Lineman
By Creig Williams as told to Diane Johnson
December 27, 2011 at 3:30 PM one day before his 41st. birthday Creig took 7200 volts from his left hand through his chest and out his righthand.
“I have been doing line work for 16 years. It was just another day. We were working on a single phase line. The new wire was spread out. The dead line was sagging …… the live wire was draped with a blanket. I took off my rubber gloves and changed into my leather gloves. I reached behind me to switch on my hydraulic gun tool circuit and touched a piece of lightly insulated copper, a hot jumper, which was used to keep the line hot.
But let me return to the morning of that December day. Tuesday, December 27 our crew took our annual CPR class before heading out to the work site northwest of Justin Texas. It was about noon when we reached the job site. I don’t remember anything from noon on that day. My crew mate, Michael Baldwin, and I were in the bucket of the ‘bucket truck’ working on a wooden power pole with wires going north and south and wires going east and west. I’m told I slumped down in the bucket. My partner heard a groan and thought for a second I was goofing off. He tapped my hard hat and realized something was wrong. He yelled for the ground man, Curtis Smith, to lower the bucket. I don’t know how they got me out of the bucket but Michael started CPR on me as soon as I hit the ground. I was not breathing and I had no pulse. Then Curtis called 911.
Bill Brooks, the Justin Chief of Police, heard the 911 emergency call and was only about a mile away. When he arrived he saw they were doing CPR. He had an AED in his vehicle, but had never used it. The crew and Officer Brooks opened the AED and followed the instructions, giving me a jolt. It started my heart.
I woke up on Friday, December 30 at 2:00 PM. My short term memory was a little off, but I knew I had been burned. I remember my ex-wife brought my fifteen year old daughter to see me. My ex-wife was cutting up my food and feeding me. I remember the bosses coming to talk to me but it was foggy.
I know God saved me. I knew Jesus had paid for my sins but I haven’t been going to Church much or reading my Bible. I decided to go to Church on Christmas with my family. Just two days later I had my accident. I died. With the help of my friends, God revived me. Last Sunday, January 15, 2012 when I went to Church, the verse on the front of the program was; Numbers 14:21 ‘The whole earth is filled with Gods Glory.’ Later I went out to the ranch with the dogs (Labrador retrievers) and just looked at the creation. There are so many angels on the earth, so many sunsets. It was so beautiful. I opened my arms and said Thank You.”
Note: Creig has made a full recovery. He has no internal burns and his fingers healed.
