A man who 'dozed off” behind the wheel has had a lucky escape after crashing his ute towing a caravan into a ditch, bringing down power lines.

The man, travelling along State Highway 2, crashed just north of the intersection with Snodgrass Road, Whakamarama at about 5.20pm yesterday leaving power lines strewn across the road and surrounding scrub on fire.

Emergency services at the crash on State Highway 2. Photos: Supplied.

Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion says the man appears to have 'dozed off”, crossing the centre line and crashing into the ditch on the side of the road.

'He has struck a power pole on the opposite side of the road causing the lines to come down set fire to scrub in the area,” says Ian

As a result, a section of SH2 was blocked to traffic for a number of hours as firefighters extinguished the fire and power lines were removed from the road.

Omokoroa Fire Brigade chief fire officer Ian Blunt says it was a 'pretty precarious” situation with the power pole and lines down over top of the ute and a 'pop top” caravan.

Although the man was already out of the vehicle when firefighters arrived, there was uncertainty around whether the lines were still live, leaving firefighters to extinguish as much of the fire as they could with dry powder.

Ian says there was a shelterbelt close by to the scrub fire, but firefighters managed to contain the blaze to a small area.

It is understood that the man did not suffer serious injuries and did not need ambulance assistance.