Boardman man remains hospitalized after apparent lightning strike

BOARDMAN — A 60-year-old township man remains hospitalized after an apparent lightning strike.

John Phillips was in the backyard at his Forest Lake Drive home Saturday when the fire department was called around 8 p.m.

Witnesses at the scene said they saw a lightning flash, heard a simultaneous thunderclap, and then saw Phillips lying on the ground.

Phillips, who was unconscious and not breathing, was resuscitated by his neighbor, Dave Fiffick, general manager at the Struthers-based Clemente-McKay Ambulance Co., and by Fiffick’s wife and son.

“We got a heartbeat back very quickly,” said Fiffick, who previously worked as a paramedic and whose Aquadale Drive backyard abuts that of Phillips.

Firefighters did not see burn marks and treated Phillips before sending him to St. Elizabeth Health Center in Boardman, the fire report stated.

Fiffick said, however, “I think that the lightning had something to do with it.”