HazMat crews called to clean fuel spill in deadly Hwy 38 crash

A person died in a head-on crash Saturday morning between a pickup and a truck reportedly hauling helicopter fuel and an herbicide along Highway 38, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said.

Emergency dispatch received a call about the fatal head-on crash just after 6 a.m. Saturday. The sheriff's office said the crash was between a pickup and a truck hauling helicopter fuel and drums of Atrazine, a herbicide similar to Roundup.

The driver of the pickup was pronounced dead at the scene.

The truck hauling chemicals went down an embankment, spilling some of the fuel load and losing four drums of Atrazine into the underbrush. One of the truck's two passengers was taken to the hospital in Reedsport.

Officials said there doesn't appear to be any danger to wildlife in the nearby Umpqua River as the spill took place about 100 feet from the riverbank.

The crash blocked both lanes of Highway 38 for about three hours. Crews cleared the westbound lane and are now working in the east lane to clean up the crash site.