UPDATED: Tree Trimmer Dies of Injuries After Touching Electrical Line in Holliston

UPDATED at 5:40 p.m.: A 26-year-old tree worker from Norfolk died Tuesday of injuries he sustained after his saw touched a high-voltage electrical line.

Holliston Police Chief John Moore said in a news release the chief medical examiner reported the man had died at Massachusetts General Hospital shortly after 4 p.m.
The man, 26, an employee of a Holliston landscaping company, had been trimming pine branches on Shaw Farm Road when an aluminum portion of the saw struck the electrical line.

Moore did not identify the man, saying his family was being contacted.

The man was life-flighted from Holliston to Mass General in Boston, following the accident, reported at 9:14 a.m. He had severe burns and traumatic injury from the electrical shock, which caused a fire.

Original Post:

An employee of a Holliston-based tree company was critically burned Tuesday morning after he used a tool that struck an electrical line.

The 26-year-old was flown by medical helicopter to Mass General Hospital with life-threatening injuries, said Holliston Police Chief John Moore. When emergency workers arrived, the man was in and out of consciousness, he said.

The man is employed by Ahronian landscape of Holliston, the chief said. He was in a bucket and cutting pine limbs using a saw that had an aluminum component, which struck the top electrical line, Moore said.

Two other workers for the company were on the ground, picking up limbs, when the accident occurred, and witnessed the electrical shock and resulting fire. The accident was reported about 9 a.m. on Shaw Farm Road, a subdivision off Norfolk Street.

Holliston Police have cordoned off the area.

By 11 a.m., the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration office had sent an investigator, who was at the scene.

The owner of Ahronian also responded, Moore said, and contacted the man's family.