Multi-vehicle pileups create I-90 havoc

GEIGER — Various records on the West Plains are seemingly being broken on a regular basis these days as commercial and residential growth expands.

On Tuesday, Nov. 26, a different kind of record was broken when atmospheric conditions resulted in a perfect commuter storm that caused chain reaction collisions across the area.

While roadway surface temperature remained above freezing, snow began to fall around 2 p.m. on Interstate 90 around the Geiger Interchange. The snow melted.

Then temperatures dipped below the freezing point and the melted snow quickly turned to ice even as more snow fell, according to the National Weather Service.

“As that event shows, it doesn’t take a whole lot of snow to cause problems,” Meteorologist Steve Bodnar said.

And it only took one accident to start a chain of collisions.

Brian Findley of Spokane was driving eastbound on Interstate 90 between the Medical Lake and Geiger interchanges when he encountered the accident.

“Break lights. No stopping. A sheet of ice,” he said as he stood next to his pickup that was pushed up against the concrete median barrier while emergency service personnel finished methodically checking each vehicle for the injured, wrapping colored surveyors tape to rear view mirrors to indicate the status of people inside vehicles.

Other EMS personnel began moving damaged vehicles to the right-hand shoulder.

Vehicles were smashed together, thrown helter-skelter from the impacts both in front and behind. Some were drivable, many others clearly not.

“I got lucky,” Findley said. “I saw it in time to at least come over a little bit, so I only hit one guy.”

He essentially described the same event Bodnar outlined: snow fell, the road became icy and untenable and people were unable to stop in time.

All told there were an estimated 50 ­‑100 vehicles involved in 35 different accidents in a four mile stretch of I-90 alone, according to Washington State Patrol spokesman Jeff Sevigney.

“Drivers were caught of guard and failed to reduce their speed,” Sevigney said. “Once we had a crash it kept getting bigger because folks kept piling into it.”

All told, in the State Patrol’s District 4 that includes Ferry, Stevens, Pen Oreille, Lincoln, Spokane, Adams and Whitman counties there were 47 crashes involving a total of 127 vehicles.

While six people were transported to area hospitals, “there were no fatalities or serious injuries, which is definitely the good news,” Sevigney said.

A warming shelter was opened at the Shriner’s Event Center on West Thorpe Road. Spoken Transit Authority dispatched a bus to transport people from the scene. About 30 people were taken to the center, according to Sevigney.

Although he didn’t have a total number of vehicles towed away from the numerous accidents, he did say, “It was a lot. We towed a lot of cars,” noting that all the tow trucks on a call list maintained by the State Patrol were out at one time.

“At one point we had them all dispatched and we needed more, so the tow trucks were recycling — as soon as they got a car off they would come back and get another one,” he said.

At least one lane was opened in each direction of travel on I-90 “fairly quickly,” Sevigney said, and all lanes were open by 5:30 p.m.

“The lesson learned is it’s winter time in the Northwest and conditions can change rapidly,” he said. “Folks need to prepare for those changing road and weather conditions.”

Sevigney, a 23-year State Patrol veteran, said he had never seen anything like it.

“This was the biggest crash I’ve ever been involved with for sure.”

Lee Hughes can be reached at lee@cheneyfreepress.com.