Alaska State Troopers based in Fairbanks responded to two vehicle crashes Wednesday night which sent a total of four people in pickup trucks to hospitals, including two critically injured teenage girls. According to AST dispatches posted early Thursday, Bureau of Highway Patrol troopers arrived at the first collision, near the Chena Hot Springs Gas station on Chena Hot Springs Road, shortly after 5:30 p.m. One of the vehicles involved in the crash, a Ford truck headed east on Chena Hot Springs Road and driven by 31-year-old Fairbanks man William Frank Stenberg. “(Stenberg) observed a pickup turning left into Chena Hot Springs Gas stop in the middle of his lane of travel,” troopers wrote. “(He) attempted to avoid the crash, but collided with the truck.” AST spokesperson Beth Ipsen says that while an initial dispatch mentioned serious injuries to the Chevrolet pickup's driver, 52-year-old Fatimah Vanessa Cole, she was treated and released from Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. Stenberg suffered minor injuries and wasn't hospitalized.
The passengers in Cole's truck, girls ages 12 and 17, were flown to Anchorage for further treatment after it was struck by Stenberg's vehicle.
"He essentially T-boned the passenger side of the Chevy," Ipsen said. "The two girls, they ended up getting flown to Providence (Alaska Medical Center)."
Hours later, Bureau of Highway Patrol troopers responded to a second crash, in the vicinity of Mile 185 of the Parks Highway slightly south of Cantwell. Information on that story can be read here: Crash on Parks Highway Leaves One Driver Seriously Injured and Truck in Flames
Both crashes remain under investigation by troopers.