By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
YACHATS – A 25-year-old Waldport woman died and her 16-year-old passenger was critically injured Thursday evening when their car collided with a South Lincoln Ambulance pulling out of the Yachats fire station just north of the city on U.S. Highway 101.
Oregon State Police on Friday identified the victim as Kelsey R. Seibel. Police did not release the name of her injured passenger other than to say it was a boy. He is at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis. Family members later identified him in a GoFundMe post as Fokus Simmons of Waldport.
State police said their preliminary investigation indicated Yachats fire department firefighter/paramedic Casey Wittmier was responding to a call in the South Lincoln ambulance when he attempted to turn south onto the highway from the fire station’s driveway. Police said Seibel’s northbound Kia Soul collided with the driver’s side of the ambulance.
Police said neither Seibel or her passenger were wearing seatbelts and the car’s airbags did not deploy.
Seibel died at the scene. Simmons was initially treated at the scene by Pacific West ambulance paramedics, then taken by LifeFlight air ambulance to Newport and because of weather driven to the Corvallis hospital.
Wittmier went to Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital for evaluation. Yachats firefighter/paramedic Osmo “Mo” Larmi, who was in the passenger seat of the ambulance, did not require treatment.
The ambulance was responding to a high priority call at Sea Aire assisted living facility, just a block south of the Yachats fire station. A PacWest ambulance later picked up that call.
The highway was closed for five hours as staff and volunteers from Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue, the Seal Rock fire department, PacWest Ambulance, state police and Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies responded. Because it was a fatality, state police sent their accident reconstruction team to investigate, which led to the long highway closure. The highway reopened about 10:25 p.m.
Yachats fire administrator Frankie Petrick and assistant administrator Shelby Knife came to the scene later. Knife and Petrick are also president and secretary of South Lincoln Ambulance, a private, nonprofit that holds one of five Lincoln County-issued contracts to provide emergency medical services in the county. The rest is the county is covered by PacWest Ambulance.
The South Lincoln Ambulance service area is roughly the same at the boundaries of the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District, which has an agreement to provide staffing.
With the SLA ambulance out of service, PacWest Ambulance is providing coverage to the Yachats area under their mutual aid agreement and has agreed to loan the private nonprofit an ambulance on a temporary basis, said Jeff Mathia, the PacWest general manager for Lincoln County.
On Friday, family members set up a GoFundMe account in Seibel’s name, saying she had two boys, Kayden, 5, and Ryan, 4, but wrote that “times were very hard” and they were living out of her car or with relatives. The GoFundMe message said Seibel’s mother, Heidi Stocker, was recovering from a second hip surgery and caring for her two grandsons.
There is not adequate indications that there is a fire station there. There should be a flashing light on road indicating fire equipment coming out.
Speeds are too high in North Yachats. ODOT needs to have better signage.
100% agree. On I y used.when they are.making a emergency call. Not sure what kind of call they were on. That will be determined. But yes,.they need warning light there.
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Agree
Appears to be a right of way issue. Ambulance pulled out from their driveway onto to the freeway in front an approaching vehicle. I don’t know if the ambulance had their overhead emergency lights activated or not but if it was it could’ve prevented the collision.
Regardless of whether or not there’s a flashing light on the road exiting the firehouse caution should always be exercised when turning onto a freeway. That should be common sense.
Also, the speed signage is problematic. I’ve observed vehicles going way too fast while going through Yachats. In addition, they’re tailgating while doing this. Some of the offenders are members of the community. The signage is not going to matter because it’s constantly ignored. The only way it’s going to work if it’s enforced and that’s not going to happen.
I recall that they use to park the vehicle that looked like a police car on side of the road where vehicles entering Yachats would slow down but that hasn’t happened in quite a while. Maybe they should start it up again.
There aren’t too many freeways around here.
Reading this is heartbreaking for all concerned parties.
I live just north of the new fire station and was caught up in the back-up. I too have thought from time to time there is not light of any kind at the entrance to the fire station and have often recalled having seen such lights at many other fire station entrances on county and state highways. Although there have not been any incidents since it was built in the fall of 2019, it only takes one; and sadly this one involved a fatality. I encourage Chief Petrick to petition ODOT to get this corrected immediately
Speed limits may be posted but cars do not slow down going south on 101 until past Dollar General. Large, lighted signs should be posted asap before the city limits sign. Drivers are turning into overleaf, fireside, adobe , sea Air, housing in addition to the fire station and individual roads. Lots of congestion and slowing traffic. And there is no space to safely walk! Numerous accidents and fatalities could be averted with better signage. This latest wreck was a real tragedy.
