A truck driving through an alfalfa field on Wednesday, April 9, crashed into a commercial greenhouse in Nyssa and caused extensive damage.
Brandy Ashby of Ashby’s Greenhouse said that she had just been helping customers inside the greenhouse, where her family sells flowers, shrubs and vegetables, before she stepped outside to take a phone call from her dentist.
Moments later, as she stood near the greenhouse, she said a truck barreled through a fence and crashed into the structure.
Malheur County Sheriff Travis Johnson identified the driver as Silas Currey, 20, of Ontario. Johnson said an ambulance took Currey to St. Luke’s Health System in Fruitland for a medical evaluation.
Johnson said according to the report, Currey told first responders he was driving to get medical help for severe stomach pain.
Ashby’s Greenhouse, which she and her husband Mark have operated for more than 10 years, is in its second year at its current location, at 1567 Thunderegg Blvd. in Nyssa. They had previously operated in Ontario.
Ashby said Wednesday’s incident comes just days into the greenhouse’s busy spring season. The season kicks off in April and ends in mid-June, she said. She said the month leading up to Mother’s Day is a critical period.
According to the Ashby’s Greenhouse Facebook page, the business is temporarily closed and plants to reopen on Monday, April 14.
Ashby said Wednesday’s incident caused significant damage to the custom-built greenhouse. With bent parts strewn about “everywhere,” she said it’s unclear if the structure can withstand the windy climate in Nyssa.
“We’re just trying to figure out if we can make it work,” she said.
She said she is still assessing the damage to the greenhouse’s products and figuring out what can be salvaged.
“All of the plant shelves and the plants just look like a bomb went off and just exploded and flew everywhere,” she said.
Ashby said there has been an outpouring of support from the community. She said that she and her family are inventorying, evaluating, and assessing the cost to the business right now and that they don’t have an answer to how anyone can help.
She said she has family coming from Utah to help them clean up and sort through the damage.
“I feel very, very fortunate and very blessed,” she said.
Ashby said while she’s grappling with the fallout of Wednesday’s incident, it’s not lost on her how narrowly she and her customers avoided a tragedy.
She said other customers arrived nearly simultaneously as the time of the crash.
“If I hadn’t had that phone call from the dentist’s office, of all people,” she said, “I don’t know where I would have been.”
News tip? Send your information to Steven Mitchell at [email protected].
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