Six-vehicle crash north of La Center snarls traffic, spills diesel into river

A six-vehicle crash on northbound Interstate 5 north of La Center on Wednesday morning backed up traffic for nearly 10 miles and spilled diesel fuel into the Lewis River.

According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, a collision just after 10:15 a.m. blocked the center and right lanes at Milepost 19.1, near the North Fork of the Lewis River.

The lanes opened at about 1:20 p.m., but the traffic backup lasted into the afternoon.

Washington State Patrol spokesman Will Finn said the crash involved three commercial vehicles, two passenger vehicles and one truck towing a trailer. There were no injuries immediately reported.

One of the semitrucks had stopped directly over a drain and spilled between 50 and 80 gallons of diesel into the river, Department of Ecology spokesperson Ty Keltner said.

While Clark County Fire initially responded and tried to set up a berm to stop the spill, Keltner said oil did leak into the river and both Clark County Fire and Ecology had boats in the water working on containment.