By Tyler Wright
Local SES members have been busy attending call outs on Belgrave-Gembrook Road in Avonsleigh in March.
Emerald SES members were called out to an incident on Belgrave-Gembrook Road, near Strawberry Corner, on Tuesday 28 March where a truck had driven off the road and hit a tree.
Deputy controller Neil Fisher said crews were initially paged at 9.37am for an initial clearance and then were called back at 11.45am, helping Victoria Police reopen Belgrave-Gembrook Road and clear the fallen tree.
“The Emerald unit’s understanding was the tree was already down when the truck hit it or the truck collided with it, and that’s what caused the truck to go off the road,” Mr Fisher said.
“That’s obviously pending Victoria Police’s investigation.”
There were no injuries.
Stop-slow bats were used to manage traffic in the morning, with the road closed in the afternoon.
Mr Fisher said the stretch of Belgrave-Gembrook has not particularly been a hazard for motorists in the past, but heavy vehicles and motorists who are not familiar with roads in the area may be involved in accidents.
Roaming cows have also been an issue on Strawberry Corner, Mr Fisher said, with a recent incident of a cow injuring itself after an attempted escape through a fence along the road on Thursday 9 March.
“They’ve somehow got through their fencing and they’re just grazing on the grass that is in the road corridor,” he said.
“The concern from SES is that a vehicle might collide with a cow, and then that vehicle would lose control and become and have passengers that are trapped driver or passengers that are trapped or indeed have a further vehicle collision with vehicles traversing the road,” he said.
Four CFA units from Macclesfield heavy animal rescue and Cockatoo attended the scene, with the cow needing to be euthanised after finding its way onto the road embankment.
Crews declared the scene safe by 12.37am on Friday 10 March.
