Three Wyoming girls struck by lightning last week near Summit County’s Lily Lake are in improved condition and expected to “make a fully recovery,” their family says.
In a statement released through Salt Lake City’s Primary Children’s Hospital, the Evanston family — identified only as “The Thompson family” — expressed thanks to the “community for their thoughts and prayers for our three daughters. . . .
“We are happy to say that the girls, ages 7, 6, and 3, are healing well and are expected to make a full recovery. At this time, we ask for privacy so that we can maintain our focus on the health and healing of our children.”
The Tuesday statement also thanked first responders and doctors and nurses at both Evanston Regional Hospital, where the girls were first taken by ambulance, and Primary Children’s Hospital, where they were later flown for more specialized care.
The statement said the family would not be doing any media interviews for the time being.
The sisters were hit by lightning about 1:30 p.m. Friday. Two of the girls initially were listed as being in critical condition and the third in fair condition.
Lily Lake is a popular camping destination in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, located off State Route 150 near the Wyoming border.
The family of five from Evanston, Wyo., was on a fishing and camping trip at the lake and was fishing along the shore when storm clouds moved in and the family took shelter under a group of trees.
Despite being told to lie down, lightning struck the site and the girls were shocked. Their father performed CPR to revive them.
A week earlier, two girls, ages 8 and 16, were struck by lightning while walking a dog in Beaver County. Their families had been camping near Big Flat in the Beaver Mountains for a family reunion. The girls were flown to the hospital and were in critical condition initially, but they, too, are expected to survive.
A 14-year-old girl died last year in Utah after being struck by lightning while riding a Jet Ski at Flaming Gorge Reservoir, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The year before, a woman died from a lightning strike at a family picnic in Lehi.
From 2007 to 2016, seven people died in Utah from lightning strikes, according to the NWS.
According to data updated Wednesday by the NWS, no one has died of a lightning strike in Utah this year, but there have been 12 lightning-related deaths nationwide in 2017.