Rollover on Hwy 135 leaves none injured
<p>Plains-Paradise Rural Fire District volunteers conduct an initial investigation of the rolled vehicle shortly after arriving on scene. They checked the engine to ensure it was off, so that electrical issues wouldn't cause a spark.</p>
PLAINS/PARADISE – A single vehicle rolled on Montana highway 135 late Monday morning from which no injuries were reported.
The driver, an unidentified man from Kalispell, was the only occupant in the green Ford Explorer. He had been traveling northbound (towards Plains) when icy road conditions caused the driver to veer off the road, roll two times, and land upside down against the rock cliff.
Rescue authorities were paged to the scene after witnesses came to the man’s aid, as he could not find his cell phone to call for help.
“He must have slammed up against that cliff moments before we came around that corner,” witness Christy Madden said. “So then, we stopped, and my husband’s a nurse at the [Clark Fork Valley] hospital. So he went over, and asked him questions, [checked his vitals].”
Soon after, according to Madden, her husband, along with two other witnesses who had stopped following the crash, helped the man from his rolled vehicle.
“They got him out,” Madden said. “And then they got him in our car.”
The man remained in the Maddens’ car until authorities arrived. Plains Ambulance and one engine from Plains-Paradise Rural Fire District responded to the crash, and immediately set up traffic control. Authorities stated the man was “very, very lucky” to emerge from the rolled vehicle uninjured.
The patient refused transport by the ambulance, and the vehicle was not blocking the road.