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Heavy snow possibly responsible for falling tree that injured Clark County deputy

The deputy had to be extracted from his vehicle with heavy tools, and was said to be in critical but stable condition.

WASHOUGAL, Wash. — A Clark County sheriff's deputy is in critical but stable condition after being injured when a tree fell on his police vehicle amid heavy snow Wednesday morning.

The Clark County Sheriff's Office initially reported that the deputy had been involved in a single-car crash on Washougal River Road in Skamania County. 

The crash was described as serious enough that fire personnel from multiple agencies responded and had to use heavy extrication tools to remove him from his patrol car. He was taken to a local trauma center.

The deputy is said to be out of surgery and being transferred to a hospital in Portland, the CCSO said in a later update. He has significant injuries, the sheriff's office said.

It appears that the upper portion of a large tree broke off, possibly due to heavy snowfall, the sheriff's office said, and fell onto the deputy's patrol car at the base of the windshield. The vehicle came to a rest against another tree just off the roadway.

The deputy had been on the way back from a training event at the time, and several other law enforcement officers were travelling with him and were able to provide first aid. A local public works truck helped remove the tree from the vehicle before fire personnel arrived, CCSO said.

Portland proper saw only a few snow flurries Wednesday morning, with heavier snow not arriving until the afternoon, but Washougal and other parts of Clark County and the eastern metro area saw much heavier snow starting earlier in day on Wednesday. 

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

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