Sonoma Coast crash injures 6, blocks Highway 1 traffic for hours

Two vehicles collided on Highway 1 in Sonoma County Saturday afternoon, sending six people to the hospital and stopping traffic in both directions for about two hours, authorities said.

One vehicle contained a family of five and the other had only a driver, said Timber Cove Fire Chief Erich Lynn.

The victims suffered minor to moderate injuries, he said.

The crash took place between Timber Cove and The Sea Ranch a few hundred feet north of the Ocean Cove Bar and Grill, Lynn said

The cars collided head-on and “bounced” off each other, Lynn said, sending the car with the family over the side of the narrow highway. It came to rest about 15 feet down the embankment, he said.

The other car tipped on its side, blocking the road.

“I’d say they were pretty lucky. It was a nasty crash,” Lynn said. “There were pieces of cars laying in the road and on the side of the road. It was a heavy impact.”

It took 90 minutes or more to free all the victims and send them to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, one in the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Henry 1 helicopter and the others in a combined three ambulances, Lynn said.

When the northbound lane was reopened, he said, a line of 140 vehicles was waiting to proceed.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, the California Highway Patrol said.

As crews were working to free the crash victims, a tree fell about six miles north near Fisk Mill Cove, taking down some power lines and starting a vegetation fire, Lynn said. Because Timber Cove Fire engines could not get around the crash, Sonoma Coast Fire and Cal Fire crews responded, quickly putting it out, he said.

“Everyone worked together really well,“ Lynn said.

California Highway Patrol and Sonoma County Regional Parks officers also responded.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 707-387-2960 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jeremyhay