Editor’s note: story updated on June 18. – MD
Three people were transported for non-life threatening injuries on June 17 after a collision near Sequim Bay State Park involved three vehicles, including a semi-truck and two SUVs.
According to a Washington State Patrol memo, Nicole Charles, 53, of Port Angeles was driving west on U.S. Highway 101 by Schoolhouse Point Lane in a 2014 Subaru Forester when she allegedly drove into oncoming traffic and struck Shaun Parker, 38, of Port Angeles driving east in a semi-truck. The collision caused Carmen Pitkin, 67, of Sequim to collide with Charles in her 2000 Jeff Grand Cherokee.
Both Charles and Pikin’s vehicles came to rest in the westbound ditch, and Parker and the semi-truck in the eastbound ditch.
Pitkin and Parker were transported to Jefferson Healthcare in Port Townsend with non-life threatening injuries, Washington State Patrol reports, and Charles was transported with non-life threatening injuries to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.
Troopers report Charles is suspected of DUI.
All three drivers were wearing seatbelts, State Patrol’s memo states, but all three vehicles were totaled.
The highway closed around 9:05 a.m. at Schoolhouse Point Lane going both directions and traffic remained backed up into the afternoon.
Initial calls to 9-1-1 reported one vehicle was on fire and another was involved in a head-on collision with the semi-truck, said Battalion Chief Chris Turner with Clallam County Fire District 3.
Firefighters did not find a fire on the scene, he said.
First responders discovered a diesel fuel leak from the incident that saw about 100 gallons of fuel leak out. Turner reports that firefighters created an earthen dam and applied absorbent material to stop the spread of fuel and staff with the Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) later taking over the mitigation of the spill.
Mutual aid was called in for Clallam County Fire District 2 to help with calls during the incident.
Life Flight was placed on standby, Turner said, and an additional Olympic Ambulance was requested to respond to the scene.
Turner said the fire district responds to a number of wrecks on the highway each year, and as traffic grows the district has developed a plan to inform drivers of wrecks ahead.
Crews will deploy “Emergency Scene Ahead” signs soon after arrival to help drivers expect that an extended traffic interruption is ahead, he said.
Photo courtesy Clallam County Fire District 3/ Three people were transported to area hospitals for injuries on Monday, June 17 after a collision on U.S. Highway 101 that involved two SUVs and a semi-truck.
