BAMBERG – A Denmark native and 19-year employee of South Carolina Electric and Gas was electrocuted early Thursday morning while trying to restore power in Bamberg following strong thunderstorms in the area.

Ken Butler, 41, was electrocuted at about 6 a.m. while working from a hydraulic bucket to clear power lines.

“Obviously, it’s a very tough day for our company. He was restoring power that had gone out after a line of thunderstorms had gone through in that area. There were some co-workers there that tried to perform CPR before he was transported to Bamberg Hospital, but he passed away shortly after arriving at the hospital,” SCE&G spokesman Eric Boomhower said.

Denmark Mayor Carrie Sojourner was a next-door neighbor of the Butler family and joined others in the Denmark community who sent their condolences to the family and Butler’s co-workers.

“I am so saddened. The city of Denmark expresses their condolences to the Butler family. Personally, as a neighbor and friend, I am very upset and saddened over this young man’s untimely death. He was such a nice young man. I saw him grow up and become a fine family man. He was a good citizen in our Denmark community,” Sojourner said.

Ken’s father, Norman Butler, was a long-serving police officer with the Denmark Police Department. He had also worked as a security guard at Voorhees College upon retiring from the city.

SCE&G President Kevin Marsh said, “Our thoughts and prayers are with Ken’s family. This is a tragic day for our company and a devastating reminder of the dangers of our business and daily work and the importance of safety in everything we do.”

SCE&G is conducting an investigation to determine what caused the accident.

Boomhower said the band of thunderstorms didn’t cause an extensive amount of power outages in The T&D Region, with 21 customers out of power in Orangeburg as of late Thursday morning. He said less than 50 customers were out of power in the Bamberg and Denmark areas.

Randy Etters, spokesman for the Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities, said there was no widespread loss of power in the Orangeburg area.

“We had less than half a dozen customers out due to the wind, four to six. We did have one situation that was caused by wind, where an SCE&G line fell on our line and caused a short. We couldn’t energize that line until SCE&G energized their side. That was on Kinard Road,” Etters said.

“There are somewhere between eight and 12 customers on that road, and that was kind of an isolated event. It was a very light evening for our service guys,” he said.

George Bonnette, emergency planner for the Orangeburg County Department of Emergency Services, said there were no reports of damage made to the department.

“There were none that we know; none that’s been reported,” Bonnette said.

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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