PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A man who was trying to steal copper wires out of a transformer box was electrocuted and burned in Northeast Philadelphia Wednesday night. The incident led to an outage, leaving hundreds of homes and businesses without power.
Around 10:30 p.m., an unidentified man made his way to the site of a former KFC restaurant that had been closed and torn down at a shopping center on Roosevelt Boulevard, near Grant Avenue, in the Bustleton neighborhood.
Police said he broke open a lock to a transformer box on the property so he could cut out copper wires.
“While doing so, he cut into a high-voltage cable,” said Chief Inspector Scott Small. “We believe that’s what caused him to be electrocuted and burned, and that’s what started the small fire.”
The man suffered burns to his face and upper body. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
As a result, about 1,500 homes and businesses in the area lost power, but PECO crews restored it about a half-hour later.
Detectives are looking to see if there is a connection to other instances of copper wires being stolen in the region.