Wind, balloons and Shapeshifter has made for a busy time for the Methven Volunteer Fire Brigade.
They had nine callouts in three days.
Chief Brent Anderson said Friday morning they were called to a incident on Methven Chertsey Rd when a hot air balloon got caught in trees.
Anderson said they provided road control and cleanup.
Then on Saturday, gusts of up to 126kmph, wreaked havoc around the district.
‘‘We had five callouts on Saturday most wind related,” Anderson said.
On Elmwood Farm Lane polystyrene and plastic got sucked out of a new build foundation and landed on the neighbours fence.
‘‘It broke the window of the house it landed on and reinforcing rod poked a hole in the roof,” he said.
‘‘It was fortunate no-one was around the time when it took off, as that could have been quite nasty.”
Next the fire crew headed to Southbelt in Methven to deal with a fence fire.
‘‘A bucket of ashes they had taken out of their fire got blown over and then fanned by the wind.”
‘‘That was just a minor fire that we managed to extinguish pretty easily as we were already out and about,” Anderson said.
At 11.30am the crew again responded to another wind related call when they helped secure a new house build from wind damage.
‘‘We added some extra bracing so the house didn’t tip over,’’ Anderson said.
At 3.30pm they responded to a fire alarm activation at the Mount Hutt Memorial Hall.
Anderson said the band, Shapeshifter were rehearsing and a smoke machine caused the issue.
“We ventilated the building with our fan and cleared the smoke pretty quickly.”
Emergency services were called out to single car accident on Thompsons Track, Ashburton Forks on Sunday morning at 7.10am.
Hone Hato St John responded with one ambulance and one first response unit responded to the scene.
‘‘Our ambulance staff treated one patient and transported them to Ashburton Hospital in a moderate condition,” a spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the police said the vehicle damaged the pole and EA Networks were called to deal with the split pole.
Later in the day, Anderson said they were called to assist police with a helicopter landing pad in the Methven Domain following an incident in the back country.
In Ashburton, police are investigating after a two car accident in Tinwald last week where a driver appeared to fail to give way at an intersection.
Emergency services attended the accident on the corner of Wilkin and Thomson Sts on Wednesday at 6.30pm.
Ashburton Volunteer Fire Brigade chief Jeff Marshall said: “there was significant damage to the car, and we had to cut the door off to free the driver.”
Police and Hone Hato St John were also in attendance.
A spokesperson for Hone Hato St John said two ambulances responded.
‘‘Two patients were assessed at the scene, with one transported to Ashburton Hospital in a moderate condition and one assessed and treated at the scene.”
A spokesperson for the police said enquiries into the circumstances of the crash are ongoing.
Earlier this week, emergency services were called out to a single car incident at the Walnut Ave railway crossing.
A vehicle made contact with the level crossing barrier arms at about 8.30am on Monday.
A KiwiRail spokesperson said: ‘‘We have inspected the site and found some damage to the barrier arms which has since been repaired. No services were delayed as a result.”
Marshall said the vehicle was travelling in an East to West direction when the driver appeared to have lost control.
‘‘Even though there was extensive damage to the vehicle, we were not required to assist,” he said.
KiwiRail cautioned the public that trains could appear at any time whether they were expected or not.
Trains always have right of way and travel faster than they appear to, they said.
“Safety is paramount and we strongly encourage road users to follow the signage at level crossings,” they said.
Elsewhere, emergency services were called to an incident between a tractor and a van in Rakaia on June 16 at 3.25pm.
Rakaia Volunteer Fire Brigade chief Tyrone Burrowes said damage to the tractor caused a diesel spill that required a clean up by District Council staff.
Hato Hone St John said they responded with one ambulance and one PRIME responder.
“Two patients were assessed and treated at the scene, both minor condition and did not require transport to hospital,” a spokesperson said.
