Wreck reportedly triggers haystack fire
Several haystacks caught fire near state Route 17 and Road 3 Wednesday morning. Grant County Fire District No. 5 responded to the scene. Traffic was blocked on the highway both ways. Photo by Candice Boutilier/Columbia Basin Herald
Driver appeared 'conscious and alert,' patrol says
MOSES LAKE - A driver allegedly drove off state Route 17 Wednesday and ran into a tree just south of Moses Lake.
The wreck apparently triggered a fire destroying about 100 tons of hay, said Roger Hansen, chief of Grant County Fire District No. 5.
"It immediately torched off a haystack," Hansen said.
The haystack is expected to burn through Friday, Hansen said.
The male driver, whose name wasn't available Wednesday, apparently didn't receive life-threatening injuries, said Washington State Patrol Trooper Rich Magnussen.
The driver was "conscious and alert," but appeared to have received chest and back injuries, Magnussen said.
Hansen said the fire reached slash piles on the scene from where trees were cut down.
Traffic was first blocked on the highway. Traffic was restored shortly after the crash, Hansen said.
He said the driver was having a medical issue and the fire district's ambulance responded.
- Staff report