BRINNON – A 56-year-old Hoodsport man was identified Tuesday as the driver who perished when the sport utility vehicle he was driving went out of control and crashed into a loaded gasoline tanker truck the day before.
Ronald Alness, 56, was southbound on U.S. Highway 101 south of Brinnon about 5 p.m. Monday when his 1996 Ford Explorer crossed the road, glided along a guardrail and re-entered the road, colliding with the Pettit Oil Co. tanker truck.
The SUV was pushed by the larger vehicle about 120 feet before both came to a stop on the highway’s southbound shoulder, according to the State Patrol.
The resulting fire – which devastated the Explorer and the 2007 Kenworth tractor but miraculously failed to ignite two tankers holding 11,000 gallons of gasoline – was so fierce that state troopers first thought the SUV was a Ford Bronco.
And even though they were able to reopen the two-lane U.S. 101 at milepost 310 just before midnight Monday, they were still identifying Alness as “John Doe” in a preliminary report Tuesday morning.
