Cattle let loose on I-84 triggers series of accidents

A fire aboard a fully loaded cattle truck resulted in multiple collisions last Thursday morning, sending one woman to a Boise hospital in critical condition.

The incident began on the westbound lanes of I-84 about five miles west of Glenns Ferry near the Alkali Canyon overpass, when the cattle truck caught fire. Three of the cattle were burned-up in the truck and three others died as a result of being struck by four vehicles.

According to the Idaho State Police, the incident began just before 7 a.m. when a westbound 77 Livestock Transportation Company truck out of Murtaugh, driven by Jerry Dean Johnson, 58, of Twin Falls, blew a tire on the trailer.

Johnson and passenger Kathleen Pamela Schleicher, 46, of Heyburn exited the cab and found the trailer was on fire.

They opened the trailer to allow the cattle, most black in color, to escape the flames and seventeen ran onto the dark, fog-shrouded roadway.

Shortly afterward, a black 1997 Volkswagon Jetta driven by 46-year-old Lisa A. Erchinger of Bellingham, Wash., hit one of the bovines in the dense fog, rolling the vehicle into the right-hand side of the road. The vehicle came to rest on its top and Erchinger was trapped in the car, requiring extrication.

Extrication units from Glenns Ferry and Mountain Home responded. A crew from the King Hill Rural Fire District also responded and extinguished the flames at the truck with foam.

The fog grounded medical helicopters, and a Northwest Paramedics Ambulance unit from Glenns Ferry responding to the crash also hit the same cow intially struck by Erchinger and laying in the road, disabling the vehicle and requiring the dispatch of another ambulance unit.

Erchinger was initially transported to Elmore Medical Center, but was later transferred to St. Alphonsus Hospital in Boise with critical injuries.

While ISP officers dealt with the accidents in the westbound lanes, Elmore County Sheriff 's Department deputies concentrated their efforts on the eastbound lane who two vehicles there also struck cows on the road.

"When you're at a scene and another scene is created next to you, you know this isn't good," said Elmore County Deputy Bob Peace who was the first officer to arrive on the scene, and who immediately began calling for further assistance.

A pickup truck towing a travel trailer traveling in the eastbound lanes had struck one of the stray cows, causing significant damage to the right front fender of the vehicle, and another vehicle was totaled. No serious injuries were reported in those collisions, however. According to Peace, the drivers and passengers in the eastbound vehicles were wearing their seatbelts and airbags did deploy. "Those things really work," he said. "Everybody needs to use them because you never know when something's going to happen."

Several local cowboys responded to a call for assistance, and helped round up the remaining stray cattle. Both eastbound and westbound traffic on the Interstate were restricted for several hours while officers from ISP, Elmore County Sheriff's Department, and Idaho Department of Fish and Game assisted in rounding up the strays, which had wandered over a half-mile from the scene.

"We appreciated all the help we could get," said Peace of the assistance given by local wranglers.

Because of where the truck stopped along the Interstate, oncoming traffic was unable to see the fire, Peace noted.

Later, a crew from the Department of Transportation set up lighted signboards alerting motorists that they were approaching an accident scene.

ISP Commercial Vehicle Safety officers were also dispatched to investigate what may have led to the initial sequence of events on the truck.

No citations were issued immediately after the accident but the investigation into the accident is still underway.