At 8:53 am, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue received a call of a reported head-on motor vehicle crash on Cornelius Pass Road near Germantown Road. First-arriving crews found a small compact vehicle and a semi-truck that had collided, killing the 19 year-old male driver of the small vehicle. The 32 year-old driver of the semi-truck, Ronald Valentine, of Vancouver, was treated at the scene for back and neck pain, and transported by ambulance to Providence St. Vincent Hospital. Mr. Valentine was driving for Joel Olson Trucking (Vancouver, Washington) at the time of the accident. (Note: The name of the deceased driver is being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin.) The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation of the incident.

The collision also caused a leak in the semi-truck’s diesel fuel tanks. Firefighters quickly placed a "catch-basin" of plastic sheeting under the truck to contain the leaking fuel and placed absorbent pads in a nearby drainage ditch. It is unknown how much fuel was lost before crews were able to off-load the remaining diesel from the tanks. The semi-truck had approximately 200 gallons of fuel at the time of the accident.

Cornelius Pass Road was closed until approximately 12:30 pm. During that time, traffic was diverted onto Old Cornelius Pass Road. At 11:10 am, crews were dispatched to a second incident on Old Cornelius Pass Road, between Phillips and Helvetia Road. Crews found a tractor-trailer carrying approximately 74,000 lbs. of bark dust, on its side, approximately 20 feet above a small stream. The driver told firefighters that he had had to brake suddenly to avoid hitting another motorist and had slipped off the roadway. Because bark dust poses a hazard to aquatic life, it had to be off-loaded before the tractor-trailer was uprighted. A private vacuum company was called to the scene. It was estimated that the operation would take several hours.

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