Original subtitles

That's not good.

This time on Heavy Rescue: 401...

Oh, that's a bummer.

Cracked trailer...

If he doesn't prepare himself, he could...

.. forces split decision.

Watch out. Whoa, whoa, whoa!

We don't have much wiggle room.

The Rosses get squeezed.

Pretty easy to get lost out here.

And Mitch heads off-road...

If I get stuck, we're here all night.

.. and into the drink.

No, Mitch, you've got water!

Mid-afternoon traffic on

the highways of Toronto is moving well,

but at the Compass Traffic

Centre, operators keep careful watch,

because when there's more

room for traffic to move, there's more room for things to go wrong...

401 eastbound express, east of Vic Park.

Orillia-5-Tango-0-0-7.

I'm just 401 right now.

...and just after 3:00pm, OPP Sergeant

Kerry Schmidt heads west of the city to an urgent call in Oakville.

So, we got a truck on fire, Highway 403, near Dundas.

We gotta get to the scene.

This is a pretty significant fire we're dealing with, so

there's gonna be massive delays, and congestion, and possibly road

closures in that area right now.

Alright, so, traffic's backing up here now, so this is the start of

the slowdown.

There they are. I see the flashing lights.

A fire crew is dousing the last of the flames

that erupted on the flatbed trailer.

That's quite the mess.

Hey, how you doin'?

The brakes seized, heated up, caught fire, and then

the fire got converted up to the cargo that was on the flatbed.

This is Highway 403 eastbound just before Dundas Street.

We have a transport truck that caught fire.

Kerry documents the scene to keep the public informed.

It actually melted the aluminium deck of the trailer.

Fire is on scene doing their work.

The fire department obviously has put the fire out, but we're down

below zero, freezing temperatures, and obviously the risk of ice

and freezing of that water could result in slippery conditions.

Firefighters take care of the ice, but the tougher

problem is the flatbed itself.

The fire actually melted the integrity of the trailer,

and continued up into the cargo of the trailer, and now we're waiting

for crews to come in and remove the trailer and the cargo.

Removing it won't be a simple hook and tow.

They can't even pull it because the structural integrity is gone.

So, as soon as they pull it, it's just going to collapse on itself.

Yeah, they need to float it out on a flatbed.

We want to get this trailer cleared out of here as quickly as we can.

Traffic is backing up. This is a major connector

here on the west end of the GTA, and any time we lose a lane here,

it has massive implications.

This trailer's not going anywhere.

On North America's busiest highway, closure is not an option.

Looks like we got some heavy tows showing up here.

I see two heavy tows, but I don't see a float trailer.

Waiting for a float trailer is going to take extra time.

For us to be towing it down the highway puts it in huge

risk because if it was to fail on the highway, we could have an

even bigger mess than what we have right now.

So, the heavy ops offer up an unconventional idea.

I'm gonna hook up at the back, you hook up at the front.

So, the tows have a plan - tow it off without a float trailer

by putting one truck in reverse.

They'll hook one wrecker to the back and a second on the front, slinging

the trailer between them.

Then they'll drive it off the road, one of them in reverse.

This is something that we don't see all the time...

It will be faster than waiting, but if the move puts too much strain on

the middle, they risk breaking the trailer in half.

Go, go, go! Out, out, out!

So, the salter truck should be in place in less than five minutes.

The MTO's got the blockers across the back.

As managers of the scene, the OPP have decided it's

a chance worth taking.

Let's see if these guys can pull it off.

Hopefully the, uh, integrity of this trailer holds.

We have that deck that has been compromised.

They're going to lift right on the axle?

Yeah, looks like it.

They got the front end hooked up, back end is just lifting up

right now, and they're going to bring it right off the ground.

Even this initial lift could be too much.

You can see how it's

flexing right at the break point there, of the trailer.

So far, it's holding.

It should be almost ready to roll.

Now... They need it to stay intact for the 300-foot trip to the exit.

