Saturday, January 17, 2015

20 VEHICLES COLLIDE, INCLUDING A DOZEN TRUCKS, 50 VEHICLES BLOCKED ON I-84 IN OREGON. THE VEHICLES WERE HEADED EAST ON BLACK ICE AND COLLIDED.



20 VEHICLES COLLIDE, INCLUDING A DOZEN TRUCKS, 50 VEHICLES BLOCKED ON I-84 IN OREGON.  THE VEHICLES WERE HEADED EAST ON BLACK ICE AND COLLIDED.




                    A total of 20 vehicles collided, 50 more vehicles blocked at crash scene





By KOIN 6 News Staff Published: January 17, 2015, 11:32 am Updated: January 17, 2015, 3:11 pm






BAKER CITY, Ore. (KOIN 6) — About 20 vehicles, including a dozen trucks, collided on ice-covered I-84 shortly before 5 a.m. Saturday, blocking all eastbound traffic and blocking about 50 vehicles inside the crash scene.




ODOT officials closed I-84 in both directions in eastern Oregon and sent a hazmat crew to the scene



Westbound I-84 is closed in Ontario at Exit 371, and eastbound I-84 is closed at Exit 304 in Baker City, Exit 265 in LaGrand and Exit 216 east of Pendleton.



The westbound side is expected to be closed well into the afternoon and the eastern side will not open until sometime Saturday night, ODOT said.




The crash happened early Saturday morning on the eastbound side near Milepost 318, east of Baker City. Officials said the vehicles were headed east on black ice and collided.

Two of the truck were carrying hazardous materials and the hazmat crew was able to clear the issue by mid-afternoon. It was not revealed by ODOT what that hazardous material was.



Four people were taken to hospitals for treatment of injuries which were described as “minor to serious.”



KOIN 6 News will have more information as it develops.

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4 INJURED IN MASSIVE INTERSTATE 84 CRASH IN EASTERN OREGON




By The Associated Press Published: January 17, 2015, 5:11 pm Updated: January 17, 2015, 5:21 pm 




BAKER CITY, Ore. (AP) — Black ice is believed to be the cause of a freeway pileup involving more than a dozen tractor-trailers Saturday morning in eastern Oregon, police said.




The pileup left a long stretch of Interstate 84 closed for most of the day as crews worked to clean spilled diesel fuel and clear away 50 vehicles that were either damaged or stranded.



Four people were taken to hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to serious, but there were no fatalities, said Oregon State Police Sgt. Kyle Hove. The crash occurred shortly before 5 a.m. east of Baker City, about 130 miles northwest of Boise, Idaho.




Hove arrived on the scene to find “a sheet of ice” on the roadway. Troopers are still investigating, but Hove said he believes it was a chain reaction crash.




“A couple of the trucks came upon the black ice and they jackknifed and crashed into each other, and it just continued to escalate until we had a total of 50 vehicles in one scene,” Hove told The Associated Press by phone.




There were several separate collisions over a stretch of about 3/4 of a mile in the eastbound lanes, Hove said. About 20 vehicles were damaged, many of them tractor-trailers, and several spilled their loads, he said.




Two trucks were transporting hazardous materials, but authorities weren’t sure whether anything spilled aside from diesel from trucks’ fuel tanks.




“We understand it’s frustrating when the freeway is closed like this,” said Tom Srandberg, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation. “Our primary concern is safety, and want to make sure everything is cleared by our hazmat folks before we let any traffic through the areas.”




Interstate 84 links Salt Lake City with Portland, Oregon, and is the primary east-west highway through eastern Oregon. The Eastbound lanes were closed from Pendleton to Ontario, a stretch of more than 150 miles. Westbound lanes were near the crash site.