On Sunday 23 October, Rockbank Fire Brigade was called to a car which had impacted the side of a house in Thornhill Park.
Upon arrival, crews discovered that the vehicle had narrowly avoided hitting the residential gas and electricity meters. However, the car was almost resting on top of the gas meter.
Incident Controller Captain Matt Cain from Rockbank said the challenge for crews was to stabilise the vehicle in order to immediately protect the gas meter before coming up with a plan to remove the vehicle from the side of the structure.
"We used plenty of cribbing to stabilise the vehicle so that it wouldn't fall onto the gas meter," Matt said.
Emergency services on scene included Fire Rescue Victoria, Ambulance Victoria, SES and Victoria Police. The gas company and a Melton Council building surveyor also attended.
When all the required resources were on scene, a plan was developed to remove the car from the house.
"We ended up removing more of the retaining wall to allow access for the tow truck and FRV crews from Pumper 55 and Rescue 56 used the winch from the rescue to make sure the vehicle didn't move as we removed the wall," Matt said.
"It was a relief once the vehicle had been removed safely, though we were prepared for the worst case scenario.
"We worked side-by-side with the other emergency services on scene and took a no-rush approach with the ultimate objective being safety."
Luckily no one was injured and the owners of the house were able to return after the scene was safe.