Truck damages Chelsea building

Just before 6pm on Tuesday evening (31/08/2010) Chelsea SES were called by Chelsea Police to assist at the corner of Chelsea Road & Station Street where an unknown vehicle had struck the awning and partially demolished the structure. 

What Chelsea SES found when they arrived on scene

Damage sustained to the awning after being struck by the truck

When units arrived on scene it was discovered that the incident had in fact happened around 4pm and Police had not been notified until almost 2 hours later. On initial inspection it was clear that there was structural as well as cosmetic damage and debris that has collapsed on impact was strewn across the footpath below the awning. This area is very busy at this time of the evening with many school children around and it was very lucky that there were no injuries.

Debris accross the footpath following the collision

It was then discovered that there was asbestos in the debris and so the decision was made to simply install 2 Acrow props, one at each end of the damaged section of awning and wait for the City of Kingston building inspector to further assess the damage following consultation with Police.

Asbestos was found in the debris

Calls were made to Council, however, at the time of writing this, our belief is that the after hours, on call building inspector did not attend the scene.

Crews make an initial inspection of the scene

Did you see the truck hit the awning? The incident occurred at approximately 4pm on Tuesday evening the 31^st of August in Chelsea Road almost opposite the library entrance near the corner of Station Street in Chelsea. If you saw anything that may assist Police in identifying the vehicle please call Chelsea Police on 9772 1344.

Deciding the best way to prop up the damaged awning

It is believed that the vehicle would have sustained damage to its roof above the passenger side and even though most people would not have seen a registration number you may have remembered the name on the vehicle.

Installing the second Acrow prop under the awning

Chelsea members were on scene for almost 2 hours returning to LHQ around 8pm.

A Twist In The Tale?

The awning collapsed around 1pm the following day

In a late twist to this event; the following day, building workers from an insurance company were called in to inspect the damage from this incident and around 1pm, while attempting to assess the damage to the roof, the entire awning collapsed onto the footpath below.

Our Acrow props were the only thing left standing

Amazingly there were no injuries

Once again it seems to have been amazing that nobody was hurt and certainly seems to be a case of more good luck than good judgment that it didn’t collapse earlier or whilst anyone was underneath it .