Duty of Care

On Tuesday, October 27, 2026, two people were hospitalized with electrical injuries after a crew removing copper from a building near Tahoe Avenue and Avery Street, just west of Mesa Gateway Airport in Mesa, Arizona, came in contact with copper that “apparently was still energized,” the Mesa Fire and Medical Department said, as reported by AZFamily, Firehouse, and azcentral.

Fire officials first said one of the two was in critical condition; they later told azcentral that both people's conditions were unknown. Firefighters were training in the same building, which the department called an “acquired structure” made available for training, but no fire personnel were hurt. Officials described it as an accident, declined to identify the property owner, did not say who the two people worked for, and said the incident will be investigated.

Stripping wire, pipe, or other metal from a building is only safe after the power feeding it has been found, shut off, locked out, and tested dead at the point of work. The defenses to check are an up-to-date record of what is still energized, a lockout that every crew on site shares, and a voltage test before anyone cuts or pulls. In a building with more than one group working, such as a training crew and a salvage crew, someone has to own the energy status of the whole structure.

• AZFamily
• Firehouse
• azcentral