The first firefighter on the scene of a car crash in Park Road in Katikati didn't have far to go last night.

Katikati chief fire officer Joe Manukau only had to cross the road to where a young man was trapped in the passenger side of the late model BMW after it crashed into a property.

He was freed using a hand saw to cut away the branches that trapped him in the vehicle.

'I was the first on the scene,” says Joe.

'He was sitting on the passenger side and entangled in the shrubbery that he crashed into. There was no sign of anybody else.

'The neighbours and I were getting straight into using a hand saw to get the debris away to get his arms free.”

The young man was complaining of chest pains, back pain, and neck pain, but had visible wounds only on his arm.

'It (his arm) got entangled, it was hanging outside the window, the tree branches were inside the vehicle.”

Police are investigating whether the man was the driver.

The accident happened at speed, with Joe saying the driver lost control after a slight bend in the road before hitting the kerb, and crossing the road to take out letter boxes shrubs and come to rest in the garden.

'It's not the only time I have been across the road.

'About four times it's happened in my time.”

A 19 year old Katikati man is today in the Tauranga Hospital intensive care unit. His condition was not available.