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.