A tangled mess of wreckage and glass had to be cleaned off of Idaho 44 just west of Middleton late Friday after a chain-reaction crash involving two cars and three motorcycles -- but the good news is that no one involved appeared to have suffered life-threatening injuries.
"It was pretty chaotic," said John Filler, an engineer with Middleton Fire Department who witnessed the crashes and aided the victims at the scene, which was on Idaho 44 at Emmett Road. Based on what he witnessed, he thought there might be a fatality, he said.
A Caldwell woman who was driving a white pickup faces charges in the crash, said Canyon County Corporal Chad Harrold, the incident commander. Harrold said she could face an inattentive driving charge.
Investigators said the driver smelled of alcohol, and she admitted to drinking. She did not undergo field sobriety tests at the scene because she was injured and transported to the hospital, but her blood was drawn for toxicology tests.
Filler and other firefighters on an engine headed west on Idaho 44 witnessed the crash, which was reported at about 10:13 p.m. It occurred directly ahead of them on the highway in the eastbound lane.
The firetruck was running with lights and sirens to a reported grass fire on Purple Sage Road and Highway 30. Three motorcycles on eastbound Idaho 44 pulled to a stop near the side of the road due to the approaching firetruck, and so did a silver passenger car behind the motorcycles, Filler and Harrold said.
But a white pickup truck behind the passenger car and three motorcycles did not stop, Filler said. The pickup hit the passenger car, which slammed into all three of the motorcycles -- each of which had two riders, Harrold said.
The speed limit at that section of the highway is posted 55 miles per hour. Investigators say the pickup may have been traveling close to that speed when it hit the passenger car. The front of the pickup was heavily damaged, and the fuel tank on the car was ruptured.
The impact of the passenger car into the motorcycles was startling to those who witnessed it.
"Everybody went straight up," Filler said of the momentarily airborne motorcyclists. He said they landed in a pile between the bikes.
The firefighters did an immediate triage at the scene to determine if there was anyone critically injured; Caldwell Fire responded to the grass fire in lieu of Middleton Fire.
Miraculously, the worst injury identified at the crash scene was a broken leg, Filler said.
Three ambulances from Canyon County Paramedics were dispatched to the scene. Five people were taken to West Valley Medical Center in Nampa -- four people who were on the motorcycles and the driver of the pickup.
Idaho 44 and Emmett Road were shut down for at least two hours, as emergency personnel worked to aid the victims and sheriff's officials investigated the crash.
Five of the six motorcyclists were wearing helmets, and the car and pickup drivers were wearing their seat belts at the time of the crash, investigators said.
The investigation is continuing.
Katy Moeller: 377-6413
