Worker Hurt, Power Cut in Yorba Linda Hospital Accident

A repairman working on an electrical panel was burned by 480 volts of electricity Thursday morning, knocking out power at St. Jude Hospital in Yorba Linda and forcing the evacuation of eight patients, including one who was in surgery, authorities said.

The repairman, Roy Rixey, 48, a Torrance resident who works for Langstaff Electric Inc. of Monrovia, was treated in the hospital’s emergency room, then transferred to the burn ward at UCI Medical Center in Orange, Placentia Fire Department Capt. Jack Wallace said.

Rixey was listed in good condition with second- and third-degree burns on his forehead and scalp, Wallace said.

The power outage occurred shortly after 8 a.m. at the hospital at 16850 Bastanchury Road, Wallace said.

Sister Diane Henje, St. Jude Hospital vice president of patient care services, said the hospital switched over to emergency power.

“About 2:30 (p.m.), everything was back to normal, and we were receiving patients,” she added.

Wallace said that some patients in the hospital’s intensive care ward were evacuated to St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton “because of a need to be on life-support machines or other devices requiring an electrical system.”

Although the accident knocked out power to the one-story, 106-bed facility, not all of the 35 patients needed to be transferred, Henje said.

“We had one patient in surgery” who was transferred, she added. “They were finishing surgery; a reapplication of a cast.”

Most of the patients had been transferred back to the Yorba Linda hospital by Thursday night.