Woman in serious condition after skydiving accident Sunday in Tooele County

TOOELE — A woman is in serious condition following a skydiving accident in Tooele over the weekend.

“We got the call just after 5 p.m. last Sunday,” said Jon Smith, spokesman for the North Tooele Fire District.

According to the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office, the woman is 36 years old.

The woman, a Level D licensed skydiver, was free flying with her husband, according to Brandon Tomlins, operations manager for SkyDive Utah.

Highly talented jumpers

Company co-owner Mike Chapman said the couple essentially used SkyDive Utah as a taxi service because they are both highly skilled skydivers.

According to Tomlins, the woman hit her husband’s left shoulder with her head shortly after jumping. She lost consciousness as she fell from a height of 3,660 meters at 190 km/h.

“These are very, very rare incidents that happen,” Tomlins said.

Because she was unable to open her own parachute, an automatic deployment device deployed a second emergency parachute, which likely saved her life, Tomlins said.

“She got a good parachute at 1,000 to 1,300 feet,” Tomlins said. “If that hadn’t happened, it would be a very different story.”

Chapman explained that skydivers at SkyDive Utah – including licensed solo jumpers and experienced jumpers – are required to use an AAD.

Tomlins said they monitored each jump from the ground and when they saw the second parachute open, they knew immediately something was wrong.

The woman eventually landed on the roof of a home just outside the airport property on the west side, near 2220 Erda Way. According to Tomlins and paramedics, she appeared to hit a live power line on the roof of the home before falling to the ground.

“There is an isolated line that runs from the building to the main power grid, which is quite common in older homes in rural areas,” Smith said.

“One of our instructors was on his way home and was there within 30 seconds of them landing. He’s an experienced paramedic,” Tomlins said. “I was there within 3 minutes and I’m also the safety and training advisor for the drop zone.”

First responders on site within minutes

Within moments, paramedics, sheriff’s deputies and other medical personnel arrived.

“We were able to treat her on site, get her on board a rescue helicopter and then fly her to a trauma center in Salt Lake County,” Smith said.

Paramedics said the woman showed no obvious signs of electrocution, but it appeared she had come into contact with the power line.

“We don’t know if she hit the wire, or if she hit the tree and then the wire, or if the slide hit the wire. We don’t know that yet, that will all be part of the investigation,” Smith said.

Tomlins suspects that the skydiver escaped an electric shock because she was not on the ground at the moment of impact.

A small grass fire broke out next to the house, probably due to sparks on the power line.

Happy ending

“This was definitely a lucky outcome of an unfortunate scenario,” Tomlins said of the woman, who received immediate medical attention and survived possible contact with the power line.

The North Tooele Fire District and Tooele County Sheriff’s Office said the woman remains in serious condition but declined to provide further details about her injuries.

“We just wish her all the best and are grateful for the response from emergency services,” Tomlins said.

Other sources state that the woman may have suffered a broken back and underwent surgery.

Rocky Mountain Power confirmed that they were contacted at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday to assess the situation. No power outage was detected.