Two Somerset County workers managed to escape serious injuries in a 40-foot fall.
The incident happened around noon on Wednesday at the intersection of West Maple and Vosseller avenues in Bound Brook. There is a building under construction that used to be a bar but is now going to be 40 apartments.
The workers only suffered some cuts and bruises.
One of the owners of the building is Bobby Feruggia. He didn't wish to be interviewed on camera but told News 12 New Jersey what happened. He says the two workers were subcontractors and harnessed into a makeshift constructed wooden lift, lifting materials to the upper floors next to an active power line. Those lines arced, dropping the workers and the wooden lift onto a chain link fence below. Witnesses say there were at least four power surges.
One witness says that she was inside when she heard the first power explosion. She says the poles all shook and she could feel it directly in her home. That's when she came outside. She saw the power surging and saw first responders arrive.
"If I didn't know, there was some type of work being done, I would have thought it was a crash, a sonic boom or something like that,” says Patt Mondrone. “The Earth moved. Then I saw the surge.”
Mondrone says she saw two people put into ambulances.
The power was out in the area for a time but has since been restored. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.