By Nick Draper
Idaho Falls Post Register
Copyright2007The Post Register
All Rights Reserved
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Fifteen vehicles and 27 people were involved in four separate accidents on Interstate 15, but injuries were minimal.
A shower never felt so good.
Central District Fire Chief Jim Deuel was among the dozens of emergency workers who responded to a multiple-car pileup on Interstate 15 on Monday.
He stayed for only a couple of hours, but the effects of the dust storm were obvious when he tried to get rid of the grime.
“When the water hit my head, there was just this puddle of mud in the bottom of the shower,” he said. “It was pretty crazy.”
No one was seriously hurt, but 15 cars were involved in a string of crashes caused by a wall of dust blowing off freshly tilled fields Monday afternoon.
Sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph forced Idaho State Police troopers to shut down a 15-mile stretch of the thoroughfare for more than five hours, starting at Exit 119 near the Idaho Falls Regional Airport and ending at Exit 134 at Roberts.
All told, 27 people were involved in four separate crashes that occurred at about 5 p.m. a couple of miles north of the Osgood exit. Six people received minor injuries and were transported to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.
Danniel Norris, 19, had to be extricated from a Honda Accord that was smashed on both ends. He suffered severe injuries and was transported to EIRMC.
Personnel from the ISP, Jefferson County sheriff’s office, Idaho Falls Fire Department and Ambulance, Roberts EMS and Fire, and Central Fire District responded to the accidents.
Jefferson County Sheriff Blair Olsen didn’t go to the site Monday, but he saw his deputies return to the office that night.
“Their uniforms were caked with dirt; their faces were caked with dirt,” he said, adding that there was a similar situation in 1975, his first year on the force. “It was obvious they were in a mess.”
Dust storms are nothing new to the area, but it’s been at least 10 years since one has caused this many accidents, Deuel said.
Then, it took a long time to get the interstate closed, he said, so emergency personnel were dodging cars as they were trying to help people.
It wasn’t like that at all Monday.
“That’s a lesson learned,” he said.
Despite the improvements in response and communication between agencies, dust storms are something everyone has to be aware of on that stretch of I-15, Deuel said.
“When you get winds in excess of 40 mph sustained, that’s going to happen out there,” he said.