By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Seven vehicles – four of them semi-trucks – had to be towed from Interstate 5 yesterday afternoon after collisions that shut down the freeway north of Centralia and caused miles-long backups for hours.
It began about 1:30 p.m. when cars began slowing for traffic near the county line and a northbound 2004 Volvo tractor-trailer rig changing lanes rear-ended a Mazda pickup and then struck a Ford pickup, according to the state a patrol.
Twelve vehicles were involved but only three individuals sustained minor injuries, according to authorities.
It happened in the bottleneck area under construction, according to fire department Lt. Isaac Garza.
The congestion got so bad so quickly that responders from Centralia’s Riverside Fire Authority couldn’t get to the scene and ambulances from Rochester went there by traveling south in the northbound lanes, according to fire department officers.
“The road construction makes it really difficult to access because there’s no shoulders,” West Thurston Regional Fire Authority’s Garza said this morning.
Garza said a semi-truck pushed a passenger car up onto the right hand concrete barrier, crushing the car. The car’s two female occupants, from Portland, were taken by ambulance to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia.
“They were very, very fortunate,” Garza said. “Normally we would have expected to see a higher level of injury there.”
The 2008 Camry was totaled, as was a 2002 Ford Explorer, according to the Washington State Patrol.
The state patrol blamed inattention, following too closely and an unsafe lane change for the pileup. Any citations or charges are pending the completion of the investigation, according to the investigating trooper.
Although Centralia firefighters couldn’t get to the scene, they assisted two individuals stuck in the traffic and in need of aid for other reasons.
Fire Capt. Scott Weinert said a pregnant woman began having contractions and they took her to the hospital; and a recently discharged heart patient was running low on oxygen and needed to get off the freeway.
By 3 p.m., the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 were backed up beyond the area south of the 13th Street interchange in south Chehalis, and city streets inside both Chehalis and Centralia were described as clogged.
The 12 drivers involved came from places as far away as Albany, Ore. and Zillah. A 27-year-old man from Tenino was reportedly uninjured.
Centralia resident Benjamin Alsterberg was the third individual who was hurt, according to the state patrol. The 24-year-old was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with for injury to his neck and head
The northbound lanes were reopened around 5 p.m.
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Note from Sharyn: If any reader got a photo from this, I’d sure like it if you would email it me to share here. You can send it to me at sharyn.decker@lewiscountysirens.com
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter