[1]The ambulance belonging to Lewis County Fire District 8 is damaged from an elk on the freeway. / Courtesy photo by Spring Hughes-Witham
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Two members of the Salkum fire department and the patient in the back of their ambulance were hospitalized after colliding with an elk on Interstate 5 south of Chehalis overnight.
It happened as they were northbound approaching the milepost 72 interchange for Napavine, according to Lewis County Fire District 8.
“They were transporting a patient to Providence, had an elk walk out in front of them, it was about five points,” Fire Chief Duran McDaniel said.
McDaniel said the patient was uninjured from the incident and was transferred to an ambulance with Lewis County District 5 and taken on to the hospital.
Neither the driver nor the firefighter-EMT who was in the back had life threatening injuries, according to McDaniel. They were transported to Providence Centralia Hospital as well, he said.
He said he wasn’t yet sure if the ambulance was repairable or would be totaled.
“The passenger compartment was intact but the front end was pushed in,” he said.
McDaniel said he was just preparing to head home after responding to assist with the call in Ethel for the fall victim and saw a message on his cell phone from his crew, about 2:20 a.m.: “We hit an elk, everybody appears to be okay,” was the message, he said,
The ambulance was taken to nearby Braun Northwest, the place where it was built in 2008, he said. District 8 has two other ambulances, he said.