A Twin Falls couple escaped serious injury when their sport utility vehicle and camper trailer overturned and burned north of Ketchum last Saturday afternoon.
The Blaine County Sheriff's Office identified the driver of the SUV as 53-year-old Jess Ward, who was treated and released at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center following the crash. The incident occurred just after 3:30 p.m. about five miles north of Ketchum on state Highway 75, near Eagle Creek Road.
Ward and his wife, Kim Ward, also 53, were transported to the hospital by Ketchum Fire Department ambulance. Hospital spokeswoman Tanya Keim said records show that only Jess Ward required treatment.
The couple's vehicle, a maroon 2000 GMC Yukon, was a total loss, as was the 22-foot Salem camper trailer they were towing. The fire that destroyed the vehicle and trailer was hot enough to melt a section of the roadway. Traffic was delayed for about two hours while emergency personnel attended to the crash.
The couple was northbound when the accident occurred.
"The information we have is that there was another vehicle that turned in front of them," said sheriff's Lt. Curtis Miler. "The driver of that vehicle has not been found."
Miller said that Ward was attempting to pass the slower vehicle at the time it started a left-hand turn. Ward swerved back into the northbound lane, the trailer jackknifed and trailer and vehicle tipped over onto their right sides.
Miller said the fire was likely started by propane tanks carried on the trailer, which caught fire first. He reported that Kim Ward was able to get out of the vehicle unassisted. A man identified as Ronald Geuin, no age or address available, stopped after the crash and helped Jess Ward from the SUV prior to it becoming engulfed in flames.
Photo by Lars Guy
Thick smoke and flames erupt from a burning SUV and trailer that rolled over on state Highway 75 Saturday north of Ketchum.
