When a young man working on a Hollister Ranch project was electrocuted in the water and went into cardiac arrest, Juan Romero raced to shut off the circuit breaker and get a defibrillator.

Romero, the head of Hollister Ranch maintenance, Jackson James, head of Hollister Ranch security, and biologist Jason White were recognized for their lifesaving efforts at Tuesday’s Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting.

It was a few weeks into a project at Hollister Ranch, the residential community on the western Gaviota Coast, when, on Sept. 6, a man was electrocuted.

Romero’s actions to shut off the electricity avoided a multi-casualty event and made it possible to help the victim, the county resolution states.

White initiated CPR and then James took over doing CPR and gave him supplemental oxygen while they waited for him to be transported to the hospital.

“The young man recovered and discharged home neurologically intact,” according to the county.

“It all happened so quickly, but everyone acted very quickly,” White said.

They started CPR within 30 seconds and workers at the scene stripped the previously live wires off the victim’s body, he said.

Romero got a defibrillator from a half-mile away, which was a critical step saving the man’s life, White added.

The resolution also recognized people from the Hollister Ranch Owners Association, Granite Construction and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians who were at the work site and attended to the victim. That includes Patrick Cajandig, Juan Bueno, Luis Garibay, Raff Quiroga and Michael Morando.

The rescue was “miraculous” and showed people working together under tremendous stress, said Supervisor Joan Hartmann, who represents the Hollister Ranch area.