TWO women in their late 30s escaped with minor injuries after a fiery car crash on the Mitchell Highway around 10 kilometres west of Bathurst yesterday afternoon.
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Emergency services were called to the accident on the corner of Dunkeld Road at 2.51pm, with one car on fire off to the side of the road.
Bathurst Fire and Rescue NSW station officer Peter Willard said crews arrived to find a Suzuki four-wheel-drive fully engulfed by fire and sitting in long grass.
He said the vehicles’ occupants had already been removed from their cars and the burning Suzuki had started a fast-moving grass fire racing towards a home.
Station officer Willard said firefighters rushed to protect a property on Evans Plains Road as the fire charged towards it.
“There was fast-moving grass fire that came within a foot of the property,” he said. “We provided property protection and waited on arrival of the RFS [Rural Fire Service] who extinguished the fire.”
Ambulance Service of NSW duty officer Inspector Ron Gavin said the two female drivers were taken to Bathurst Hospital with “fairly minor injuries”.
Chifley local area command duty officer Inspector Glenn Cogdell confirmed the women had “non life-threatening” injuries.
The Mitchell Highway was closed for a number of hours following the accident, with traffic diversions in place, before reopening at around 4.30pm.
The fire burned through about five hectares of grassland and the NSW RFS issued a “watch and act” alert to property owners in the region.
NSW RFS Chifley Zone team leader Tom Shirt said the teamwork of all emergency services involved helped to ensure the property was saved.
“The grass has cured off now and any fire in the grasslands will move fairly quickly,” he said.
Late yesterday the two women remained in a stable condition in Bathurst Hospital.
Inspector Cogdell has called on any witnesses to the accident to contact Bathurst police station on 6332 8699.
