CdA man dies after truck crash
A 43-year-old Coeur d’Alene man died late Thursday of injuries suffered when a pickup he was driving went over a steep embankment on a Forest Service road east of Lake Pend Oreille that afternoon, the Idaho State Police reported.
An ISP report said two Coeur d’Alene men were in the truck when, for causes not yet determined, it went off the road – a narrow gravel road near the remote village of Lakeview in the Kaniksu National Forest.
Michael Joseph Vanslate was severely injured in the wreck. He was pronounced dead at Kootenai Medical Center at 11:27 p.m. Raymond Paul Allison, identified by ISP as a 47-year-old passenger in the truck, was listed in fair condition at Kootenai Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.
The crash in the remote area, though popular with hunters, sparked an intense aid effort that involved technical rescue teams and two helicopters racing the gathering darkness.
Both Vanslate and Allison were ejected when the truck rolled down the steep hillside studded with downed timber, said Timberlake Fire District Chief Rich Graeber, the first emergency worker to reach the scene.
Allison may have been ejected closer to the road, Graeber said, and was able to climb back up to seek assistance. Vanslate was found near the truck – some 75 to 100 feet down – and pinned between two logs, Graeber said.
A passer-by alerted authorities via cell phone around 5 p.m. Graeber said the spot of the rollover was in a rare spot of cell phone reception in the hilly area across the lake from Bayview.
“You could see the lights of Bayview from the road,” he said, but noted it still took Timberlake crews an hour to reach the scene on the narrow and twisting gravel road, 16 miles north of the end of the pavement at Bunco Road. Hunters’ rigs, some with trailers and campers, needed to be cleared to allow the fire crews through, Graeber said.
Graeber said he first assessed Allison’s injuries and then shouted down the slope to Vanslate.
“He raised his hand so I could see where he was,” Graeber said. With a trauma kit, Graeber and firefighter Luke Michaels worked their way down a slope estimated to be as steep as 45 or 50 degrees.
“The slope was extreme. There were down and dead trees. It was tough to get down there,” Graeber said.
Vanslate complained of extreme pain in his legs and told Graeber the accident may have occurred about an hour before help was called.
“We did a quick assessment, got him oxygen, took some basic neck and spinal cord precautions,” Graeber said, “and then the cavalry started to arrive.”
A technical rescue team of about nine or 10 firefighters from Kootenai County Fire and Rescue arrived in two waves, Graeber said, and quickly began setting up a rope and pulley system to get Vanslate to the road.
Two medical helicopters were on their way, but the first one came across the lower arm of Lake Pend Oreille and reached the scene as darkness fell.
Emergency crews had prepared a small knob near the wreck for a landing zone, but it was not large enough to meet the requirements for night landings, Graeber said.
The helicopters were directed to land in the snowmobile parking lot where the pavement ends at Bunco Road. Vanslate and Allison were driven to meet the helicopters, which took about an hour.
“This is a very unfortunate outcome. My heart goes out to the family,” Graeber said of Vanslate’s death. “We gave it our best. We had darkness, steep slopes and a critical patient. When the helicopters were not able to land, we had to go to a plan B, and I think we got to C before all was said and done.
“I can’t find words to compliment the paramedics and technical rescue crew about how they came together to make things happen as quickly as possible,” he said.