Former Kalispell utility worker dies in 100-foot fall

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

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.

According to an obituary in the Spokesman-Review, Karstetter, a native of Yakima, Wash, is survived by his wife, Kara, daughter Danielle Griffith-Snow, and expected son Matthew James Karstetter Jr.

He also is survived by his father, James D. Karstetter, his mother, Susan Menig-Karstetter, his sister Jessica M. Karstetter and her daughter Genesis, all of Yakima, as well as his father-in-law Daniel Griffith and mother-in-law Christine Griffith of Libby.

His obituary said that a few days before his death, Karstetter was lowered to the wires by helicopter to rescue a crewman having a heart attack.