News brief: Fiery crash consumes car, semi truck in Rochester

Updated at 6:28 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Two people survived a head-on collision on U.S. Highway 12 in Rochester yesterday in which both the car and the semi truck burst into flames sending a smoke column as much as 1,500 feet into the air and taking thousands of gallons of water to extinguish.

Firefighters dispatched about 3:30 p.m. could see the tower of smoke from their station three miles away, according to West Thurston Regional Fire Authority.

The truck was hauling a type of plywood and burned all the way down to the frame, Fire Chief Robert Scott said.

“The concussion heard from the tires blowing was heard over a mile away,” Scott said. “The explosions shot tire debris probably 150 yards.”

It happened on the highway near 183rd Avenue and Nicody Lane Southwest.

The woman driving the car and man driving the big rig were both standing on the side of the road when crews arrived, he said.

She was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital with minor injuries, he said. The truck driver – a 67-year-old Chehalis resident – was evaluated at the scene and shaken up, but otherwise fine, according to responders.

It’s a slow stretch of the road where the speed limit drops to around 35 to 40 mph, according to Scott.

“Very minor injuries, super fortunate,” Washington State Patrol spokesperson Trooper Guy Gill said. “This could have very easily been a double fatality.”

The 65-year-old Olympia woman had been traveling westbound when she fell asleep at the wheel crossed into the oncoming lane, meeting up with the semi, Gill said. Darlene J. Dickinson would be receiving a $500 ticket for negligent driving second-degree, Gill said.

There was a fuel spill that had to be cleaned up, according to Gill. The heat was so intense, road crews were out there today repairing damage to the pavement, he said.