This blog presents Metropolitan Engineering Consulting & Forensics (MEC&F) claim management and claim investigation analyses of some of the typical claims we handle
By KOMO Staff Published: Aug 2, 2015 MOUNT VERNON, Wash. --
A motorcyclist was killed in a head-on crash in Mount Vernon Saturday evening.
Troopers say the 46-year-old motorcycle rider was traveling north in the southbound lane of SR-9 when he collided head-on with a Honda near Buchanan Street. The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Honda wasn't hurt.
The crash sparked a small brush fire that was eventually doused.
Investigators say the driver of the Honda was cited for DUI, but is being considered the victim in the crash and won't face any other criminal charges.
The motorcycle rider's name has not been released.
Investigators on the Eastside have solved the "what" but they still want to know who was responsible for a large truck explosion this week -- and why.
Two pressurized canisters exploded during a vehicle fire in the 11800 block of Southeast 84th Street Wednesday night, sending shrapnel flying. The debris took out one homeowner's fence, another resident's outdoor deck post, and set a number of small brush fires around the burning pickup.
"I knew there were going to be explosions because I could hear the gas hissing out of the back," said Daniel Kim, a witness who took video of the fire. "When the first one went off, I was afraid of shrapnel -- getting hit by flying metal debris."
Kim grabbed a garden hose to put out some of the grass fires that popped up. "Never seen anything like this before," he said. "It was the craziest fire I've ever seen."
Witnesses reported two people walking away from the scene once the fire started, said Lt. Richard Burke with the Bellevue Fire Department. The license plate and VIN number on the 2015 white GM pickup truck were also burned in the fire, making it difficult to track down who was inside the vehicle before the explosion.
"We don't think they called 911," Burke said, of the truck's occupants.
Fire investigators now believe the tanks were holding propane and acetylene, added Sergeant Stan Seo with the King County Sheriff's Office. They don't know what set of the explosions, however.
"What we really want to do is talk to the people who took off on us," Seo said. That sentiment is shared by resident Michael Grow, whose deck post is now split into two giant pieces.
"One of the canisters came up here," he said, pointing, on Friday. "It broke the post, went through my fence, and on the side of the house, the grass caught fire."
"I want to know what happened, who was here," added Grow. "Some of the neighbors have told me that while everybody was coming here to look at what was going on, there were two people walking away."
The truck was taken to a secure location for further investigation, authorities said.
"This whole area was covered with flames," added Grow. "I'm lucky nothing else happened."
An investigator examines the burned-out hulk of the pickup after the fire and explosions.
NEWCASTLE, Wash. -
Police are
investigating after a burning pickup truck loaded with gas canisters set
off a series of explosions that turned a quiet Newcastle neighborhood
into a war zone Wednesday evening.
The drama unfolded when the
pickup pulled onto Southeast 84th Street with flames billowing from it,
then stopped. The driver apparently jumped out and ran.
Second
later, as residents called 911, compressed gas cylinders in the bed of
the pickup began exploding and at least two of them shot through the air
like flying missiles. The force of the blasts also blew off the truck's
tailgate and sent it airborne.
One cylinder wiped out a deck at
the side of a nearby home, and another ignited a brush fire in a
neighbor's yard that quickly spread to a large cedar tree and two nearby
vehicles parked along the street.
"It shot the fire and shot the
cylinders all over," said the homeowner who lost his deck. "It started a
big tree on fire ... my Mustang and utility trailer were burnt. ...
It's pretty crazy."
Another neighbor said he had to take cover as gas canisters and debris shot through the air like shells in a war zone.
"I've never seen anything like this before," he said.
Firefighters quickly arrived at the scene and doused flames that had broken out on both sides of the street.
Fortunately, no one was hurt.
Police are still looking for the driver of the pickup as the investigation continues.
Officials ID 2 killed in crash at intersection with obscured stop sign
3 injured, including 4-year-old, in Rock County crash
Published On: August 02 2015
Channel3000_Web_Staff
TOWN OF UNION, Wis. -
Two people were killed and three were injured,
including a 4-year-old, in a crash where deputies said a stop sign was
obscured at Rock County intersection. Rock County sheriff’s deputies were sent to the intersection
of West County Road C and North Pleasant Prairie Road in the town of
Union for a report of a two-vehicle crash just before 6 p.m., according
to a release.
Kay Ellen Coleman, 53, of Madison was driving a 2011
Dodge Charger north on North Pleasant Prairie when she did not stop at a
stop sign, officials said. The Charger was T-boned by a 2013 Dodge
Avenger, being driven by a 24-year-old Brooklyn woman, at the
intersection.
The 24-year-old Brooklyn woman and her 4-year-old
daughter were transported to UW Hospital by Med Flight for
non-life-threatening injuries, according to the release. The woman and
her daughter were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.
Coleman
and a passenger, 46-year-old Michael D. Crotty, 46, of Evansville, were
pronounced dead at the scene, officials said. Coleman's husband, a
60-year-old Madison man, was transported to Mercy Hospital and Trauma
Center in Janesville with non-life-threatening injuries.
Investigators said the three occupants of the Dodge Avenger were wearing their seat belts.
Speed
and alcohol are not believed to be factors in the crash, but
investigators said the stop sign at the intersection was obscured by
foliage in a wooded tree line. There was also high corn on the opposite
side, making the intersection difficult to see, officials said.
The intersection was closed about three-and-a-half hours during the investigation, according to the release.
At this time, authorities do not expect to file charges in the incident.
Three-year-old boy among those being treated as Thames Valley police investigate cause of explosion at Bray Lock, Taplow
Bray Lock, where the explosion happened on Sunday.
Photograph: Alamy
Press Association
Six people, including a three-year-old boy, have been taken to hospital after an explosion on a boat on the river Thames.
Thames Valley police are investigating the cause of the explosion at
Bray Lock in Taplow, on the Buckinghamshire-Berkshire border, at around
12.40pm on Sunday.
A spokesman said: “A man and a woman aged in their 40s and a teenage
girl who were on the boat have been taken to St George’s hospital in
London for treatment.
“Another man in his 40s, a woman in her 30s and a three-year-old boy
who were also thought to have been on the boat have been taken to the
John Radcliffe hospital for treatment.
“Their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening. Another man received minor injuries and was treated at the scene.”
The boat is thought to be privately owned.
Residents were urged on Sunday to avoid the area while emergency services were working at the scene.
A chemical leak at Coca-Cola Singapore in the Tuas area on Friday (July 31) morning saw 80 workers being evacuated, with one sent to the National University Hospital (NUH) with breathing difficulties.
The incident happened at about 8.45am at 457 Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim.
A gas cylinder, which was about 1.6m long, was being used to contain about 60kg of compressed ammonia when it ruptured and caused an explosion on the first floor.
A 44-year-old man was taken to NUH after he had difficulty breathing and complained of discomfort on his face and throat.
He has been decontaminated by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
