Four Boy Scout Leaders Killed in Electrical Accident at Jamboree Opening in Virginia

COX.Net AP Story ^ | July 25,2005 | MICHAEL FELBERBAUM, Associated Press Writer

[SandRat]

BOWLING GREEN, Va. -- Four adult Boy Scout leaders were killed Monday afternoon in an electrical accident during the opening day of the organization's 2005 Jamboree.

Jamboree spokesman Gregg Shields said the accident occurred between 4:30 and 5 p.m. while the leaders were setting up camp.

One other leader and a contract worker were injured, and were hospitalized in stable condition, Shields said. No youth Scouts were seriously hurt, he said. He did not say how many might have sustained minor injuries.

Shields did not have additional details about the accident, including the victims' names.

"We have an investigation under way," he said.

More than 40,000 Boy Scouts, leaders and volunteers from around the world are attending the 2005 National Scout Jamboree. The event Monday at the Army's Fort AP Hill, a 76,000-acre Army training base about an hour south of the nation's capital.

The Jamboree runs through Aug. 3 with President Bush scheduled to speak Wednesday evening. Scouts ages 12-18 are to spend 10 days camping in tents and doing activities that include archery, fishing and a GPS-based scavenger hunt.

The Boy Scouts of America have held the event since 1937 with the next gathering set for 2010, the Scouts' 100th anniversary.

___

On the Net:

http://www.scouting.org/jamboree

http://www.aphill.army.mil

[John Filson]

John Wayne's Scout Law bookmarked, bumped, and saved. Thanks.

[xzins]

I've got lots of years to put against such a silly statement.

However, I've seen an entire Grafenwoehr rotation sent home. The point is this: training is not supposed to kill people.

Anyone who doesn't realize that they'll call a safety standdown as soon as a death occurs hasn't really been there that much.

[xzins]

Another thing....your "send 4 divisions home" comment.

We do not have a single training center that can handle 4 divisions. You should realize that. It's telling that you don't.

We don't have even one that can adequately handle 1 division.

[GopherIt]

So do I, and don't call me silly. Again, a safety stand down is a safety stand down. I've seen a Corps stay in action, with a calm, dedicated, reasonable approach to an adverse incident. Training didn't kill anybody. What the people did killed them. The lack of training killed them. Stay in place to learn, to be trained. Your kind of hand-wringing is useless, will kill more people, and above all, shows disrespect for those who lost their lives. Also, I've never met an Army Chaplain so proud and brave as you. </spit>

[xzins]

If you don't like the term "silly" then perhaps you need to re-read your #120 and comment on it.

I don't have much to say to someone who thinks we have sites where 4 divisions train at once.

[leadpenny]

I've already said what I wanted to about the issue but the Chaplain is right, you've gone ballistic first.

[SunnyUsa]

Just heartsick about this - what a far way the Alaskans traveled for such a tragic accident to take their lives.

Did these leaders have their son's in the troop?

I can't imagine the shock they are all in. :(

[xzins]

Training didn't kill anybody. What the people did killed them. The lack of training killed them.

This is another statement that demonstrates a deficit of experience. Equipment failures kill, faulty plans kill, accidents are real, and they kill.

The notion that an entire Corps has been training at one site is simply out of touch with reality.

[GopherIt]

You're not worth my time.

[MarMema]

Thanks for posting, and prayers for the families. Our Scoutmaster is there.

Memory Eternal for those who are now reposed.

[xzins]

Not in this discussion, I'm not. And proud not to be.

[GopherIt]

Thanks. You're right, I tried to stay cool, but failed.

[MarMema]

It's been a rough summer for Scouting, overall. Too many losses.

My boys just got home from summer camp with merit badges completed, and I'm starting to wish they would skip the upcoming white water trip. Nervous motherhood issues..

I serve with pride as a merit badge chair and fair chair for a great district in Washington state.

Everyone can offer something to Scouting by becoming a merit badge counselor. Call your local council and find out what you can teach to the next generation.

[Sloth]

Disrupt 40,000+ people for the sake of 4? Why?

[xzins]

See #30 & 45

I have no problem limiting the return just to all those groups associated with the deceased men.

[THEUPMAN]

What a picture

What a bunch of moroooons ... as bugs would say.

Perhaps it's time to disband the bsa .... I thought it was just the local units that had become overrun with incompetent panty waists. But it seems the problem runs pretty deep.

When the leaders at a JAMBOREE can't even pitch a tent with out getting people killed, then something is WRONG with the system that let them be in charge.

I know of a troop who abandoned their tents and went to a neighboring farm house to spend the night , because they found "poison ivy" in the area. Then the 2nd night , after moving their tents, they abandoned them again for the "protection" of a leaders basement ...... it almost rained.

The one scout who thought that perhaps the adult leaders were over reacting just a bit was disciplined, ridiculed and cut from the troop.

The bsa is not what it once was.

[Kathy in Alaska]

UPDATE

Alaska Scout leaders die near D.C. JAMBOREE: Three men from Anchorage, one former Alaskan are electrocuted.

By KATIE PESZNECKER and LISA DEMER
Published: July 26th, 2005
Last Modified: July 26th, 2005 at 02:23 AM

Four Boy Scout leaders were killed in Virginia on Monday, the opening day of the organization's national Jamboree, when a metal tent pole they were holding hit a power line and apparently ignited the canvas tent above them, according to Scout officials and witnesses.

