Log load spills in collision
<p><strong>A pickup truck</strong> leaving Swan River School pulled out onto Highway 83 and was struck by a west bound logging truck on Friday afternoon, December 18, near Bigfork. The driver of the pickup was ejected from the vehicle and transported by ambulance from the scene. The logging truck skidded to a stop across from the Echo Lake Cafe spilling its load across the highway. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
One person was ejected from his vehicle and injured in a collision between a loaded logging truck and pickup truck at the intersection of Montana 83 and Echo Lake Road on Friday afternoon.
According to Montana Highway Patrol Trooper John Underwood, an RBM Logging truck was driving westbound on Montana 83 when a 2014 Ford pickup truck driven by a Bigfork man pulled from the Swan River School parking lot into the highway.
The truck driver, a Columbia Falls man, tried to avoid a collision by swerving into the oncoming traffic lane.
“He was unable to avoid hitting that truck,” Underwood said. “He hit the truck in the left front fender.”
The pickup rolled 1 1/2 times before it came to rest. The driver’s door was ripped open in the crash. The man was not wearing his seat belt and was ejected.
The logging truck overturned on its side into a ditch, dumping its load pf logs onto the roadway.
Former Flathead County Detention Officer L.D. Gross was one of the first people to arrive on the scene. He helped slow oncoming traffic until emergency responders could arrive.
“The trailer broke apart,” Gross said. “The logs came off ... There were Lincoln logs everywhere.”
The truck driver and his male passenger did not have to be transported to the hospital.
The driver of the pickup truck was taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center with substantial injuries.
Underwood said citations will be issued but that he had not determined what those citations would be as of Friday night.
Another local logging company helped clear the logs, and the vehicles were towed by Bolster’s Towing and Double Deuce Towing. Bigfork Fire Department helped direct traffic, which was being diverted through the parking lot of Echo Lake Cafe.
Two hours after the crash, drivers were still being told to expect 10- to 20-minute delays on Montana 83.
Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.