Accident may have been caused by a driver running light
Two men and a woman were taken to hospitals Thursday after a three-vehicle crash that left a Toyota Tundra pickup atop two cars at the busy intersection of Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard and 98th Avenue, east of McLoughlin Heights.
Rescuers and police were called to the scene at 1:30 p.m., said firefighter-spokesman Jim Flaherty with the Vancouver Fire Department.
A man and woman who’d been driving a 1998 BMW 323 and a 1997 Mercury Cougar had exited the cars, which were under the pickup.
Firefighters helped the driver of the truck down. He was badly shaken up and was rushed to a hospital by paramedics with AMR Northwest ambulance service.
The three-vehicle crash blocked the eastbound lanes of Mill Plain and one westbound lane, Flaherty said. Vancouver police diverted traffic to detour routes. Vancouver public works employees were called to clean up fluids that spilled from the vehicles.
The drivers’ names weren’t yet available, Vancouver police Cpl. Duane Boynton said Thursday night. He said it didn’t appear anyone was seriously injured.
Preliminary indications are that one of the vehicles may have run a red light, he said.
Coffeehouse fire’s cause determined
An old chimney covered up by newer construction is what started the blaze that tore through Marcell’s Hemp and Latte House on Wednesday afternoon, according to firefighter-spokesman Jim Flaherty of the Vancouver Fire Department.
“It was combustibles too close to a heat source,” he said. “It was unintentional.”
It’s not known precisely when the building at 3100 Columbia Street was built, Flaherty said, but it dates back at least to the 1930s. In the years since, many additions and remodels have taken place. When a a cold-storage room was built onto the main room “an unknown number of years ago,” he said, wallboards were installed very close to the back of a brick chimney. After many years, he said, those oft-heated wallboards finally ignited.
It’s a stark reminder for people who live in older homes to have materials and spaces inspected for safe conditions and proper distances when remodeling, he said.
Damage to the building and its contents has been valued at $290,000, Flaherty said.
