A woman was struck by lightning Thursday night while working on a farm in southern Jessamine County.
According to Jessamine County fire chief Mike Rupard, the woman and her husband were laying water lines near 1191 Crenshaw Lane when the incident happened around 7:20.
“The storm came up on them when they were out way back in a field, and the lightning struck her,” he said.
Rupard said the husband drove out to U.S. 27 at Bethel Road to flag down firefighters and lead them to his wife.
“He took the EMS unit to a barn two fields away because he knew the ambulance wouldn’t be able to get there,” Rupard said. “So when I got there, I grabbed the EMS workers and (assistant chief) Gerald (Wheeler) off Engine 1, and we drove back to the field to where she was at. We had to drive over water lines and ditches, and I got stuck, so they ended up running up to where she was at and started doing CPR — her son was actually already doing CPR on her.”
Rupard said she was taken to Saint Joseph-Jessamine RJ Corman Ambulatory Care Center and once they got her stable enough to transport her, they took her to Saint Joseph Hospital in Lexington.
“As of an hour ago, she was still living and on a ventilator, but she’s still alive,” Rupard said Friday morning at 9:30.
The name of the victim was not released, but WKYT is reporting her name is Kathleen Friend, 67.
The Journal will update this story as more information becomes available.
