Forty-three year old Brian Keith Blankenship tragically died in an electrical accident on Tuesday, August 8th. Blankenship was working on the outages in the Bakersville area that had occurred during the bad storm that afternoon. French Broad Electric has released this statement:
“It is with our deepest regret that Bryan Blankenship passed away from injuries sustained from an electrical contact he suffered on August 8th around 2:30 pm. Bryan was working on a pole when he made contact with an energized line. One of our other linemen climbed the pole and lowered him from the pole where other crew members worked to resuscitate him until the paramedics arrived. He later passed away at the hospital. All of our employees along with FBEMC directors are devastated by this loss for our family and our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and three children as well as his other family members. Bryan was a valuable, honest, hard working, dedicated employee respected by everyone who knew him. His loss is immeasurable and words cannot express how much we will all miss “Red”.
Blankenship was the pastor of Laurel Valley Baptist Church in Mars Hill.
