5 men severely shocked while working on house in LaSalle County

STREATOR, Ill. - Five men were severely shocked and suffered electrical burns while working on a house Tuesday morning in LaSalle County.

The workers, all in their mid to late 20s, were shocked while they were installing gutters on a home around 11 a.m. in the 1400 block of North 1659th Road, according to the Grand Ridge volunteer fire department.

"They went to slide the gutter around the TV tower and when they took it towards the north, there were power lines there. Came in contact with the power lines," said Tim Geiger, Grand Ridge Fire Chief.

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"The one end of the gutter was touching the house, which electrified the rest of the house and there was another crew on the north side of the house that were putting up gutter also when the whole house became electrified, they were all electrocuted."

Three men were taken to OSF Saint Elizabeth Medical Center in Ottawa and two others were air-lifted to a Peoria hospital before being transferred to a burn unit in Springfield, officials said. All the victims were listed in critical condition.

The fire chief warned that this is a good reminder to take precautions when working around electricity or power lines.

"You need to take electricity seriously. You know it's hidden, you don't know where it's at," said Chief Geiger.

Both OSHA and ComEd were on scene Tuesday afternoon, looking into what happened.

The sheriff's office is also investigating.

FOX 32 Chicago reached out to the private contractor for comment, but have not heard back.

The homeowner did not want to go on camera.