Buffalo Volunteer Fire Department veteran and wife killed in crash on Iowa 22

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By Thomas Geyer | Tuesday, November 11, 2008 10:54 PM CST | () comments

HW22 was closed east of Buffalo about 1:00pm Tuesday after an accident involving this car and at least one other vehicle. Two individuals were taken to an area hospital. Further details were not available. (Larry Fisher/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo

(UPDATE: 9:46 p.m.) BUFFALO, Iowa — A 40-year veteran of the Buffalo Volunteer Fire Department and his wife were killed Tuesday in a two-vehicle collision, the Iowa State Patrol said.

The crash occurred at 12:47 p.m. on Iowa 22 about a quarter mile east of county road Y48.

Otto Olsen, 76, and his wife Deloris, 77, died in the accident.

The death of the longtime Buffalo couple stunned the town, said family friends Daryl and Leota Buffington.

“He was a wonderful man,” Leota Buffington said. “We met him when he owned a gas station here in town. He towed a lot of cars and trucks and he’d come and start you in the wintertime.”

Olsen was the only firefighter allowed to drive the department’s antique fire truck.

“He had that truck out across the street from us Halloween night handing out candy to the kids,” Leota Buffington said.

“He would give the shirt off his back to you,” she said. “His wife was a sweetheart, too.”

Daryl Buffington said he had known Olsen for almost half a century, “ever since I come to town in 1959.” Daryl Buffington joined the fire department in 1966 and remains a second-alarmer — he responds to fires after a second alarm sounds. Olsen, he said, was a regular.

“He was a wonderful man,” Daryl Buffington said.

Leota Buffington said they learned about the Olsens’ deaths while they were at the American Legion pork chop supper in Blue Grass, Iowa.

“I’m a close friend of his sister, too,” Leota Buffington said. “It hit us pretty darn hard.”

According to the Iowa State Patrol crash report filed by trooper Byron Nudd, a 2004 Dodge Ram pickup truck, driven by Kyle Matthew Williams, 21, of Davenport, was eastbound on Iowa 22 when it crossed the center line.

The truck slammed head-on into the 2008 Ford Focus driven westbound on Iowa 22 by Otto Olsen.

Williams and a passenger in his truck, a 15-year-old female, also of Davenport, were each taken to Genesis Medical Center-East Rusholme Street, Davenport. Neither Williams nor his passenger was wearing a seatbelt, according to the crash report.

Williams was treated and then released. There was no information available on the condition of the female passenger.

Both of the Olsens were wearing seatbelts.

Thomas Geyer can be contacted at (563) 383-2328 or tgeyer@qctimes.com.

(EARLIER STORY: 7:10 p.m.) A Buffalo firefighter and his wife were killed Tuesday afternoon in a two-vehicle collision on Iowa 22, Buffalo Fire Chief Terry Adams said.

Adams said the names of the victims were not being immediately released.

He said the Iowa State Patrol is investigating the cause of the crash.

Iowa 22 was closed east of Buffalo as state troopers investigated the crash.

Two other people were taken to an area hospital.

(Previous story) Iowa 22 closed after accident: An accident this afternoon has closed a portion of Iowa 22 east of Buffalo.

Information about the accident was unavailable, but officials from several agencies were on the scene, and authorities were rerouting motorists around the accident. A Buffalo ambulance also was seen leaving the scene.