Monday November 4, 2019 ~ LANGFORD [Updated with driver’s comments, at 10:30 pm November 4]
~ West Shore Voice News
This afternoon a truck and trailer veered off the road and smashed into a house in the Glen Lake area of Langford.
Home at the time in the house at 2744 Sooke Road, a mother and two daughters were not injured. The driver reportedly experienced a medical emergency leading to his driving mishap, and was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
First responders said the family in the home was ‘very lucky’ to have avoided any injury. The truck hit the front of the house where apparently the mother often sits at the window.
The white pickup truck hit a corner of the house where the electrical and gas utilities enter the home.
Police, firefighters, BC Hydro and Fortis were all called to the scene. West Shore RCMP advised in a Tweet that traffic in the area was being diverted through Happy Valley Road and Luxton. That detour was in place for about two hours.
“This was a complex scene and thankfully there were no serious injuries,” says Langford Fire Chief Chris Aubrey. “With a gas leak, electricity and a compromised building involved, there is a potential for this to be a much more serious incident. Hopefully the driver will okay and that the family living at the home can relocate until all the repairs are made,” said Aubrey.
Langford’s Fire Chief noted that BC Hydro, Fortis, Langford Building Department, Westshore Towing, EMCON, RCMP, BCEHS and Langford Fire were in attendance. “We all worked as quickly as we could to make the area safe and get the road reopened. Thanks for everyone’s patience using alternative routes as the evening commute was disrupted,” Aubrey said.
West Shore RCMP confirmed around 3:15 pm that there is a natural gas leak in the home that was struck by the vehicle. Hydro lines have also being damaged. Police evacuated residents in the immediate vicinity.
The house location is on Sooke Road (Highway 14) near Ronald Road (just west of the Happy Valley Road intersection).
==== Comments from the Driver, as posted on Facebook November 4, 2019:
Posted by Shane Robertson: “Hi all…yes it was me in the accident today, I’m posting to explain what happened. It was an episode called cough induced syncope, basically I coughed hard enough to cut the oxygen to my brain and cause me to lose consciousness. This has happened to me before, but not for quite a while and never while driving. Extremely scary for me when I woke up and realized I had hit someone’s house. I immediately got out of the truck to check on everybody in the house, fearing the worst. I am so grateful to say that the family that lived there were shaken up but uninjured and I will be reaching out to them to make sure they’re taken care of. I am unable to drive until they figure this out or possibly forever. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers, and I’m sorry if I don’t get back to all your messages of well wishes right away. I have a lot to sort out over the next while. Thank you again and sorry to everyone affected.”