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At 9:24am this morning, Forest Grove Firefighters were dispatched to a reported crash on Highway 6 at Milepost 35. Initially it was reported to involve a bus, but no further information. As crews responded it was found out from multiple callers that a school bus, with 36 occupants had struck a loose flatbed trailer. There were reports of only one injury.
Crews arrived shortly later to find a full sized school bus sideways in the highway with damage to its rear axle area. Firefighters began triaging the occupants of the bus. It was determined that 8 of the 36 occupants were injured, but only 6 of the 8 needed transport to local hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.
The bus involved was from the Nestucca School District and was on the way to a field trip in Portland. It had 30 high school aged students, one teacher, four parent chaperones and one driver. Once the scene was under control, students and adults were placed on a new bus and returned to their school. Families of all involved had been notified by the school district and a representative was on scene working with responders.
The highway was completely blocked for over 2 hours and was open to one lane around 11:30am. At time of press release, the current status of the highway is unknown. Check tripcheck.com for up to date Oregon Highway information.
Oregon State Police is the lead investigating agency and will have further information into the cause of the crash.
Forest Grove Fire & Rescue was assisted on scene by Banks Fire District, Metro West Ambulance, Washington County Sheriffs Office, Oregon State Police and Oregon Department of Transportation.