Eastbound lanes on I-90 were closed near Turah for several hours on Friday after a pickup truck smashed into a semi, sending four people to the hospital.

Assistant Fire Chief Brent Christopherson with Missoula Rural Fire responded to the scene early Friday morning.

“We were summoned by the Missoula 9-1-1 center on the report of a semi truck that had flipped over, blocking the eastbound lanes of I-90 at mile marker 116 in the Turah area,” said Christopherson. “That call came in at about 5:15 this morning. When we got there we found that there was indeed a semi truck that had flipped over, but also a pickup truck that had been involved in the crash, as well.”

Christopherson said several individuals were rescued out of the collision.

“We had to extricate two people from the semi tractor and two patients were also extracted from the pickup,” he said. “The Battalion Chief at Missoula Rural Fire requested three different ambulances to take the injured to the hospital. So there was a total of four people injured. None of the injuries were believed to have been life threatening.”

Christopherson said the fire crews were grateful that the semi truck’s cargo was not toxic.
“The semi truck was hauling toilet paper, and we were really glad that there wasn’t any hazardous materials in the semi other than the toilet paper, because your obviously don’t know when you get a call like that just want the cargo will be.”

Christopherson said the eastbound lanes of I-90 were closed until nearly 2:00 p.m.

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