Crashes punctuate firefighters’ week

Two fairly spectacular accidents marked the beginning and the end of the week from Aug. 11-18 for the Spokane Valley Fire Department.

Shortly after noon on Aug. 11 a pickup truck crossed the centerline on Trent Avenue near Pines Road and slammed head-on into a car going east driven by David P. Daul, 54, of Nine Mile Falls. The truck then spun and hit a third car. Daul had to be cut from the wreckage before he was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center by helicopter.

“It took quite a while to cut him out of there,” said assistant fire marshal Bill Clifford. “Everything was so crumpled up around him.”

Washington State Patrol arrested the driver of the pickup, identified as 52-year-old Sherroll G. Hooper of Spokane, on a charge of vehicular assault. A WSP press release said alcohol was a factor in the accident.

The week ended with a high-speed collision at 16th Avenue and Progress Road just after 10 p.m. Wednesday. A truck heading south at high speed veered off the road and hit a fence, utility pole and a shed, Clifford said. The shed was demolished, power lines were down and a transformer was leaking. Two people were taken to the hospital.

The week saw 262 calls, with 33 of them coming on Aug. 11. The number of calls per day is usually closer to 20. “Just one of those days, I guess,” Clifford said.

Several fires were reported, but none was major. Almost all of them fell into the category of recreational or backyard fires, many of them not legal. Firefighters also responded to two calls involving contractors digging up natural gas lines. A call came in at 2:13 p.m. near Harvard Road and Trent Avenue about a possible gas leak. There is an Avista regulating station in the area. “The relief valve activated and was putting natural gas into the air,” Clifford said. “The area was cordoned off and Avista was called.”

There were 23 reported vehicle accidents. In one incident, firefighters were asked to help remove a truck that got tangled in wire after hitting a power pole in the 9600 block of East Empire Avenue at 11:55 a.m. on Aug. 12. “The bumper needed to be removed,” he said. “Firefighters cut a portion of it off to free the truck.”