VICTORIA - An elderly Vancouver Island woman who was driving to an appointment to install snow tires on her truck slammed into a rock wall and was trapped inside her vehicle Tuesday morning.
According to Sooke Fire Rescue, the Jaws of Life had to be used to free a woman from her red Ford Ranger after it skidded off Highway 14 and plowed into a rock embankment.
At around 10:30 a.m., fire crews received a call for a rescue near the Erinan Estates turnoff on Highway 14.
Crews found a red Ford Ranger crumpled against a rock embankment. Sooke fire chief, Kenn Mount told CTV Vancouver Island that the impact was so intense that the truck’s cab collapsed, trapping the woman inside.
Using the Jaws of Life, firefighters were able to cut the roof off the truck and free the woman. She was conscious at the time of the rescue and taken to hospital with unknown injuries.
“It was a quick hyper-squall,” said chief Mount as he described this morning’s winter weather. “A lot of drivers weren’t prepared.”
Mount says it was clear from a flurry of accidents in his community that motorists simply didn’t expect Tuesday’s brief onslaught of snow and frozen rain.
“The message is the importance of having the right tires,” said Mount. The fire and rescue chief added that driving appropriately to the winter conditions is something motorists need to cautious of.
Sooke Fire Rescue say they were so inundated with calls this morning that they passed by vehicles in the ditch while on their way to free the trapped woman in the ford ranger.
