Banks Fire District, Buxton, Timber

Banks Fire District seeking public assistance in possible plane crash

11:15 p.m. update: Accord to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the search has paused for the evening, but will resume Monday morning.

While we have several witnesses who saw what was believed to be a plane spiraling, we do not have any reports of missing aircrafts in the area,” the sheriff’s office said.

8:20 p.m. According to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Coast Guard has joined the search, assisting with an aerial search along with the county’s drones being operated by the remotely operated vehicle team.

7:22 p.m. update: The Banks Fire District said that the search has been turned over to law enforcement.

“The search vicinity is west of Banks and likely into Tillamook County,” the agency said. “Thank you all for your reports and descriptions.”

Original story below

The possibility of a downed plane west of Banks has prompted Banks Fire District to issue a call for information from the general public.

“Report is vague and crash is unconfirmed at this point, so we are asking if anyone saw, or sees, smoke or flames in the area between HWYs 6 and 26 to call 911 with your location,” the fire agency said in a social media post.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office also said they were investigating the report of a downed plane, among multiple agencies involved in searching the area between Highways 6 and 26 west of Banks, which includes the Timber, Manning, Hayward, and Buxton areas.

“We have not located the aircraft and are currently activating Search & Rescue,” the sheriff’s office said.

Tillamook resident Claudia Ramirez Alvarado photographed what appears to be a black spiral of smoke and snapped a photograph as she headed west on Highway 6 in the coast range at 5:05 p.m. The photo, shared with the Banks Post, shows a thin column of black smoke rising at an angle above the tree line in a still-snowy landscape.

“We started to see what was in the picture since we entered the Tillamook Forest,” she said in a message to the Banks Post. The photo was taken a few miles west of the Tillamook Forest entrance sign west of Glenwood.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes confirmed.

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Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.

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