The semi overturned on Highway 6, spilling lumber onto the highway. Photo: Forest Grove Fire & Rescue
TILLAMOOK STATE FOREST – According to the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Wilson River Highway — signed as Highway 6 — was closed at the summit of the coast range on the Tillamook and Washington County line in the Tillamook State Forest.
One lane of traffic is now open, according to ODOT and Forest Grove Fire & Rescue public information officer Matt Johnston.
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According Johnston, both lanes of the highway were blocked by an overturned semi hauling lumber near mile post 33, but enough lumber has been cleared — with the assistance of inmate crews from nearby South Fork Forest Camp who moved lumber off the road by hand — to open one lane of traffic while crews await tow trucks to remove the overturned semi.
Banks Fire District #13, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue, ODOT, Metro West Ambulance, and Oregon State Police were among the agencies responding to the scene.
This is a developing story, more information will be added as it becomes known.
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.