At approximately 0900 hours, a Chevy Tahoe crashed through a home located at 657 N. Cedar Street in Canby. When Canby Firefighters arrived, the crews found a newer model SUV that had crashed through a one-story single-family residence. The vehicle physically drove partially through one bedroom, and almost entirely through a second bedroom, coming to a rest half inside the home, half outside the home. The residences were not home at the time of the crash. As firefighters triaged the scene, they found an adult female in the vehicle and they identified that the home's gas meter had been sheared and gas was freely flowing from the gas line. Firefighters were able to walk the driver from her vehicle to an awaiting ambulance for medical evaluation where she was transported to Willamette falls Hospital. Realizing that they could not secure the gas leak themselves, Canby Firefighters and Police evacuated the immediate area, which included approximately 15 homes on N. Cedar and N. Birch Street. Firefighters then had Canby Utility cut the electrical service to the home to eliminate any potential ignition sources and notified Northwest Natural Gas. Northwest Natural Gas arrived within approximately 45 minutes. They secured the gas leak by digging up the gas line, claming it, and then capping it to prevent leakage. They then checked the home for accumulations of Natural Gas, which is lighter than air and has a tendency to pocket in enclosed areas like the attics and crawlspaces. Once the home was declared safe, they check the adjacent properties and declared that the evacuation order could be lifted. Once the gas was secure, Cornerstone Construction provided essential structural shoring to the damaged structure so the vehicle could be removed from the interior of the home. During the shoring and vehicle extrication, the homeowners arrived and witnessed the devastation. One of their first concerns was the family cat, which they found hiding in a remote area of the home, uninjured. "Our cat lives in the first bedroom, and its bed is right under the window, right where the car entered our home. It's amazing the cat survived," said David Schindler, the homeowner. Written by Canby Fire District

As many were enjoying their Memorial Day holiday the crews of Waterbury Engine 8, Truck 1, and Rescue 9 were working to rapidly extricate a badly injured man who crashed his SUV through the side of the building at 109 Watertown Ave. The SUV hit the building with considerable speed and appeared as though no skid marks were visible prior to the crash which embedded the truck up to it's rear doors in the brick building. The truck and rescue used reciprocating saws and hydraulic cutters to shear the roof and allows ems personnel from AMR and Campion Ambulance to access the victim so that he could be immobilized on a backboard and removed from the SUV. Luckily for the victim he crashed not more than 100 yards from the entrance of Waterbury Hospital. An additional call was made for the Collapse Truck, the City's Building Inspector and Fire Marshal due to the potential destabilization of the building due to the crash. The cause of the accident remains under investigation at this time.