{"id":99745,"date":"2018-05-16T13:42:25","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T19:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/silverton-tow-truck-driver-recounts-plunge-off-mountain-pass\/"},"modified":"2018-05-16T13:42:25","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T19:42:25","slug":"silverton-tow-truck-driver-recounts-plunge-off-mountain-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/silverton-tow-truck-driver-recounts-plunge-off-mountain-pass\/","title":{"rendered":"Silverton tow truck driver recounts plunge off mountain pass"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Don
Don Curnow with what\u2019s left of his tow truck on Tuesday.<\/span>Courtesy of Mark Esper\/Silverton Standard & the Miner<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

It started out as a routine call for Donnie Curnow, owner of Animas Towing in Silverton.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday afternoon, May 2, a fierce spring storm hit the high San Juans and a motorist slid off U.S. Highway 550 at mile marker 57, near Coal Bank Pass.<\/p>\n

Curnow hit the road in his 2006 Ford F450 tow truck, along with his sidekick, a pit bull named Dozer.<\/p>\n

But going into the Lime Creek curve near milemarker 60.5, Curnow\u2019s truck began to slide.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing down Lime Creek, everything was fine,\u201d Curnow said on Tuesday. \u201cBut then going around the corner, it just tried to slide. I knew I was going over the edge, so I steered into it (to avoid rolling over).\u201d<\/p>\n

That maneuver worked, at first, but with the truck bouncing down the embankment amid huge boulders, it went into a roll anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first roll I took, the roof hit my head,\u201d Curnow recalled. \u201cI thought, if that happens again, I\u2019m not going to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he was, in fact, hit in the head again as the truck continued to roll, eventually landing on the driver\u2019s side partially in the creek, after a plunge of more than 200 feet.<\/p>\n

Curnow said he was in pretty bad shape but still conscious.<\/p>\n

\"Don
Don Curnow with his dog, Dozer.<\/span>Courtesy of Mark Esper\/Silverton Standard & the Miner<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He called to the dog, but it didn\u2019t want to go near him after the trauma.<\/p>\n

Curnow figured it would take a while for rescuers to arrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I had to get to the side of the road,\u201d Curnow said, so he started climbing despite suffering what later turned out to be a broken sternum and three broken vertebrae and head lacerations.<\/p>\n

Once reaching the highway, he rested in another motorist\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remember sitting in that car and I couldn\u2019t get my neck right,\u201d Curnow said.<\/p>\n

Then rescuers, including San Juan County Sheriff Bruce Conrad and a Silverton Ambulance crew, arrived.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were there immediately. I said, \u2018Bruce, you\u2019ve got to go find Dozer,\u2019\u201d Curnow recalled.<\/p>\n

As Curnow rode off to Mercy Regional Medical Center in the ambulance, Conrad climbed down to the creek and eventually found Dozer, soaking wet and very frightened after having been in the creek.<\/p>\n

Conrad figures he would not have survived much longer given how hypothermic he was.<\/p>\n

And Conrad said conditions on Highway 550 that afternoon were incredibly treacherous. He said he almost lost control himself coming down the grade to the Lime Creek curve in his 4-wheel-drive pickup.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was crazy slippery,\u201d Conrad said. \u201cIt was one of those cases where they should have closed the highway.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Curnow was \u201cvery, very lucky to be alive\u201d after the truck plunge.<\/p>\n

Despite his severe injuries, Curnow was treated and released at Mercy without staying the night.<\/p>\n

And on Tuesday this week, he was walking around town a bit, though in obvious pain.<\/p>\n

\n

How to help<\/h4>\n

Donations for Donny Curnow will be taken by the Friends of The Silverton San Juan Fire Authority. Donations can be mailed to PO Box 532, Silverton, CO 81433, or given to any fire department member.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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