The Ashburton Volunteer Fire Brigade has had a busy week, with 12 callouts from Wednesday last week to Tuesday this week.
Chief Jeff Marshall said many were false alarms and medicals, while three were crashes at intersections.
On Monday at about 3.25pm, a ute crashed into a car at the intersection of Boundary Rd and Longbeach Rd.
‘‘By the time we got there, the car was on fire,’’ Marshall said.
Fortunately all the occupants were out. The back end of one of the vehicles was touching the vehicle that was on fire.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze.
Marshall said the occupants were ‘‘extremely lucky’’, considering the crash was in an 80km/h zone.
It could have been much more serious in terms of injury if the cars had impacted a moment later.
A Hato Hone St John spokesperson said one ambulance responded.
One patient, in moderate condition, was transported to Ashburton Hospital.
Earlier that day at about 8.50am, firefighters attended a crash between two cars at the intersection of Racecourse Rd and Belt Rd.
It appeared the car on Racecourse Rd had clipped the front of the car coming out from Belt Rd, causing significant damage to the latter.
The Hato Hone St John spokesperson said one ambulance responded.
On Thursday last week a van and truck crashed at the intersection of JB Cullen Dr and Sim Pl.
It appeared sunstrike had been a factor.
For each of these two crashes, the Hato Hone St John spokesperson said one patient, in moderate condition, was transported to Ashburton Hospital.
‘‘It’s just taking that little bit more care at intersections, it’s about paying more attention and being sure of your way clear before you go through,’’ Marshall said.
It was particularly important as the sun became lower in the sky as we got closer to winter.
‘‘You just have to take another couple of seconds to think about what you need to do before you enter the intersection,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Rakaia Volunteer Fire Brigade attended a two-car crash about 12.10pm on Friday, north of the Rakaia River bridge.
It blocked the southbound lane on the bridge, causing traffic delays of about one hour.
The Hato Hone St John spokesperson said two ambulances responded.
‘‘Two patients, one in moderate condition and one in minor condition, were assessed and treated at the scene,’’ the spokesperson said.