You'll be in neutral going backwards, and just rear steering?

It is dicey, because this is a big combination unit, and considering

one of the tow operators is

actually driving in reverse, they need to work very carefully, so

that we don't have a failure while we're moving this down the road.

Alright, and we're rolling.

Seeing this operation in play was certainly dynamic and fascinating.

They got it off the highway in much better time, than what we

would have had to have had, had we waited for that float trailer.

Great job, guys. A memorable recovery that was very well done.

Regarding that tractor-trailer fire east 403 at Dundas, thankfully

the remains have been removed, and all lanes have reopened.

90 miles north, traffic heading into

Barrie, is bottlenecking into a serious slowdown on Highway 11.

Passenger's got serious injuries,

and has been transported to a Toronto-area trauma centre.

Approaching a truck moving extremely slowly, the southbound driver tried

to stop, veered off the road, and rammed into a stand of trees.

You wanna go all the way back there first?

Classic Towing's Phil Barron has

already seen that there's no way to pull it out with the cargo inside.

We got 'er! We want to offload

it, and we want to get a good look at the inside of the trailer,

because we've already seen the underside has broken boards.

Heavy, eh? For insulation.

For the second time this winter,

Phil will be working alongside Tyler Wall from Lucky's Towing.

Any bit of weight, if we take it out, it increases our chances of

being able to pull this thing out as one unit.

It's crucial that we get this roadway open again, especially

before dark, and for everybody's safety, it's very important that

we clear this scene.

Offloading the insulation has eaten up valuable time.

It's so badly damaged up front, we may tear it apart

when we pull it up. I think that's it.

Now, we're gonna get our trucks up over there and hook onto it.

Phil moves the flagship 75-ton Classic rotator

to hook the front, and Tyler gets his wrecker into position.

He'll be on the back end of it, keeping the trailer

steady, and then I'll be up here.

Good? That's good!

Everybody ready?

Ready! The plan is to have Phil hold onto the snout of the trailer

as I swing the ass end of the trailer onto the road.

Come in a little more. If there's any movement from the front, since

the brake's at the front, it can cause the trailer to snap in half.

Keep coming.

Beautiful. So far, so good.

They've got the tractor where they

want it, but now Tyler has to swing up the fragile trailer.

Go ahead. I'll just watch ya.

Yeah. You never know what it's going to do until you give it a

bit of a pull.

I'm all unhooked at the front here.

OK. I'm gonna try to lift, as well as pull the trailer

toward me, in the hopes that when I lift it up, it doesn't transfer

weight to the front and cause the trailer to snap in half.

Whoa, hang on!

Is it looking good, Phil?

There's no twisting...

Carry on? I think we're good.

They just need it to swing smoothly, the final few feet up to the road.

It's staying together so far.

There's still a chance that it could rip.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Go ahead.

I'll just watch ya.

On Highway 11, the Classic and Lucky

crews need to ease the cracked trailer smoothly to the road.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

But they haven't quite cleared the slope.

Although, the front of the trailer is starting to

turn up, the back of the trailer is digging into the bank a little bit.

The top's more top-heavy, so when I pull the bottom, it's like pulling

the legs out from underneath it.

It went really quick that way, and I think I

caught Phil off-guard. If you put a line to it, and you can pull it...

Okay.

Phil needs to reposition the rotator and add another line.

I'm just gonna do a straight pull this way.

Yeah. So give it a little pull, Phil.

I'll just come nice and easy, little bit at a time.

We're just gonna be as gentle as we can, and move as slow as

we can, and get it up on the road.

Yeah, here she comes.

OK. Just remember, not too fast.

You're ten times faster than me.

Bring it in a bit.

And the whole front end's on the road.

Alright, you can stop there. I'll pull the rest of it over here.

She's on the road.

We are good. We should be able to tow it out of here in one piece.

Oh, that's a bummer.

But a closer inspection reveals that the trailer is even more compromised

than they thought.

The damage is pretty severe on the floor of the trailer.

