After a horrible incident that claimed a woman's life, her family is suing a power company and its various entities for her wrongful death in 2009.

According to the lawsuit, crews had cleaned power lines near the woman's home in Irwin with knives and other tools instead of wire brushes. As a result, the lines failed and fell into the woman's yard.

When the lines failed, power to the home was apparently cut out. The woman went outside to make a 911 call on her cellphone when a wire fell on her. She was apparently shocked and burned in front of her two daughters and her mother-in-law. The older woman tried to help her but was also shocked in the process.

They could do nothing to help the children's mother until utility workers arrived to cut the power. The woman suffered burns over 85 percent of her body. She had her left arm amputated before she died three days after the incident.

The family's neighbor says she is afraid to walk in her yard anywhere near the wires because she's afraid they will fall. According to WTAE, the neighbor says of the woman's children, "they have a sadness in their face and I know they miss their mother tremendously."

The family is suing Allegheny Energy Inc., Allegheny Power and West Penn Power. The family's attorney would also like the Public Utility Commission to investigate how the utility workers were instructed to clean the wires that caused the woman's death.

Source: WTAE, "Lawyer wants PUC probe of power lines after woman's death," Jan. 17, 2012