This is Hull and East Riding -- FIREFIGHTERS battled to free a woman from her car after she crashed into a building, fearing it might collapse on their heads. The high-speed crash happened when a white Nissan Qashqai crashed with a black car on the eastbound A63 slip road joining Ferensway in Hull. The Nissan flew off the road, going through a metal crash barrier before burying itself in the side of the hostel in William Booth House. It damaged the building and the car's female driver was trapped inside with spinal injuries. Fire service area manager and head of training Nick Granger, who led rescue efforts, said: "It had been a fairly high-speed collision. "The Nissan Qashqi had hit another vehicle and gone through some steel barriers, fortunately just missing some pedestrians walking down the road," he said. "The car had impacted with a wall that was part of the building's canteen. We had concerns the building could collapse." Staff were evacuated and the fire service called a structural engineer from Hull City Council to inspect the damage. Before he arrived, they carried out their own risk assessment and decided to go in immediately and free the trapped woman. Because they feared her back had been damaged, the firefighters had to get her out in a straight line – limiting their choices. They could either remove the car's roof and lift her free, or create a space inside the vehicle and remove her through the back.Officers went for the second option, cutting away the boot and seats before she was lifted on a board and taken to an ambulance. Paramedics took the casualty to Hull Royal Infirmary. Mr Granger said: "The building was one of our primary concerns. We had firefighters and paramedics inside the car which was inside the building, which was very seriously damaged. It was a two-pronged operation, making sure the building didn't collapse and freeing the lady." The call came to firefighters at about 1.50pm on Wednesday, while many officers were on strike due to a pensions dispute with the Government. While Fire Brigades Union members were off duty, they were partly replaced by reserve staff with limited training. However, the technical nature of the rescue meant the two engines sent to deal with the crash were crewed entirely by senior officers more used to supervising operations. Mr Granger said the response showed the service still had the capability to deal with complicated emergencies during walkouts. • In an earlier story on this site, we reported the time of the crash as 2.30pm on Wednesday. We stated only one vehicle had been involved. This information was provided by the police and has since been corrected. Reported by This is 5 days ago.