POULSBO — A vehicle passenger was killed in a collision with a Waste Management truck on Sawdust Hill Road near Pimlico Place Nov. 10. The driver was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center’s trauma unit.

The driver of the refuse truck, a 62-year-old Poulsbo man, was uninjured, Poulsbo Fire spokeswoman Jody Matson reported.

The driver of the car was identified only as a 29-year-old man from Kingston. He was extricated and taken by ambulance to Raab Park in Poulsbo, then airlifted in serious condition.

The passenger was killed instantly, Matson reported. The two had been working at a nearby construction site.

The road was closed for three hours while the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office investigated at the scene. Crews from Poulsbo Fire Department, North Kitsap Fire & Rescue, Poulsbo Police, Washington State Patrol, and Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office responded to the collision, which happened just before noon.

Kitsap County sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Scott Wilson said the car crested the hill at an excessive speed and then skidded and struck the left side of the Waste Management truck. The road is narrow; the Waste Management truck was on the correct side of the road, Wilson said.

The first medic unit left the scene with emergency lights on at 12:22 p.m. Two other medic units left without emergency lights at 12:24 and 12:31 p.m. At 1:43 p.m., CenCom dispatched another extrication unit to the scene.

Diane Kina, who lives near the crash site, said crashes on the road are rare; the speed limit is 25 mph, and the road is primarily used by residents from Stottlemeyer to Big Valley Road. But, she warned, the road is narrow; motorists have to drive the speed limit and hug the side of the road when passing another vehicle. At the crest, “It’s a blind hill going up and down,” she said.

Regarding the road width, fire engines backing down the roadway had to hug the shoulder of the road to maneuver past a sheriff’s vehicle parked below the crash scene. As a driver positioned the engine so he could back into a driveway and turn around, he told someone directing him from the road, “I’m afraid of how soft this is.” Both engine drivers turned their engines without incident and left the scene.

George Thomson watched the crash-scene response with his dog, Ellie, from the corner of Stottlemeyer and Sawdust Hill. He said he was inside his house when he “heard tires sliding and then — whoomp.”

Thomson estimates his house is about 900 feet from the crash scene.

Robin Freedman, Waste Management’s senior communications manager, issued the following statement on behalf of the company: “Our hearts go out to the family who lost a loved one today and our prayers are with the injured driver and his family. For Waste Management, nothing is more important than the safety of our employees and the residents of the communities where we serve. Waste Management is cooperating in full with investigations led by local and state authorities.”

Fire and medic units from Poulsbo Fire and North Kitsap Fire & Rescue went to the scene of a collision on Sawdust Hill Road near Stottlemeyer Road, Nov. 10. Photo: Sophie Bonomi / Herald

One man was killed and another man was medflighted to Harborview Medical Center after their car collided with a refuse truck on Sawdust Hill Road. Photo: Jody Matson / Poulsbo Fire Department

Firefighters take a vehicle driver to an ambulance for transport to a waiting medflight, Nov. 10 on Sawdust Hill Road. Photo: Jody Matson / Poulsbo Fire Department