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Bonneville Power Lineman Dies in 100-Foot Fall

By Beacon Staff

SPOKANE, Wash. — A 34-year-old Bonneville Power Administration lineman has died after falling from a transmission tower near the Montana-Idaho border.

KREM-TV reports lineman Matthew Karstetter fell more than 100 feet on Sept. 20.

The accident is still under investigation.

BPA officials did not return a phone call Wednesday seeking more information on where the fall occurred.

Karstetter joined the BPA in June 2004. He worked on the Kalispell transmission line maintenance crew until graduating from the apprentice program in 2008. Most recently, he worked as a journeyman on a transmission line crew in Spokane.

His obituary said a few days before his death, Karstetter was lowered to the wires by helicopter to rescue a crewman having a heart attack. The Yakima, Wash.-native is survived by his wife, daughter and unborn son.