Ellen Dittebrandt — artist, firefighter and triathlete — died Sunday after she was struck from behind by a vehicle while riding her bicycle on Interstate 84.
“It’s a devastating loss. Artists here are pretty tightly knit, we’re fans of each other, and she was one of my favorites,” said Hood River artist Mark Nilsson, who met Dittebrandt shortly after she moved to the gorge about 18 years ago.
“Ellen will be remembered as the unstoppable force for good that she was,” said Jim Appleton, chief of Mosier Fire Department. “This community is just beginning to get its hands around the way we will be formally remembering Ellen Dittebrandt.”
Dittebrandt also volunteered for Hood River and Mid-Columbia fire departments, and the three agencies have formed a committee to plan a joint memorial service, with a likely naming opportunity, according to Appleton. He said the agencies are hoping to pull together a memorial service this weekend.
See mosierfire.com and the Saturday edition of Hood River News for updates. “We are looking at all the positive, loving, giving things she did,” Appleton said.
“Ellen was irreplaceable,” said Kip Miller of Hood River Fire Department, her friend and the department volunteer coordinator. “It would take three volunteers to replace her.” In addition to responding to calls and doing emergency transfers, she taught CPR classes to hundreds of people, served as HRFD volunteer association treasurer, and was the department historian.
Dittebrandt turned to firefighting about six years ago, and was 2011 firefighter of the year for the fire department in Mosier, where she lived, and received the same honor in 2013 for Hood River Fire. “She was our most active volunteer, by far,” Miller said. He said Dittebrandt brought a humor and energy to everything she did.
“You could see it in her art, which was so colorful,” Miller said. “Everything wasn’t between the lines. It’s the way she was as a firefighter, not everything by the book, but when you step back and look at the work, it was just beautiful ... she’s going to be missed.”
She died “doing what she loved,” Miller said of Dittebrandt, who ran triathlons and regularly rode her bicycle, swam, and walked from her home in Mosier to the Hood River fire hall to put in a 12-hour day of volunteer labor.
At approximately 6:20 a.m. Sunday, Dittebrandt was riding a bicycle westbound along Interstate 84 approaching the off-ramp near milepost 56 to Viento State Park, according to a release from Senior Trooper Mike Holloran of the Oregon State Police. A 2014 Ford pickup driven by John C. Allman 55, from Portland, was also traveling westbound when it traveled onto the shoulder and struck the bicycle from behind, throwing Dittebrandt into the left westbound lane. The pickup came to rest in the westbound traffic lanes. OSP is continuing the investigation. The completed investigation will be forwarded to the Hood River County District Attorney’s Office for review and consideration of enforcement action. Driver fatigue has been identified as a contributing factor. Daylight conditions existed at the time of the crash and traffic was light.
Dittebrandt, who was wearing a helmet, was pronounced deceased at the scene. Allman was not injured and is cooperating with the investigation. Cascade Locks firefighters responded. OSP troopers from The Dalles Area Command office are continuing the investigation.
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