Road keeps rescue crews busy

RESCUERS used the jaws of life to cut a woman free from the wreckage of a car that crashed into a tree at Upper Beaconsfield on Saturday.
The crash happened shortly before 1pm on BeaconsfieldEmerald Road, near the intersection of Quamby Road.
Emergency crews from the Pakenham Road Rescue Unit, incorporating Pakenham SES and Nar Nar Goon CFA, police, ambulance and CFA arrived at the scene to find the car’s female driver trapped inside.
Pakenham SES spokesman Stephen Monro said rescue crews used lowpressure airbags to stabilise the vehicle, a Ford Falcon sedan.
“Once access was gained, crews worked feverishly to release the occupant from the vehicle using specialist rescue equipment,” Mr Monro said.
The woman was trapped for about an hour before she was freed and was later airlifted to hospital. A passenger was transported by ambulance to Dandenong Hospital.
Heavy rain fell during the rescue operation.
The incident was one of several callouts for emergency service crews during wet and stormy weather over the weekend.
Mr Monro said Pakenham SES had another call out not far down the road from the car crash where a tree had fallen across BeaconsfieldEmerald Road.
“Upon arrival, after being informed by a local, we came across a large tree, where it appeared a ute had driven into it,” he said.
The driver had minor injuries and was treated at the scene by paramedics.
“It was a busy time because, like the fire brigade, the police, SES, the ambulance had just been to the previous crash and now all of us were once again busy attending to this new tree job,” Mr Monro said.
Pakenham SES and the other emergency services thanked an Upper Beaconsfield resident who helped remove the tree with his excavator.