Gilman Spring Road ramps closed to SR 60

The eastbound and westbound on and off-ramps at SR-60 and Gilman Springs Road are closed due to an on-going law enforcement investigation. Law Enforcement has advised they will be closed until further notice.

Nov. 3 Highway 243 cycle collision

Around noon on Wed., Nov. 3, a motorcyclist northbound on State Highway 243 just south of the grinding station rounded a curve, crossed the yellow line and collided with the left rear tail light assembly of a southbound tandem multi-axle truck, according to California Highway Patrol officer Mike Murawski.

The bike skidded and came to rest north of the collision point near the shoulder of the northbound lane, closing traffic in both directions for nearly 30 minutes. The driver of the motorcycle, who appeared to be in his 30’s and is unidentified at the time of this writing, was airlifted from the Mountain Center helipad. The Forest Service served as incident commander since they were first on the scene, aided by Idyllwild Fire and CAL FIRE. There is no word of the motorcyclist’s condition at this time.

Murawski cited excessive speed on the part of the motorcyclist as a probable cause of the incident. Murawski acknowledged the high number of motorcycle collisions on Hill highways and noted that excessive speed by the cyclists is the primary contributing factor. “I write them tickets and it’s like a game of cat and mouse,” he said. “They know the [speed] laws. They just choose to disobey them.”

Truck drives into lake Fulmor – hazmat cleanup

By Marshall Smith, Staff Reporter

According to California Highway Patrol (CHP) Public Information Officer (PIO) Scott Beauchene, early Tuesday morning March 23, at about 5:30 a.m., a white pick up truck heading south on Highway 243 crossed lanes, hit the edge of the Lake Fulmor bridge and careened into Lake Fulmor. According to the CHP incident report, the truck is registered to an Idyllwild owner who said she was unaware her truck had been taken and declined to file a theft report.

Beauchene said at this point that the CHP incident report is complete.

Shortly after the incident, the U.S. Forest Service, within whose jurisdiction the lake falls, notified Riverside County’s Office of Emergency Services to dispatch a Hazmat group to the scene. Clean up began Tuesday and was continuing through Wednesday. Cleanup, because of possible gas and automotive fluid leakage into the lake, has been extensive with crews from the Forest Service, Riverside County Hazmat, the Forest Service Hazmat specialist, Forest Service Fire Prevention, and Forest Service Recreation Officer John Ladley — in all about 10 people in addition to CHP initial responders.

Miller expects cleanup to finish on Thursday, March 25 and for the lake to reopen on Friday the 26^th. Clean up costs will exceed $23,000.

The footbridge on the north side of the lake near the highway was damaged from the vehicle’s trajectory and will remain closed for the immediate future. There is no current repair schedule for the footbridge, but the car owner and the driver, should that person be found and identified will be liable for cleanup and bridge repair costs, according to Miller.



top photo courtesy of John Miller, Information officer San Bernardino Naitonal Forest.


Bottom photo by Idyllwild Town Crier