Lumber truck overturns near Paradise

Debris from an overturned lumber truck littered Highway 200 in front of Paradise Gardens after an accident on Tuesday just before 2:30 p.m. The wreckage left the highway closed for hours as crews cleaned up the mess.

Three people were taken to the Clark Fork Valley Hospital as a result of the accident, according to Jim Henry of the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire Department. The truck driver was taken to the hospital, as were male and female passengers from the minivan.

A Montana lumber truck was heading eastbound on Highway 200 when a white minivan with Washington plates pulled out in front of it from Highway 135.

“The semi was going eastbound when it approached the intersection,” Sgt. Duane Bowers of Montana High Patrol said. “The van pulled out of 135 in front of the semi. When this happened the truck driver moved as far left as he could to avoid the van.”

Bowers said that the van came even further over and the truck eventually ran out of room. “Because of this the semi had no choice but to hit the van, luckily it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been,” he said.

The lumber truck struck the left front quarter panel of the van sending it into a spin that ended in the grass in front of Paradise Gardens. After the lumber truck hit the van, it over corrected and rolled over on its side, losing its load of lumber.

“It is pretty apparent what happened,” Bowers said. “The van failed to yield on a through highway, and that is the actual citation.”

The accidents occured just before 2:30 p.m. in the afternoon.

At press time, Bowers said the three people injured were in stable condition. He didn’t thing anyone was injured seriously.

“This probably could’ve been a lot worse,” he said. “Luckily the driver of the semi was able to act fast and smart and prevented what could’ve been a pretty substantial wreck.”

Three ambulances, two from Plains and one from Hot Springs, responded to the accident. The Plains-Paradise Rural Fire Department, Montana Highway Patrol, Plains Police, and first responders from Camp Bighorn also responded to the scene.

Henry guessed that the he and his men would likely be out on the highway for several hours helping to divert traffic. Officials didn’t close the road because traffic could be diverted through a pull-through in front of Paradise Gardens.

He said they were awaiting a wrecker to clean up the mess that was left, but in the mean time he along with the Highway Patrol were going over the scene to make sure they had all the information as to what happened.

“We’re lucky that it looks like everyone is going to be alright,” Bowers said. “This could’ve been a whole lot worse.”