Grider, 41, and Simon A. Quinn, 22, were in the fire truck bucket. Grider, a 16-year veteran of the department, was in critical condition at the University of Louisville Medical Center Burn Unit. Quinn, a part-time firefighter, was listed in fair condition there.
Firefighter Keith Bricken, who has worked with Grider for about three years, said he was a tough firefighter who trained colleagues.
“He's real outgoing. He loves to help in any way he can,” Bricken said.
Also injured was Capt. Steve Marrs, 37, who has been with the department for 11 years, and Alex Johnson, 28, who has been there three years.
Campbellsville University, a private college, is a Christian institution that has about 3,600 students, according to its website. It is about 65 miles south of Louisville.
“A number of our students, of course, the entire marching band, witnessed the event and so we're concerned about them and the tragedy of this accident,” university president Michael Carter told WHAS-TV.
US Diplomats Barred from Ice Bucket Challenge
The charity stunt has lured athletes, celebrities, politicians and rock stars and gone viral on the Internet, but don't look for U.S. diplomats to get in on the fun.
Lawyers at the State Department have banned American ambassadors and other high-profile foreign service officers from participating in the ice-bucket challenge to raise money and awareness for Lou Gehrig's disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. In a cable sent this week to all U.S. diplomatic missions, the lawyers say it runs afoul of federal ethics rules barring officials from using public office for private gain “no matter how worthy the cause.” The unclassified cable, sent on Tuesday, was obtained by The Associated Press Thursday.
The Ice Bucket Challenge has spread throughout social media this summer. The stunt involves people videotaping themselves as they dump cold water on their heads and post the clips on Facebook and elsewhere. This is followed by a dare to friends to do the same within 24 hours or donate US$100 to ALS.
The diplomatic cable said public health and disease prevention are some of the State Department's highest priorities, noting U.S. funding for global programs to fight HIV and AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, smallpox and polio and recent efforts to combat the Ebola virus. And, it complimented the ALS Association on the success of its ice bucket challenge, which has raised more than US$40 million and attracted a plethora of notable participants, including former President George W. Bush, television hosts Martha Stewart and Matt Lauer and pro golfer Greg Norman.
But it also pointed out that choosing among worthy charities can be a difficult personal decision that is made “even more difficult when high-ranking State Department personnel with high-profile positions are asked to participate in charitable fund-raising, and concerns about preference and favoritism always arise.”
