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The California Highway Patrol is looking to identify a motorist who drove off an embankment along Highway 84 in Skylonda on Sunday night and left the scene, a crash that ignited a small grass fire and prompted some nearby residents to briefly evacuate.
Shortly after 9:30 p.m., the CHP responded to a report of a solo vehicle crash off of Highway 84 west of Highway 35 (Skyline Boulevard), according to Officer Art Montiel.
The driver was never located, and it’s unknown whether there were any passengers, Montiel said. Officers contacted two juveniles who were seen walking eastbound on Highway 84 after the crash but determined that they were not connected to the incident, he said.
The car landed 140 feet down the embankment and caught on fire, starting a vegetation fire that was contained at less than an acre, according to Cal Fire, which responded along with agencies including the Woodside Fire Protection District and the Kings Mountain and La Honda fire brigades.
The fire destroyed the car’s main vehicle identification number, but officers were able to identify the car as a silver 2015 VW Passat, according to Montiel.
Highway 84 was closed for roughly 90 minutes for fire suppression and mop-up, and one-way traffic control was then implemented for about two hours while the car was recovered.
The incident frightened nearby residents, according to Karyn Ellis, who lives about a quarter-mile from the crash site and said several people briefly evacuated after seeing the fire ignite in the woods below their homes. Her family was “unpacked and in bed by midnight but a little bit shaken by the experience,” she wrote in an email to neighbors that she sent to The Almanac.
“The firefighters thankfully had the flames extinguished and mopped up two hours later but this could have been worse. It’s a hint at something we’ve all feared: Someone going too fast crashes and starts a fire then it takes off and everyone else suffers for another person’s selfish desire for thrills,” Ellis wrote.
“We’re all very concerned about the problem of cars racing on Skyline Blvd and Highway 84 west of Skyline,” she added. “The lawlessness has been markedly worse since the COVID lockdown because there are fewer tourists on the road to slow those behind them.”
Montiel said there’s no evidence of speeding at this point in the investigation, but added that driving under the influence and speeding tend to be the primary causes of crashes off the roadway in the area.
Driver arrested for DUI after accelerating toward deputy
In an unrelated incident at the site of the hit-and-run, a 28-year-old Redwood City man was arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana and driving on a suspended license after accelerating his car and coming close to hitting a San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office deputy, Montiel said.
The man was driving a BMW westbound on Highway 84 just east of Sequoia Drive shortly after 2 a.m. and was asked to stop by officers due to one-way traffic control at the crash site. However, he sped up and “one of the (Sheriff’s Office) deputies came close to the vehicle,” Montiel said.
The driver ultimately stopped and police determined he was under the influence of marijuana, Montiel said, prompting his arrest.
Preventing wildfire ? Usually difficult, yet not in this case IF we had visible CHP on these most dangerous roads on a regular basis. Racing is a constant threat to the lives of all motorists and residents who NEED these roads. I live a few miles from where this happened, regularly hear the horrifying loud roaring of racing cars on Skyline and Hwy. 84, especially at night, for hours. I’ve called the Sheriff office to report, and many local residents for YEARS have worked tirelessly for attention to this from our representatives. We know the only thing that deters it is a regular CHP presence. Yet, the racers know and promote these roads due to NO law enforcement here. What will it take? How many more lives lost and more wildfires (that are preventable) ?
I would like to echo what Patty said. The rampant abuse of our roads has reached epic proportions during the pandemic. It was bad before, but it has gone from bad to much worse. Every day car groups and motorcyclists race recklessly on Highway 84 and Highway 35. The sound is deafening and our families are being put in constant danger by these selfish people. The other day a speeding car drove me off of Highway 84 near San Gregorio in the act of passing 4-5 cars at once. I had to make a quick maneuver onto the shoulder to avoid a head-on. We need enforcement, not just in Woodside, but throughout the San Mateo County unincorporated area so that these reckless drivers understand that they are at risk of consequences for their abuse of the roads were are all supposed to share and endangering the lives of others for the benefit of their thrill-seeking.