Document text
--> --> Captain's wife, three children die in collision with train PORTLAND (AP) - The wife and three children of Culver's Fire Department captain died Wednesday morning after their car collided with a freight train as they headed to school. Capt. Steve Roe was the first at the accident scene, where the only survivor was his 10-year-old son, said Culver police chief Lee Farrester. Farrester said the accident scene was "the worst car-train fatality I've been on in my time." "Capt. Roe got out of the rescue rig and realized it was his family, it was his whole family," Farrester said. Ethan Roe was in serious condition with lacerations and fractures at Central Oregon Community Hospital in Redmond, a nursing supervisor said. Roe's three other children - Jason, 15, Tina, 14, and 6-year-old Devin - were pronounced dead at the scene, as was his wife, Sandy, 32. The Roes' car slid on an icy mountain road and into an empty Burlington Northern freight train around 7:25 a.m., Farrester said. The train was going about 35 mph, he said. "The witness said she started braking about halfway down the hill and kept pumping the brakes, but she couldn't stop in time," Farrester said. The train was going slower than normal because of the bad weather, Jefferson County Sheriff's officials said. The conductor tried to brake but couldn't stop the mile-long, 1,800-ton train. Culver, population 800, is a close-knit Central Oregon community about 30 miles north of Bend. Farrester said almost everyone in Culver knew the Roes through church, school or the volunteer fire department. The first rescuer to enter the car was a youth pastor for one of the Roe boys. Others knew Sandy Roe from her job as an educational assistant for autistic children at the Culver School District or through her husband's work with the volunteer fire crew, Farrester said. "The fire department were all members of one big family. A lot of the firefighters are having a really hard time with this," he said. "So many of the people are affected, it's like a family here. We're all close." Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing