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Ga. FF’s leg amputated due to injuries from downed power line

Valdosta Fire Department firefighters were responding to a low-hanging power line when a vehicle drove through the area, causing the line to “snap and whip around”

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Three firefighters and one police officer were injured at the scene in Valdosta and taken to the hospital, where one firefighter’s leg was amputated.

Photo/Valdosta Fire Department

By Jessie Forand

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Several firefighters were injured after a power line fell during an intense thunderstorm Monday.

At about 4 p.m., the fire and police departments in Valdosta, Georgia, responded to an intersection in which a power line was hanging low, Valdosta Daily Times reported.

As responders checked the line, a vehicle drove through the involved section of the road, which made the power pole fall and the line “snap and whip around,” Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said.

Three firefighters and one police officer were injured at the scene and taken to the hospital, where one firefighter’s leg was amputated.

In a press release Tuesday, the Valdosta Fire Department said one firefighter remains in the ICU, another is receiving care in the hospital, and one was released Monday night. The police officer injured on scene remains hospitalized.