Bradley County paramedics at Bonnaroo hospitalized
Two Bradley County, Tennessee, paramedics were among four from the state working at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival near Manchester who were hospitalized Monday after becoming sick from possible carbon monoxide poisoning, according to authorities in Bradley and Coffee counties.
The paramedics from Bradley County were emergency medical services employees volunteering at the festival on their off-duty time, EMS deputy chief Stan Clark said Tuesday.
Clark identified the Bradley County paramedics as Josh VanDusen, a full-time paramedic, and Ashton Hughes, a former full-time paramedic who is now a part-time paramedic. They are recovering at Erlanger hospital in Chattanooga, Clark said. A third unidentified paramedic was airlifted with the Bradley pair.
In a statement on the Bradley paramedics, Clark said his agency had only limited details on the incident in Coffee County.
“Our prayers for the speedy and full recovery of all four of these volunteers are continuing,” Bradley EMS officials said in the statement.
Coffee County Sheriff’s Office investigator Brandon Reed said the four paramedics — two of whom have not been identified publicly but are said to be Tennesseans from outside of Coffee County — were using a portable generator to power the RV they were staying in during the festival, according to a sheriff’s office statement.
One of the four paramedics “woke up and was able to get help,” Coffee County officials said.
All four paramedics were transported to Unity Medical Center in Manchester. Three then were airlifted to Erlanger hospital and the fourth was airlifted to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Coffee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lucky Knott said Tuesday. One of those paramedics has been released.
Knott told The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville that a blocked exhaust might have been the cause.
“They are just very, very fortunate. Right now, we are in hopes that all four will survive,” Knott told the newspaper.
It is not clear which paramedic awoke to get help for the others, and there was no opinion among officials on how close a call the incident was as information on the incident developed Tuesday.
On Friday morning, a man was found dead in his car at the festival site.
The man was identified as 32-year-old Michael Donivan Craddock Jr., of Mount Juliet, Tennessee, Coffee County authorities said in a statement issued Friday.
Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves said in the statement that no foul play was suspected. Craddock’s body was sent to the medical examiner office in Nashville for an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.