Mint Fire Causes Crash; Driver Hurt

Fri., Nov. 19, 1999

By John Craig johnc@spokesman.com

A 79-year-old motorist remained hospitalized Thursday after smoke from a burning pile of mint caused a five-car pileup in Grant County.

Authorities blame spontaneous combustion for the smoldering crop fire.

The accident on a county road about six miles west of Royal City occurred about 1 p.m. Wednesday. Firefighters couldn’t get the cars off the road until 24 hours later.

“Visibility was zero,” Grant County Sheriff Bill Wiester said. “You couldn’t see 12 inches. There was a wall of smoke there that was half to three-quarters of a mile wide.”

Wiester said emergency medical technicians and sheriff’s deputies felt their way through the smoke, aided by small openings when the wind shifted, to rescue the motorists.

Beverly Burke Road remained closed overnight, and it was Thursday afternoon before the smoke cleared enough for workers to attack the fire by spreading the pile out with bulldozers.

The most seriously injured motorist was Horace Worley, 79, of Mattawa, Wash. He suffered a broken thigh and remained in the critical care unit of Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital on Thursday for treatment of smoke inhalation. He was reported in serious but stable condition.

Doyle Flemming of Orondo, Wash., was released Thursday from Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee, where he was treated for a broken breast bone.

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