Staff writers
A Lost Springs man was killed when his pickup collided head-on with a semi-trailer truck Monday afternoon on US-56/77, north of 270th Rd.
The pickup, a 2019 Ram 1500 driven by Kendall L. Harding, 29, Lost Springs, was heading north before it veered into the southbound lane and collided with the semi, a 2023 Peterbilt driven by Jason P. Mathews, 36, Garnett.
It remains unclear why the pickup veered into traffic.
Harding was pronounced dead at the scene. His remains were transported to Yazel-Megli-Zeiner Funeral Home.
He was not wearing a seatbelt, according to Kansas Highway Patrol.
Matthews suffered no apparent injury.
Lincolnville firefighters and Tampa ambulance were dispatched to the scene at 1:07 p.m.
A Hillsboro ambulance and a Marion rescue ambulance quickly were dispatched as well, and Herington firefighters monitoring the situation volunteered to respond.
A helicopter ambulance was called and a Dickinson County ambulance volunteered to come, but both were told to stand down after Lincolnville fire chief Les Kaiser arrived at 1:16 p.m.
Marion ambulance, which had been on a call to El Dorado, also responded briefly but ended up not being needed.
The bed of the pickup truck had detached in the crash and slid off the road. Debris was scattered along the width of the road.
The hood of the semi was also damaged, and its payload — John Deere tractor equipment — had bent at an acute angle, folding back in on the truck.
Kaiser and his team noticed fuel leaking from in the semi, which they contained.
“The impact basically destroyed the fuel tank,” Kaiser said. “We put down absorbent material to keep it from going any further.”
In 12-degree weather, it was difficult to be outside for long.
While crews controlling traffic to the north and south of the accident were able to hole up in their vehicles, those at the accident site didn’t have that luxury.
“For the most part, we did OK,” Kaiser said. “The bunker gear that we have is pretty resilient.”
A line of more than 20 cars coming from the south were stopped at the site of the accident. Most eventually turned around and drove back south.
The road later was closed at the US-56/77/K-150 roundabout.
Traffic coming from the north was redirected through 290th Rd. to K-15, 16 miles to the west.
Soon after Kaiser reported that motorists were attempting to bypass the wreck by using county roads, a second accident occurred a mile east of the first, at Xavier and 270th Rds.
A deputy and Tampa ambulance were diverted to the second accident, and an injured person was taken to St. Luke Hospital, Marion.
“The problem we saw was people bypassing the accident scene where the checkpoint was at and going on side roads to try and circumvent it,” Kaiser said. “That is what caused the secondary accident.”
Kaiser said he never advises drivers to take local roads as those unfamiliar with them often get stuck.
KDOT workers, delayed for a time because they themselves were unsure which local roads were usable, relieved traffic control at 3 p.m. at the roundabout and at 5 p.m. at 290th Rd.
Lincolnville firefighters were relieved at roughly 4 p.m. and took over for Herington firefighters directing traffic at 290th Rd., Kaiser said.