POSTED: Wednesday, Oct. 08, 2008
Garbage truck destroys couple's dream home near Toad Lake
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closeBELLINGHAM -- As best as Doug Henderson could see, his dream home on the 1600 block of Sapphire Trail was destroyed in a blur of blue.
Henderson was in his garage taking out the garbage at about 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, when he saw a blue Sanitary Service Company truck rolling down a hill — right toward his house.
The truck skirted past the garage and careened through Henderson’s front door, pushing the house off its foundation.
"I got to see it," Henderson said. "I saw this big blue thing come flying by the garage door. The truck was airborne and all of a sudden it was here."
Henderson and his dog, a female Siberian husky named Aurora that was inside the house, were not hurt.
Neither was the truck driver, who had been outside the truck grabbing garbage bins when it started to roll.
The house wasn’t so lucky. It likely will collapse when the truck is removed.
"The house is toast," Henderson said. "It's being held up by the truck."
The utilities were shut off Wednesday afternoon and an engineer was en route to determine if crews should move the truck, try to shore up the house or try to collapse the house around the truck, said Carl Bertapelle, an inspector with Whatcom County Planning and Development Services.
SSC will investigate the crash after that, safety manager Rodd Pemble said. He said it's too early to tell if the company will be liable for the house damage.
"I've been on the job for 12 years and I've never seen anything like this," Pemble said.
Henderson's wife, Lynne Henderson, was at work at St. Joseph Hospital when the crash happened.
"I'm grateful he's alive," Lynne Henderson said of her husband. "I'm grateful there's no injuries here. I'll probably be in shock for a while. That was our dream home."
The Hendersons built the house two years ago on property they owned, Lynne Henderson said. They were able to salvage a few belongings before inspectors ruled the house was too unsafe to enter.
"Every time you walk on to any floor you're taking your life into your own hands," Lynne Henderson said.
They’ll probably move into a hotel, where they'll celebrate their 28th wedding anniversary Friday.
Doug Henderson said he retrieved the blueprints they used to build the house.
"It was a very nice house," he said. "I loved the hell out of it. It's so bizarre, we're all speechless. We'll probably rebuild. There's not much else we can do."
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