Colfax driver escapes burning truck tractor

Kari Johnson, 21, Colfax, escaped the crushed cab of this grain truck early Monday morning on the Young Road north of Dusty.

Johnson managed to get out the driver’s side as the wrecked tractor caught fire.

Dusty volunteer firemen extinguished the blaze.

According to a preliminary report from the sheriff’s office, she was driving southbound just south of the Union Flat Creek Road intersection when the truck pulled off the right side of the road.

One witness driving behind the truck reported smoke was coming from the rig before it went off the road.

The trailer on the grain truck remained upright.

Johnson, who complained of neck and back pain, was taken by ambulance to Whitman Hospital for a checkup.

She was released from the hospital later in the day.