Challis, ID : Woman dies in crash, semi load burns on April, Monday 10th 2017
A collision between a car and a tractor-trailer rig on Highway 75 just down the Salmon River from East Fork Road killed a Clayton woman and closed the highway for more than eight hours Tuesday when the contents of the trailer caught fire.
Susan Hobbs (formerly Tengesdal), 63, died about 8:30 a.m. when she collided with a tractor-trailer rig pulling two tanker trailers loaded with diesel, according to an Idaho State Police (ISP) news release. The tanker trailers caught fire and burned for nearly seven hours, generating a thick cloud of black smoke and intense heat.
Hobbs was driving her 1999 Subaru Forester downriver toward Challis, going into a curved portion of the highway, according to the news release. Jarin Smith, 37, of Blackfoot, was driving upriver toward Clayton in a 2010 Kenworth, pulling two tanker trailers with 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel.
Hobbs’ Subaru crossed the centerline of the highway and collided with the Kenworth. The semi rig rolled, rupturing both tanker trailers, which became fully engulfed in flames on the East Fork side of the road. The collision was at milepost 227, just downriver from the East Fork and Salmon River bridge complex and BLM East Fork Campground.
The semi came to rest on its side upriver from the Subaru.
Smith was wearing a seatbelt and able to get out of the semi with no injuries.
Hobbs was not wearing a seatbelt and died in her vehicle. Authorities have notified her family. In North Custer Fire Chief Launna Gunderson’s opinion, anyone would have died on impact.
Volunteer firefighters from North Custer Fire District kept the fire in check until it consumed the diesel fuel.
The fire spread from the burning tanker trailers on the East Fork side of the highway to the Salmon River side through a culvert running under the highway. Burning fuel flowed through and torched the culvert, spreading flames to vegetation on the Salmon River side of the highway. A photo taken by an East Fork resident soon after the collision shows flames shooting above a power pole and power lines, damaging both. The culvert acted like a flame thrower, shooting a fireball above the power lines. Downed transmission lines, where live wires were on the ground, led to a power outage for residents up the East Fork.
A Salmon River Electric Cooperative crew responded to fix the damage and cut power and ambulance crews were standing by.
No diesel fuel reached the Salmon River, according to ISP. Volunteer firefighters put a dike in the path of the fuel, blocking it from spreading beyond the highway right of way and the power line.
The crash and resulting fire damaged the roadway, Gunderson said. Volunteer firefighters did not have enough foam to extinguish the burning fuel, and they could not use water because there was magnesium in the semi wreckage, which flares up and burns hot when it comes into contact with water, Gunderson told The Challis Messenger on scene.
ISP reopened the upriver lane of traffic about 5 p.m., keeping the downriver lane adjacent to the smoldering wreckage closed. Emergency personnel were on scene nearly all day and environmental officials were en route to the site Tuesday evening as was a cleanup contractor and wrecker.
The accident is under investigation by ISP with assistance from the Custer County Sheriff’s Office.
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Woman dies in crash, semi load burns