Campers hit by lightning on Adirondack island
Brothers said they were knocked to ground by intensity, but mostly OK
SARANAC LAKE — Lightning supposedly never strikes twice, but can it hit two people at once?
It did on Friday when two Adirondack boatcampers were hit on an island in Follensby Clear Pond, a popular canoeing and boating spot near the Franklin County community of Saranac Lake.
Both of the campers were OK, but they had to spend the night in the hospital for monitoring.
Forest Ranger Matthew Adams was among the first to arrive at the island campsite, after they called for help on their cellphones shortly after the event.
Adams said he had just finished patrolling the pond in his canoe and was putting it back in his truck when the weather turned fierce at about 4 p.m.
“It was very stormy and Friday was a light show,” he said of the thunderstorm. Adams saw the large lightning that hit a tall white pine on the island where the two campers, who are brothers, were sheltering in their tent.“i saw the bolt. It was in front of me,” Adams said.
Within minutes, a truck from Tupper Lake EMS squad arrived with a power boat. According to the first reports, the two men were “conscious and alert,” but wanted to be checked out medically.
Adams boarded the firefighters’ boat and headed toward the island.
One of the campers said he was having a hard time hearing anything and the other had a swollen ankle.
Both men said they felt pain in their legs, describing how they were knocked to the ground by the lighting strike, which they described was like a shock wave.
“They got the splash effect from the lightning,” Adams said, explaining that the men felt the residual shock from the main strike that hit the nearby white pine. “They were definitely shaken up.”
Another ranger, Robert Praczkajlo, arrived on a boat with the Saranac Rescue squad, which also responded.
The rescuers brought the men to shore, towing their canoe, but leaving a motorized boat behind for the time being.
A waiting ambulance took them to the Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake where the men spent the night under observation, in part to monitor their heart rhythms.
They were released the next day. One brother got his hearing back and the other was sore, using crutches because of his ankle.
Adams said that on Friday night, while he was at the hospital with the two men, another pair of boaters were brought in by ambulance after they also were hit by lightning while hunkering down on the shore of nearby Upper Saranac Lake.
Their conditions were not immediately known. “That seemed very improbable,” Adams said. “But it happened.”