Train strikes vehicle stuck on tracks in Napavine

Updated at 12:56 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A pickup truck pulling a trailer that stalled on the railroad tracks in Napavine last night met up with the lead locomotive of a freight train.

Nobody was hurt, and the husband, wife and their dogs were out the vehicle before the train arrived, according to Napavine Police Chief Chris Salyers.

Responders said the truck was knocked to one side of the tracks and trailer loaded with a small tractor was thrown upside down into  ditch on the other side. It happened on Washington Avenue near the fire station.

Firefighters responded around 5:30 p.m., when they saw what was happening, according to Lewis County Fire District 5.

“We heard the vehicle spinning their wheels, we ran toward that, we could hear the train coming,” fire department spokesperson Lt. Laura Hanson said.

Hanson said there was a handful of people trying to get the rig unstuck, and firefighters got them to move back out of the way. She could already see the headlights of the train coming down the tracks, Hanson said. They asked dispatch to notify personnel on the train to try to stop, she said.

“It all happened rather quickly,” Hanson said.

BNSF spokesperson Gus Melonas indicated there was some damage to the locomotive. Salyers said he is continuing his investigation this morning.

What caused the Napavine area couple to be stopped on the tracks he did not know yet, Salyers said.

The tracks and road were closed for awhile, Salyers said. Firefighters remained on the scene helping clear debris until nearly 10:30 p.m., according to Hanson.

Firefighters were relieved nobody got hurt, Hanson said.

It’s something she hopes doesn’t happen again, but offers this advice for anyone whose vehicle gets stuck on train tracks:

The first call should be to 911, Hanson said.

“The quicker that call goes out, the quicker the railroad is called,” she said. “And they can attempt to get the train stopped.”

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6 Responses to “Train strikes vehicle stuck on tracks in Napavine”

  1. Rhonda says:

    A train really cant just stop on a dime…

  2. Maria says:

    The department did not have time to get an apparatus to move the vehicle. The moment they found out what was happening the train was already within sight. First thing they did was talk to dispatch to attempt to get the train to stop. It was to late before the fire department found out what was occuring to get the train to stop.

  3. Angela says:

    When something happens unexpected and someone gets put in a possible dangerous situation, people get in a hurry and panic. Sometimes the last thing someone thinks about is making a phone call when put in that situation. It amazed me how many people drove by and no one stopped to help. Very few of us were trying to get that truck out of the way. Instead of the firefighters running over to help, why not get one of your trucks to help pull it off. There are many different things in that scenario that probably could have happened to make the situation better, but people get panicked and don’t think sometimes. Like wise, calling 911 wouldn’t have helped much in such a quick time unless they had a truck. People were only interested in what happened after the fact and came running imagine that.

  4. ?? says:

    So the fire department had time to take the call and get everyone out of the way but they didn’t have enough time to call the train dispatch soon enough…?

  5. joe frankle says:

    Seems like they should have been able to stop since it is at the TOP of the hill, the trains are going pretty darn slow when they get there……

  6. kirk says:

    I bet dollars to donuts the engineer of the locomotive probably sped up before he hit the brakes……..