PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — One person is dead and six more were hospitalized after a mass-overdose event that occurred in McMinnville on Feb. 10.
The McMinnville Police Department said that the surge of overdose patients began at 1:05 a.m., when paramedics with the McMinnville Fire Department responded to a report of four unconscious people at a home on Northwest Cedar Street. After arriving on scene, firefighters found one unconscious woman and three unconscious men scattered throughout the home, two of whom were determined to have no heartbeat.
“Two of the subjects were found in the kitchen, one in the dining room, and one in the garage,” McMinnville Police Department stated. “One of the unconscious males had a firearm on his person and another firearm was found in plain view in the laundry area. The firearms were collected for safekeeping.”
Due to the number of overdose patients, firefighters and police ran out of naloxone and deputies with the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office were called to the scene to provide more naloxone to the patients. CPR was also performed on the man and woman suffering from cardiac arrest. The three men were revived on scene and were taken to the hospital. Paramedics were unable to revive the woman and she was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
At the same time, three additional people were taken to the local hospital for overdose-related symptoms. One ambulance from Sheridan was called to the Yamhill County Jail in McMinnville to pick up a male inmate suffering from an expected overdose. Two patients were also taken to the local hospital in personal vehicles. It’s unclear at this time if all of the cases are related.
Police say that the mass overdose required such a large response from McMinnville’s emergency workers that it tied up responses to other incidents in the area. Paramedics were so overwhelmed by the coinciding incidents that one patient-loaded ambulance had to be driven to the hospital by a McMinnville Police officer. Another ambulance needed to make two trips from the home to the hospital to deliver all of the patients.
“One of the ambulances had to be driven to the hospital by a Police officer because there were not enough fire personnel to tend to the patient in the back and drive the ambulance,” MPD said.
The McMinnville Police Chief says they have responded to move fentanyl calls recently, despite being understaffed.
“We’re stretched thin to the max. Our fire department stretched to the max. Our PD is stretched to the max. in Fact, we had to call in the county sheriff’s office to come and help administer Narcan because we were running short to that end. Resources are tight here in McMinnville,” said Matt Scales. “We’ve seen increases in overdoses. It’s just been cumulative over the last couple of years, what we’re seeing in all of these specifically. In fact, today we’re hosting citywide training for our nonpublic safety departments to get training on how to dispense Narcan.”
Based on evidence gathered at the scene by first responders and McMinnville PD Detectives, the patients from the home on Cedar Street are suspected to have overdosed on a mix of fentanyl and cocaine. The investigation is ongoing and additional information is expected to be released at a later time. The names of the victims are being withheld by authorities at this time. Anyone has information about this mass overdose incident is asked to call the McMinnville Police Department tip line at (503) 434-2337.