Watch Crews Remove Big Rig From San Carlos Home: Video

An out-of-control big-rig that plowed into a house in a hilly neighborhood full of narrow, winding streets just outside of San Carlos on Monday afternoon has been removed, according to fire officials and the California Highway Patrol officer said.

The big-rig driver lost control of the truck at about 1:15 p.m. as he was coming down a hill on Turino Drive toward Winding Way in the unincorporated community of Devonshire.

The truck went straight through the intersection at the bottom of the hill and into a home at 260 Windsor Drive, CHP Officer Art Montiel said.

The truck and trailer, fully loaded with dirt and weighing nearly 18,000 pounds, ended up almost entirely inside the home and overturned inside, spilling its load. About half of the house was destroyed, Montiel said.

The family who lives there was out of town so no one was home. They returned Tuesday, Montiel said.

The runaway truck also took down a wooden fence and a pole, knocking down high-voltage power lines. Once PG&E crews de-energized the lines, 140 nearby residents lost power.

Firefighters from Redwood City and San Carlos, which have shared fire services since 2011, joined Cal Fire crews in responding to the crash, Redwood City fire officials said on Twitter.

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It’s not the first time the family has had a vehicle crash into the house and they installed a guardrail to prevent it, but the massive truck went right through it, according to the CHP.

The truck driver, a 29-year-old San Jose resident working for Villas Trucking, pulled himself from the wreck with only minor lacerations. He was taken to Stanford Hospital but released Monday night.

Streets in the area were closed for most of the evening while crews worked on restoring power in the area and pulling the wrecked big-rig from the house.

The driver told investigators his brakes didn’t work when applied, but Montiel said depending on how fast he was going, the weight of his truck might have made his brakes ineffective on the hill.

Investigators are looking into whether impaired driving was a factor in the crash, but it doesn’t appear to be the case, Montiel said.

Any witnesses to the crash have been asked to contact Officer Chris Hayashi at (650) 369-6261.

– By Bay City News Service.

(Image and video courtesy of the Redwood City Fire Department)