It started with a simple — albeit very serious — call over the scanner asking for Pilot Rock Emergency Medical Services to respond to a call for help around noon on Monday, Feb. 21. 

But that simple call sent newsrooms in La Grande, Pendleton and Hermiston into action.

That “call” was for, when all was said and done, a massive pileup crash that began at around near milepost 230, stretched 1.75 miles and involved more than 170 vehicles, according to press releases from the Oregon Department of Transportation and Oregon State Police.

East Oregonian news editor Phil Wright heard the initial call over the scanner in the EO newsroom in Pendleton. The EO’s analog scanner does not pick up much traffic because most agencies in Umatilla County are digital. However, we knew that if the call went out to Pilot Rock, it also had to go to other agencies. 

The initial calls for mutual aid reported the crash was on the westbound side of Interstate 84 at milepost 230, that’s about 20 miles from Pendleton. Pilot Rock is on Highway 395 about 15 miles south of Pendleton. So for PR to get a call to travel that far, an event had to be significant.
The Oregon Department of Transportation’s website, TripCheck.com, showed a crash at that point, but not much more.

In Pendleton, Phil started cranking up the EO’s newsroom to respond. Despite being in Umatilla County myself, I started working the phones with The Observer’s Dick Mason and Alex Wittwer to see what they could start to confirm.

Both went to work.

Dick was able to confirm there was a 30-car pileup. We broke that news at about 1:40 p.m. with a short brief.

Alex was able to talk with local first responders and confirm their participation in the response.
In Pendleton, Phil called Pendleton Fire Chief Jim Critchley on his cellphone. Critchley confirmed there were crashes stretching more than a mile. We added that info.

It also became very apparent we would need photos. With our main photographer, Ben Lonergan, in Portland, and our backup shooter, Kathy Aney, in the Galapagos — not to mention Interstate 84 closed down and no conceivable way to get within any vicinity of the crash — I decided to see what options might be available.

I called General Aircraft Services at about 1:45 p.m. to get us a pilot and plane to go over the area. Phil called in EO reporter Antonio Sierra on his day off. Antonio had a 2:15 p.m. appointment to fly. He took the photos that showed just how big this was. The flight was, well, not that enjoyable for Antonio, but he delivered.

Both newsrooms continued to work the phones, calling ODOT, local fire departments that confirmed they sent firefighters and medics to the crash. We had tips local hospitals were prepping for crash victims, so we contacted them. Some hospitals were better about providing info than others. We tried Oregon State Police, but given the Feb. 21 was a state/fed holiday, we didn’t get much.

Our local connections helped us tell much of the story about what was going on. OSP’s press release well into the crash gave some new info and confirmed info we knew but needed a second source for.

Later that evening, the EO went on to tap talk to a family who were in the crash. This was very much all available hands on deck in three newsrooms — the EO, the Hermiston Herald and The Observer. We opted to give a byline with names rather than just “staff” because everyone contributed and deserved to have a byline.

In the end, all three newsrooms worked well together and combined resources to do their best to cover a story that started for with a simple call over a scanner.