A dispatcher gave CPR instructions to the person who called 911 after a student was struck by lightning Wednesday on the University of Dayton's campus.
The student is in serious condition with life-threatening injuries, according to WCPO's partner television station in Dayton, WHIO.
The caller told dispatchers the student was not moving, and he witnessed the student running at the time of the lightning strike, which forced the student to the ground. The student was in a parking lot near a recreating complex on UD's campus.
Fire officials told WHIO the student was dressed in workout clothes and suffered serious burns.
According to National Geographic, the chance of a person in the U.S. getting struck by lightning is 1 in 700,000. Strikes can happen when a thunderstorm is miles away.
Detection systems across the country have recorded about 25 million lightning strikes in a year, National Geographic reports.
Weather safety awareness has increased through technology and social media, and companies are working to create better protection from lightning strikes. For example, EMP Solutions has developed a suppressor that de-ionizes electrostatic charges in an environment to keep people and things such as monuments and buildings from being struck.
A company called SkyScan sells a personal handheld device that it says detects lightning within 40 miles, and StrikeAlert has a lightning detection device, too.
There are numerous smart phone apps dedicated to weather and issuing warnings to urge people to get to safety. The E.W. Scripps app Storm Shield is a radio weather alert system for exact locations and tells users when they are in the path of storms.
