A Bend-area woman was killed Monday afternoon in a head-on collision with a commercial semi truck on Highway 20 east of Sweet Home.
The collision also left two persons injured and started a small forest fire.
On July 27, 2009, at approximately 12:45 p.m.., a 2007 Dodge Dakota pickup, towing a travel trailer of unknown length, was traveling eastbound on Highway 20 near milepost 54, according to the Oregon State Police. A 1989 Kenworth semi truck and trailer was westbound and failed to negotiate a corner, crossing into the eastbound lane where it struck the pickup truck
head-on.
The crash happened roughly a mile east of the Mountain House and about 25 miles east of Sweet Home.
A passenger in the pickup, Ethel Ann Hopkins, 63, from Bend, died at the scene.
Other motorists were able to pull the driver, Craig Scott Hopkins, 66, from the pickup before all vehicles were consumed by fire. Craig Hopkins is the husband of Ethel Hopkins.
He was transported to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend with non-life threatening injuries.
Neither the driver of the semi truck, Billy Wayne Floyd, 28, of Las Vegas, Nev., nor passenger Matthew Aaron Dizick, 20, of Cottage Grove, was injured.
Police were unable to determine whether seatbelts were used.
The semi truck was pulling a carnival ride and was operated by Davis Amusement Cascadia, Inc., of Milwaukie. It was reportedly en route to the Benton County Fairgrounds.
Excessive speed is believed to be a factor in the collision, according to OSP.
The vehicle fire sparked a forest fire in the area that burned approximately an acre and a half. The fire was suppressed by the U.S. Forest Service; the Oregon Department of Forestry; and the Sweet Home, Lebanon, and Brownsville fire departments.
Air support was provided by a helicopter operated by Weyerhaeuser.
Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District and the Oregon Department of Forestry Sweet Home Unit were the first agencies on the scene, SHFAD Battalion Chief Doug Emmert said.
“We were shorthanded like we always are in the daytime,” he said. “The Department of Forestry really started taking care of the fire.”
Black Butte Ambulance assisted Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance, Emmert said.
Sweet Home Unit Forester Ed Keith said responding crews were initially unsure whether the fire was on the National Forest or private ODF-protected land in the area. Later, they determined it was on the National Forest, and the U.S. Forest Service took over command of the scene.
“We pretty well left it in good shape,” Keith said Monday about 9 p.m. after ODF resources had been withdrawn from the fire.
“It’s basically out. We don’t necessarily call it out until two or three days without smoke. It’s contained, and it’s controlled.”
The flames are out, he said, but the area still has smoldering heat that fire crews will watch and mop up over the next couple of days.
Fire crews put a “hose-lay” around the entire fire, he said, and they were able to knock down the flames with the helicopter.
The incident was complicated by having so many different parts to the emergency, with medics assisting the injured,
firefighters dealing with the fire and police officers and Oregon Department of Transportation investigating and reconstructing the crash and possible hazardous materials, Keith said.
Highway 20 was shut down between Sweet Home and the junction at between milepost 53 and 71, with roadblocks at the Mountain House and Quartzville Road after the crash. According to their radio transmissions, at about 12:30 a.m., ODOT crews started pulling the forward road blocks and planning to open one lane past the wreckage, which was being loaded onto tow trucks and hauled away.
The investigation is being conducted by troopers from the Oregon State Police Albany Area Command. Troopers from the Bend, Springfield, and Salem OSP area commands also assisted.
Additional assistance on the scene was provided by ODOT, the Linn County Sheriff’s office, and US Forest Service law enforcement personnel. Sweet Home Police Department initially closed Highway 20 at the intersection of Quartzville Road until ODOT staff arrived.
SHFAD sent one engine, while Brownsville sent a tender and Lebanon sent a tender and engine. The ODF sent five engines and a 10-person crew. The U.S. Forest Service sent two engines and a 20-person crew. Weyerhaeuser supplied a helicopter to fight the fire.
Troopers are interested in speaking with any witnesses to the crash or to anyone who observed the commercial vehicle prior to the incident. Anyone with information is asked to call Senior Trooper Scott Hite at (541) 967-2026, extension 4440.