This installment of First Responders: A Peek at the Past Week is a combined, two-week overview. The following information has been compiled from various sources including social media accounts of the agencies and organizations described and Wash Co Scanner. It’s not a complete listing of all incident reports out of Hillsboro and its environs. Rather, it’s a selective review.
Why does The Herald run this series? Not for novelty- and spectacle-seeking purposes or ignoble, base entertainment. Rather, we feel a populace best understands and appreciates its emergency responders when it has knowledge of the breadth, depth, and variety of incident responses, functions, and services routinely provided by these teams and individuals who don’t typically “toot their own horn.”
This article doesn’t represent original reporting by The Herald. The information sources are considered credible but the newspaper has no firsthand substantiation of the reports. No one is guilty until proven so in a court of law.
November 21 – December 4, 2021
Nov. 21 (p.m.) Cornelius Fire Department, Hillsboro Fire & Rescue, EMS, and Hillsboro Police responded to a multiple vehicle crash on SW Tualatin Valley Highway near SW 17th Avenue (vicinity of Dairy Creek bridge around Hillsboro’s western city limits). Occupants had to be extricated and three people were transported to local hospitals. Westbound and eastbound lanes of the highway were closed for safety.
Nov. 23 (p.m.) Cornelius Fire Department responded to a minor crash on Tualatin Valley Highway near its junction with NW 336th Avenue. Eastbound traffic on the highway was obstructed resulting in travel delays for many.
Nov. 24 (p.m.) Hillsboro Fire & Rescue, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, Hillsboro Police, and EMS responded to a major, three-vehicle crash on SE Tualatin Valley Highway near SE 40th Avenue. Six people were involved in the incident. One died at the scene. Five others were injured and, of the five, four were life-threatening injuries. All lanes of TV Highway were closed for a time.
Nov. 25 (p.m.) Officers of the Hillsboro Police Department set up containment and deployed K9 tracking in the vicinity of NE Shute Road and the NE Airport Road/NE Butler Street intersection. A vehicle’s driver fled on foot after crashing. It’s unreported whether there was an apprehension.
Nov. 26 (p.m.) This report arrives from beyond the typical geographic area covered by The Herald‘s ‘First Responders’ series. Given the newspaper’s reason for running the series, though (stated above), it makes sense to share the story here. In Lincoln City, municipal police responded to concerned residents’ calls that a sea lion had made its way up from a river and into area streets. The Lincoln City Police officers named the sea lion Tiffany and established a perimeter to prevent the animal from being struck by a vehicle. Tiffany was slowly moving toward busy Highway 101 though and LCPD reached out for assistance. Answering the call, both Oregon State Police Fish & Game and North Lincoln Fire & Rescue arrived on the scene. The next couple hours saw multiple plans formed and attempted to help Tiffany. For example, an officer paid a visit to a local grocery to buy some fish with which to bait the sea lion back to safety. The grocery provided the fish but refused payment. They said they just wanted to do what they could to help Tiffany. Unfortunately, the animal was too overstimulated to follow the bait. Eventually, the police officers and fire crew created a mobile corral using sheets of plywood. The idea was to use the corral to slowly herd Tiffany to the river access about three blocks away. The plan worked. Breaking several times along the way for the sea lion’s health (and refreshing soaks from helpful residents’ garden hoses), Tiffany was guided to the river where she seemed happy to wait for the next incoming tide. Tiffany stars in the photo featured with this article (image from Lincoln City Police Department’s Twitter feed).
Nov. 29 (a.m.) Hillsboro Police responded to a hit and run incident at SE River Road and SE Minter Bridge Road. Following a collision with another vehicle, a driver fled the scene on foot. Containment was set up and K9 tracking deployed. It’s unreported whether there was an apprehension.
Dec. 1 (a.m.) A Washington County Sheriff’s deputy stopped to check a parked car on the shoulder of westbound U.S. Highway 26 near NW Mountaindale Road and discovered two dead bodies inside. The incident appears to have been a murder-suicide. Deputies closed the highway’s westbound lanes at NW Dersham Road and the closure lasted more than six hours. Investigation of the scene was conducted by detectives of both the Violent Crimes and Forensic Science Units of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
Dec. 1 (a.m.) Washington County Sheriff’s deputies closed NW Helvetia Road between NW Dierdorff Road and NW Grossen Drive. A flatbed tractor-trailer truck carrying an oversize load exceeded the clearance and struck the railroad trestle that spans the road. The road closure lasted about nine hours.
Dec. 1 (p.m.) Searching for theft suspect(s), law enforcement officers deployed K9 tracking in the vicinity of NE Evergreen Parkway and NW 185th Avenue (Tanasbourne area). It’s unreported whether there was an apprehension.
Dec. 1 (p.m.) Washington County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call of a disturbance with a weapon at a business in the vicinity of SW Tualatin Valley Highway and SW 209th Avenue.
Hillsboro First Responders: November 2021 by the numbers
- Police – 5,429 calls for service. (Source: Hillsboro Police Department)
- Fire & Rescue – 1,001 calls for emergency medical services and 265 fire-related service calls. (Source: Hillsboro Fire & Rescue)
