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Durangoan dies in rollover on Highway 140

Driver crashes, sets off multi-acre blaze

Durango resident Kolby Webb was killed in an auto accident Saturday afternoon at the 18000 block of Colorado Highway 140 after his Subaru Forester rolled over, apparently from the impact of a head-on collision with another vehicle.

Durango residents Davin and Theresa Montoya, who were in the truck that Kolby hit, were transported to Mercy Regional Medical Center. A Mercy spokesman could not be reached to provide the Montoyas’ conditions.

Colorado State Patrol Sgt. Chad Martin said the crash occurred after Webb, who was driving northbound on Highway 140, attempted to pass a truck.

“But as he was passing, another vehicle was coming head-on, so he darted back into the northbound lane. Then, he basically lost control and overcorrected, putting his car into a broadside lane. He hit the truck – Davin Montoya’s – that had been coming from the opposite direction.”

Montoya’s pick-up, according to Martin, collided with Webb’s Subaru on the passenger side and sent it rolling three-quarters onto a field west of Highway 140. The Subaru caught fire after careening into a ditch, and by the time emergency workers arrived on scene, bystanders had pulled everybody out of the cars.

Once the car caught flame, the fire spread to the field, setting multiple acres on fire. Durango Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Rod Allen said crews contained the fire at 2:15 p.m., about an hour and a half after the accident.

Emergency workers called Flight For Life.

Allen said DFPD assisted Fort Lewis Mesa Fire in putting out the fire.

“We responded with two medic units, a brush truck, an engine, 11 personnel and an EMS supervisor,” Allen said.

The highway, which closed for a few hours Saturday while CSP investigated the crash, reopened by late afternoon.

Martin believed both vehicles had Colorado license plates, and neither driver showed any previous traffic offenses.

cmcallister@durangoherald.com



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