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Two Men Hit By Lightning In Damascus

POSTED: 8:59 pm PDT June 29, 2008
UPDATED: 1:05 pm PDT June 30, 2008

Two men standing under a small cluster of tall trees were struck by lightning Sunday in Damascus.

Alice Lasher, a spokeswoman for the Boring Fire Department, said one of the men was seriously injured.

Slideshow: 2008 Summer Weather Photos

Henry Nyquist said his neighbor, Ed Witterlin, had been talking to a man about tree trimming work when the lightning bolt struck.

"My neighbor managed to make it back into the house, but his wife said he was staggering," Nyquist said. "Then collapsed."

On Monday, Witterlin was upgraded to fair condition. The condition of the other man is unknown.

The two men are in their 50s or 60s, Lasher said.

Firefighters said they wanted to fly the men to the hospital by helicopter, but the storm kept them from doing so.

The only sign of the lightning strike late Sunday night was some split and blackened shrubbery.

Another lightning strike shattered a tree about 2 miles away, turning the healthy fir into firewood.

Lightning Strikes Start Mt. Hood Fires

Lightning strikes sparked about a dozen small spot fires south of Mt. Hood on Sunday.

Rick Acosta, a spokesman for the Mt. Hood National Forest, said there were 69 lightning strikes in the Mount Hood National Forest on Sunday.

Acosta said crews are assigned to all but three of the fires and no structures are threatened.

The lightning was focused on the south side of Mt. Hood and extending northward to The Dalles.


Related:
  • What did the storm look like in your area? E-mail the FOX 12 newsroom at fox12news@kptv.com.
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