A man was airlifted to Albany Medical Center after being electrocuted at the Jewish BoyZone summer camp in the town of Jefferson last Thursday, according to officials at the Stamford Fire Department, the Schoharie County Sheriff's Office, and BoyZone's spokesman, Clifford Meth. The man, an electrician whose name has not been released, was conscious after the incident and sustained no major injuries.
"He was treated and released that evening," said Don Van Etten, the chief of the Stamford Fire Department, which responded to the incident.
"It was more or less precautionary that we had him airlifted."
According to Van Etten, the man was working in a building at the camp when his arm brushed against an open line. There was water on the floor, which did not cause the accident, but may have contributed to its severity.
Meth said that the man was an Oorah employee who was installing a gas line for a new hot-water heater when we brushed up against a live, low-voltage line.
"He was shocked," Meth said. "When he came to he was frightened and his heart was pounding."
The man has since made a complete recovery and was back at work two days later, Meth said.
Jewish BoyZone, which is owned by Oorah, Inc, a New Jersey-based company that also runs a summer camp for girls in nearby Gilboa, has been the subject of controversy this year. This spring, after the town of Jefferson hired an engineer to inspect construction projects at the camp, over 100 people came to a meeting of the Town Board to protest delaying the camp's construction before its summer season.
A lawsuit was filed over whether building permits issued to Oorah by Jefferson's building inspector, Michael Schwarzkopf, were valid, and in June a Schoharie County judge issued a ruling that declined to block construction at the camp. (Schwarzkopf later left his job as Jefferson's code inspector and became an employee of the summer camp.)
Then in July, the Mountain Eagle reported that busloads of boys were evacuated from the camp because it lacked a certificate of occupancy.
Meth said that there were no campers present at the camp when the accident occurred, because the four-week season had ended on August 9.
