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Firefighter dies in ice bucket challenge gone wrong

This article is more than 12 months old

 A Kentucky firefighter died on Saturday (Sept 20), weeks after participating in an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that went horribly wrong.

Electricity from a power line shocked four firefighters on a ladder as they sprayed water on a group of college students below who were trying to pull off the charity stunt.

Officers from the Fire and Rescue Department in Campbellsville were helping the Campbellsville University band with their video "Challenge" on Aug 21.

Capt. Tony Grider died from burn-related injuries, according to dispatcher Mark Coker with the Campbellsville-Tyler 911 Center.

CNN said the 41-year-old's body was driven, accompanied by an official escort, to his hometown of Columbia, Kentucky.

The fire department posted a message on Facebook which included a "thank you" from Grider's family to the nurses and doctors who tried to save his life, and the firefighters who spent time at the hospital hoping that he would recover.

Condolences flooded in.

Grider leaves behind a wife and children. They all lived in the same home with his parents in Columbia.

Firefighter  Simon Alex  Quinn, also injured in the Ice Bucket Challenge, was released from the hospital on Tuesday, Coker said.

The power company told investigators that if one gets within a distance of three to four feet from a power line, the energy that surrounds the voltage wire can arc and electrocute other objects, Campbellsville Police Chief Tim ​Hazlette told CNN.

That's what authorities believe happened in this case.

Sources: CNN, YouTube

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