I used to live near that area and was nearly hit exiting Forest Hill St onto 101 numerous times. Many drivers crank up to highway speeds as soon as they pass Sea Aire. The 55 mph zone clearly needs to be pushed farther out north of Yachats. Prayers for all involved.
Yes, the sign needs to be moved North from Yachats Fire Station driveway. Yes, people don’t read signs. I can’t believe how fast people drive when they are driving through our small town. It finally happened, how tragic.
I live at Sea Aire. Have long thought we all could use better signage & a light right at this juncture.
The person killed was my cousin, but given the large age difference, our relationship was more like aunty and niece.
She was a pure ball of light. Always laughing and had the best giggle. Her sense of humor was contagious and she was always up for trying something new.
I didn’t get to see her as much as I would have liked but she knew I loved her very much and would call me for advise and help from time ti time.
Our family loves her very much. She will be missed.
This is a tragedy all the way around. I’m so, so sorry for the loss of your beloved cousin.
Kelsey talked about you a lot! I miss her so very much, I’m also sorry for your loss!
Two nights before this accident what appeared to be a pick-up truck left highway 101 going north crashed into our garbage container structure and landing 20 ft onto our property. This was a hit and run apparently during the night. We live about a mile north of the fire station. There have been two vehicles crashing onto our property in the last two years. I have spoken to the State Police about patrolling this particular stretch of highway. Car and trucks speed down the straight stretch daily. Finally, can something be done about this?
At intersections, traffic is required to yield the right-of-way to emergency vehicles with actives lights or sirens. However it is common to see active emergency vehicles slow to a stop at intersections to give cross traffic an opportunity to see and hear them before entering the intersection – nobody wants to die.
So the question, not answered by this story, is: Did the ambulance have lights or siren activated before pulling out onto the highway, and did they give oncoming traffic sufficient time to respond before entering the highway.
I agree with others that the new fire station needs traffic warning lights on Hwy 101 so that highway traffic is stopped before emergency vehicles reach the end of the driveway and enter the highway.
I was coming from the north just after this happened. I had stopped for a couple of minutes just down the road just missed seeing it happen. I got stuck there until a local guided me around the logging roads .
Please remember to drive safe. Don’t trust the actions of others. I have driven emergency vehicle for many many years and had several close calls with driver the either did not see or were ignoring the warning light/siren.
It Doesn’t make much difference if the ambulance had lights and siren. It still must yield to others. Especially when entering intersections. See Section 3 in ORS 811.145, I feel sorry for the pain and trouble the Driver of the ambulance is and will be suffering from this act.
This is a great tragedy and reminder to all that the unexpected can and will happen when you least expect it.
ORS 811.145
Failure to yield to emergency vehicle or ambulance
penalty
Text
Annotations
(1)A person commits the offense of failure to yield to an emergency vehicle or ambulance if an ambulance or emergency vehicle that is using a visual or audible signal in a manner described under ORS 820.300 (Exemptions from traffic laws) and 820.320 (Illegal operation of emergency vehicle or ambulance) approaches the vehicle the person is operating and the person does not do all of the following:
(a)Yield the right of way to the ambulance or emergency vehicle.
(b)Immediately drive to a position as near as possible and parallel to the right-hand edge or curb of the roadway clear of any intersection.
(c)Stop and remain in such position until the emergency vehicle or ambulance has passed.
(2)A person is not in violation of this section if the person is acting as otherwise directed by a police officer.
(3)This section does not relieve the driver of an emergency vehicle or ambulance from the duty to drive with due regard for the safety of all persons using the highway, nor does this section protect the driver of any such vehicle from the consequence of an arbitrary exercise of the right of way granted under this section.
(4)The offense described in this section, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle or ambulance, is a Class B traffic violation. [1983 c.338 §582; 1985 c.16 §289; 1995 c.383 §46]
This is an ODOT issue because it is Highway 101. Their responsibility to place lights. I’m going to communicate with ODOT about this very important and necessary issue. I’m terribly sorry to the Family.
Thank you. I knew the person who passed and we are all devastated. Knowing that her two boys will not be with their mother is heartbreaking. She loved them and always wanted the best for them, even in the hardest of times.