Safety] 4 Scout leaders were electrocuted while erecting tent at Jamboree

By Kiran Krishnamurthy

Media General News Service

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

BOWLING GREEN -- The four adult Scout leaders from Alaska who were killed at the National Scout Jamboree yesterday died after a tent pole they were erecting came into contact with an overhead power line, an official said this morning.

The accident occurred as the Alaskans were setting up a large tent in their camp area at Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline County. Two other adults, a Scout leader and a contractor, were hospitalized.

Marc Says: Another tragic accident, utterly avoidable, and another set of nominations for the Darwin award. Come on here people, my dad was an Eagle Scout. I can't remember how many times he told me to keep everything away from power lines, conductive or not, and to always be sure that something could not fall over onto a power line (ladders come to mind here, along with flag poles). He knew better than to erect a tent pole near power lines. I might as well have had those instructions tatooed, he implanted them so deeply. I know better. These adult Scout leaders certainly should have both known better and been examples of how to do it right. Very sad. Completely avoidable by competent adults, particularly those tasked with training the young Scouts.