Officials late Monday confirmed the leaders who died are Ron Bitzer, Michael Lacroix and Michael Shibe of Anchorage and Scott Powell, who moved to Ohio last year.

A fifth Alaska Scout leader, Larry Call, and an unidentified contractor were hospitalized with injuries, according to Boy Scout officials. Call is being treated at a Virginia hospital burn unit, said his wife, Paula Call.

No children were seriously injured, but about 30 Alaska Scouts saw the accident happen some time between 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m. Alaska time at Fort A.P. Hill, an Army base about one hour south of the nation's capital.

Karl Holfeld, an Anchorage father, said his 15-year-old son, Taylor, witnessed the accident. Taylor was on his cell phone talking to his mother in Anchorage when the accident occurred.

The rest of the story

[xzins]

Thanks for the link, Theupman.

Four Scout leaders killed at jamboree



Officials probe fatal accident


Date published: 7/26/2005

By KRISTIN DAVIS and MELISSA NIX

Four Boy Scout leaders were killed yesterday in the worst tragedy of the National Boy Scout Jamboree’s 68-year history.

An electrical accident apparently occurred when a tent pole came in contact with a power line late in the afternoon of the opening day at Fort A.P. Hill.

The men were adult Scout leaders from the Anchorage, Alaska, area, said Bill Haines, Scout executive and chief executive officer of the Western Alaska Council.

All the young Scouts with the Alaska group are fine, Haines said.

A contractor and another Scout leader were also injured during the accident. One was taken to Mary Washington Hospital; the other was taken to VCU Medical Center in Richmond, said jamboree spokesman Gregg Shields. Their conditions were not immediately available.

The names of the victims were not released last night. Families of the deceased were still being notified, Shields said.

Scout spokesman Bob Dries said last night that there are no plans to cancel the rest of the jamboree. The first day of the quadrennial event began in high spirits, with thousands of Scouts arriving by bus in bright shirts, carrying brand-new camping gear.

But just before 5 p.m., military police, fire and rescue workers rushed down Lee Drive shouting at pedestrians to get out of the way.

Scouts and Scout leaders were headed down Lee Drive, in the eastern part of the Army post, toward their campsites.

A small crowd of curious onlookers gathered near the scene, called Subcamp 7. Some pedestrians continued their trek, barely pausing as smoke rose from a large white tent several hundred feet away.

Meanwhile, men in full protective gear rushed into the smoking tent and returned carrying what appeared to be a covered body.

The scene was cordoned off with yellow tape, and the tent sat drooping and lopsided several hours later. Power was shut down in that area of the post and workers from the Rappa hannock Electric Cooperative arrived on the scene.

News of the tragedy spread slowly across the sprawling Army post, where more than 35,000 Scouts from across the United States have gathered for the 10- day jamboree. Scouts went about their late-afternoon routine, picking up food items and heading back to their posts to prepare dinner.

Most Scouts seemed unaware of the deaths.

Jamboree officials said they did not know the exact circumstances of the accident, nor did they know the voltage of the power lines.

A “thorough investigation is under way,” Shields said.

He said counselors and chaplains were made available to the Scouts affected by the tragedy. Haines said the four victims were longtime Scout leaders with Troop 711, which together with Troop 712 brought 80 Scouts, and eight leaders to the jamboree.

The father of a Scout from the Alaskan contingent said all the Scouts had been removed from the area of the accident.

“It’s now an investigation scene and it’s closed to everyone,” he said in a telephone interview. The Scouts were moved to Army barracks on the post and chaplains and counselors are spending time with them.

The father, who did not want to be identified, said his 17-year-old witnessed the incident. “He’s a very stoic type but this will hit him later,” the father said.

He noted that some of those killed likely were parents of Scouts and others were longtime leaders. “How it will affect them you just never know.”

On Sunday, Boy Scouts volun teer Albert Puff, 57, of Stella, N.C., was taken to a local hospital where he died of an apparent heart attack, said jamboree spokeswoman Renee Fairrer.

There have been two accidental Scout deaths in the jamboree’s 68- year-history. In August 1997, 16- year-old Robert Combes of Fin leyville, Pa., died after the mili tary Humvee he was driving overturned on a winding gravel road near Wilcox Road and A.P. Hill Drive.

Combes, a youth staffer at that year’s jamboree, was crushed beneath the 7,700-pound vehicle, which was used to transport ice and cold drinks between camp sites. He was not trained to operate the truck but convinced another teenager to let him. Three other teens were injured in that accident.

In 1977, a Scout attending the jamboree at a state park in Pennsylvania was struck by light ning and killed.

Gov. Mark Warner issued a statement last night, offering his condolences to all those affected by the tragedy. He said he wished to reassure the parents of the Scouts that they were in good hands.

“All of us hope and pray that the remainder of the 2005 National Jamboree will offer a safe and educational experience for these young men and their adult lead ers,” he said.


Free Lance–Star reporter Edie Gross and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Date published: 7/26/2005

[Diddle E. Squat]

So who is the total loser who put 'zot' in the keywords?

Don't give me that BS about "humor is how we deal with tragedy", someone is just a slimy jerk going for juvenile humor.

[cyclotic]

I quit Scouting after Webelo's. (big mistake)

I'm making it up now as a Cub leader. (Webelo and Tiger) I can't wait till my boys are old enough to do stuff like the Jamboree.