"Ground fault circuit interrupter" Tag Archives

7-year-old Calder Sloan was in his swimming pool with Gary, the son of his nanny, who was watching Calder and his younger brother Caleb in their home in North Miami Beach when the unthinkable happened. Gary felt a shock and jumped out of the water yelling for Calder to do the same. Calder did not hear him as he was swimming under water at the time. A split second later, Calder was thrown out of the water. Neighbors rushed to the backyard, performed CPR while getting zapped themselves.

Calder was rushed to Jackson North Medical Center, but the young boy could not survive the jolt of electricity that went through his body. The Miami Herald reported power source could have been as much as 120 volts.

A photograph of the pool light showed rust and corrosion which further evidences an electrical circuit issue with the repairs. Calder’s father, Chris Sloan, told media that about nine months ago, he had an electrician fix the pool light which was not working properly.

The incredibly tragic event that occurred at the Orange Lake Resort on Wednesday could and should have been avoided. That is essentially what Orange County code enforcement officers confirmed after their on-site investigation of the miniature golf pond that took the life of Ashton Jojo.

Ashton was playing miniature golf when her golf ball ended in one of the courses’ pond. She reached in to retrieve her ball that was submerged under a foot of water, and was electrically shocked as soon as she touched the water. A guest attempted to pull her out, but injured himself in the process. One of the witnesses began to perform CPR on the child. Ashton still had a pulse at that time, but once the EMS arrived and rushed her to Celebration Hospital, she stopped breathing and ultimately died.

The investigation quickly revealed that the pond’s electrical breakers were improperly installed or replaced. Allen Morton with the Orange County’s Division of Building Safety told media that for a water feature such as the pond in question, ground fault interrupter (GFI) breakers are required by code, but upon inspecting the wiring and the electrical pump, non-GFI breakers were used.
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Articles Tagged with “Ground fault circuit interrupter”

Fatal Electrocution of 7-year-old boy in North Miami likely caused by Code Violation

Code violation responsible for the fatal electrocution of 11-year-old guest at Central Florida Resort