Police say that a woman was struck by lightning at the beach

By Laura Haefeli

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    DORCHESTER, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Clouds rolled in towards Savin Hill Beach in Boston Saturday, bringing booms of thunder and blasts of lightning.

“I heard that bolt of lightning. It was so loud,” says neighbor Kenneth Osherow.

The sound shocked neighbors who knew instantly the lightning strike hit close to home.

“A fire truck came by and then 30 seconds later an ambulance came by, then another ambulance and a police car,” says Osherow.

According to the Boston Police Department around 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon, EMS responded to a call for help after a 31-year-old woman was hit by lightning while walking her dog on Savin Hill Beach.

Neighbors tell WBZ that after the woman was struck by lightning people on the beach jumped in to help, carrying her up the beach stairs and onto this porch to protect her from the rain, then a local nurse began delivering CPR.

“I was in the front of my house and then I came over here and started helping with compressions,” says Tracy Cronin, who is an ICU nurse at Boston Children’s Hospital and lives just steps away from where the lightning hit.

“She had a burn wound on her chest and her pants were just burned off of her and you could smell it.”

While waiting for help to arrive Cronin tells us, she and her boyfriend, who is a ER Nurse, took turns performing CPR, for around 15 minutes.

“Initially we didn’t get a pulse, but then we finally got a pulse from her. She wasn’t awake though. She was down for quite a while,” said Cronin.

Police say once paramedics arrived the woman was taken to a local hospital in serious condition.

“Never seen anything like this happen.”

According to the CDC, the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are roughly one in a million. But the rare moment is something neighbors will never forget.

“It sounded like a nuclear bomb went off. It was the loudest lightning I had ever heard. Praying she’s ok,” says Cronin

Police are still looking for the dog, Bruce, who got scared and ran off after the strike and ask that if anyone sees him call (617) 740-7710

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