A local family was dealt a heavy blow Thursday morning when a collision on Highway 97 killed five people instantly.
Matt Altizer, his wife Leah Altizer (nee Roberts), their children Jonathan, 14, and Emily, 12, and another adult family member Heather Kress were on their way to watch the Davis Cup tennis event in Vancouver. They died when their southbound SUV crossed the centre line into the path of an oncoming tractor-trailer. It was about 9 a.m. a few minutes north of McLeese Lake.
The driver of the tractor-trailer rig survived the crash with non-life-threatening injuries.
Altizer, 40, was on an extended weekend vacation from his job as IT systems manager at The Citizen. He worked for the newspaper for 16 years.
"He'll be missed by a large family," said family friend Brett Nicholson. "This house is full tonight. Heather's house is full, too. The Altizers and Roberts are both big families and they all knew each other. They are close-knit people."
Colleen Sparrow, interim publisher for The Citizen was close with Altizer.
"I know that I speak for everyone here at The Citizen, and across Glacier Media, when I say that we have not only lost a colleague but a great friend today," she said.
"He is someone who was dear to all of us. Matt was a kind and gentle man who would go out of his way to help anyone, and patience was his hallmark.
"We grieve over the loss of Matt and his family in this difficult time."
The reasons for the crash are still a matter of investigation.
RCMP from across the Cariboo region attended and, as of Thursday night, still could not say what they had learned from the wreckage. As is standard procedure in fatal motor vehicle incidents, mechanical inspections will be done, physical evidence examined and witnesses interviewed.
Police spokeswoman Cpl. Madonna Saunderson said the scene will be difficult to examine.
"Both vehicles were engulfed in flames and that hindered emergency personnel from getting close to the vehicles," she said.
She added an independent witness travelling behind the SUV saw no indication of erratic or irresponsible driving up to the moment of the collision.
"For whatever reasons that are unknown and probably won't be known, [the SUV] crossed right over into the semi."
The roads were reportedly bare and dry at the time, with good visibility. One of the first on the scene, McLeese Lake resident Greg Foster, said he heard discussions among truckers earlier that morning of ice fog that may have made the highway slippery, but when he arrived at the incident the roads seemed dry.
"I actually saw the smoke from probably half a kilometre away," said Foster, who joined the emergency responders at the scene.
Foster is the owner of the Oasis Pub but also the area's fire warden.
There is no volunteer fire department in the immediate community of McLeese Lake. Foster said it was the Wildwood Fire Department that attended, after a two-hour delay to obtain clearances to go beyond their usual borders. He believed the delay caused no
additional harm.
"If McLeese Lake had a fire department we could've maybe contained the fire more, but other than that there would've been nothing else anybody could've done," he said. "It was a horrible, horrible looking scene. With all of the debris that was spread all over the place and seeing the location of both vehicles, nobody would have been able to do anything at that time to get down to assist."
