Tony Grider, Kentucky Firefighter, Dies After ALS Ice Bucket Challange Accident

Tony Grider, a 16-year veteran of the Campbellsville, Ky., fire department died on Saturday, following an accident overseeing an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge stunt. Grider, along with fellow firefighters Steve Marrs, Simon Quinn and Alex Johnson were badly burned when water made contact with an open power line. Grider and Quinn were inside a large bucket off a ladder, controlling the fall of the ice water onto the volunteering college students who taped the incident to raise money for Lou Gehrig’s disease research. As the crowd began to disperse, the ladder end up moving, coming within a few feet of a power line. The energy that surrounds the wire was high enough and the bucket was close enough to make contact, shocking both Grider and Quinn.

Marrs and Johnson were on the ground, and attempted to move the bucket away from the wire and down to the ground. When they tried to lower it, the current traveled down the extended ladder and shocked both firefighters as well. In the two weeks since the accident, Marrs, Johnson and Quinn were treated and released from the hospital. Grider’s burns were particularly severe, and he passed away in a local hospital on Saturday. He was 41, and is survived by his parents, his wife and their five children.

A hundred-mile long procession was done to bring Grider from the hospital back to Columbia, where he lived with his family. Funeral arrangements are being made.