Live wires zap teens in Cowichan Lake

Two teens nearly drowned in Lake Cowichan after receiving a shock from live electrical cords carelessly placed in the water.

The girls were swimming near a dock off North Shore Road about 5 p.m. Saturday when they were temporarily paralyzed by a shock from an extension cord, said Lake Cowichan Fire Chief Doug Knott.

Denis Pilon, a Lake Cowichan resident who owns Mountain Man Services Ltd., was working at a nearby home when he heard the two teens scream for help.

“They were screaming that they couldn’t move. One said: ‘I’m going to drown. I’m going to die,’ ” he said.

A woman near the dock extended her foot to try to give the girls something to grab onto. One girl was holding up the other who appeared to have a more severe shock. Eventually, a man pulled the two out of the water just as they were about to slip below the surface.

Pilon saw Lake Cowichan RCMP, volunteer firefighters and B.C. Ambulance paramedics arrive and treat the traumatized teens.

They did not appear to be seriously injured, but were shaken up. One girl was able to walk with the help of first responders but the other girl sat on the dock for about 20 minutes before she was able to stand up, Pilon said.

Pilon was shocked to see firefighters remove three electrical extension cords from the water. They were running from a nearby property on North Shore Road, dipping into the water and then onto a dock where power tools were being used, Knott said.

Pilon estimates the girls were swimming 30 to 40 feet away from the extension cords.

“I was aghast,” he said. “It’s a lack of common sense, lack of good judgment and irresponsibility of an adult who should know better.”

Pilon was so angry he gave the homeowner a profanity-laced lecture.

“I said: ‘You could have killed those two girls,’ ” he recalled.

Knott said the extension cords were not in the water accidentally and the magnitude of the danger seemed lost on the homeowner.

With electrical wires in the water, it takes a surge as small as 15 milliamps to cause skeletal muscular paralysis, Knott said. “It takes very little current to shock the body,” he said.

Island district RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Tammy Douglas said the homeowner is a relative of one of the girls and was working on a houseboat.

The town’s building inspector and the province’s electrical safety branch will follow up with the homeowner to address safety concerns, Knott said.