It's cracked in two places, not just one.

There's no way, with the way

the trailer is, that we're gonna be able to pull them as a single unit.

That's not good.

200 miles southwest, just east of London...

Traffic passing the Putnam Truck Inspection Station is slowing to

catch an unusual sight.

It's definitely kind of a unique situation. It's not too often

that you find yourself working in the scale house, doing a recovery.

Today, Austin Hutchinson, Ross Services' newest

operator, is answering the call.

Today, I'm on my way out with the rotator. Mike's gonna come

out, kind of supervise and lend a helping hand here.

It's already been a winter of challenging recoveries for Austin,

but the biggest challenge has been leaving his own family's company.

Originally, I worked for Spicer's of Woodstock.

It was a family-owned company.

My uncle and my cousin owned it.

Last year, they decided that they were ready to retire, so David Ross

bought our rotator from us, and they offered me a job.

It's been an adjustment, but Austin's earned his place.

Today, he'll be taking the lead.

Putting it on the Landoll.

As Austin and senior op Mike Ross arrive, the fire crew has

put out the flames.

I'm actually going to pick this

truck up with the rotator, and set it onto one of our Landoll floats.

One there, one on the back.

The biggest thing to worry about on one of these things, is just

making sure that you got a hold of something solid. Yeah, that's good.

We're just gonna pick it up nice and gently.

OK, going up, just watch yourself.

OK, Brandon, get ready, get in your truck.

Should be good there.

Keep coming! Hold it!

Alright, she's coming around.

Boom down.

Me and Austin work well together.

He knows what's going on, and does a good job.

Well, that's a first.

Today's job might have been simple,

but it's another sign that Austin made the right move.

I've never got a burnt one out of the scale before.

Absolutely, I feel like an equal member at Ross.

I mean, it feels like home. Another one done.

Are the dolly legs on the ground right now?

Back up on Highway 11...

We can wheel it up a little bit...

The combined crews are working to find some way

to move the compromised trailer off the scene.

..and just put a little winch on it, and pull the trailer down.

Once we pull the truck out from underneath the trailer, there'll

be no strength to hold it up.

The floor will just let go, and then we'll have

a bigger mess on our hands.

There's no way the trailer can

move in one piece, but it's not safe to let it just fall apart.

We're gonna get you to cut it.

Can you cut it right here?

I'm an arborist, and I got called to remove the tree

that the truck ran into.

But the crew is recruiting him for a whole different job.

We don't work with chainsaws every day. He's got all that

skill, so if he's here, we might as well use him, put him to good use.

Cut 'er right across. Something different.

Change is as good as a break.

Cutting the trailer in two will allow them to safely remove both

pieces, without risking the entire unit falling

apart on the road, but the floor is only the first part of the job.

Hey, Wes! We got a ladder up this way,

if you'd go up and cut the roof.

I'm used to climbing a tree

with spurs on, but we don't really like ladders in the tree industry.

When he's cutting, he's leaning on the saw, so at any point when

something lets go,

if he doesn't prepare himself, he could lean forward, lose balance.

Watch out!

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

We're gonna get you to cut it.

On Highway 11... Almost through!

The heavy recovery crew has drafted their tree expert for

his sawing skills.

At any point when something lets go,

if he doesn't prepare himself, he could lean forward, lose balance.

He's a brave guy because even though he's standing on the good

side, it's only aluminium.

Watch out! Whoa, whoa, whoa!

When I cut the top, the trailer buckled.

The roof is ready to collapse...

It'll just fold over one way or another.

Can you push it up?

.. so the crew needs to be ready.

As long as he knows where the ladder is,

and he can jump for it, then the rest of us can get him.

OK! Whoo, hoo, hoo, hoo!

He just cut through the top roof.

Evening traffic is building on

the bottlenecked highway, and so is the pressure...

I gotta cut the final piece

of the aluminium holding the trailer together.

We're hopeful.

I think there's one crosser still holding it on the bottom.

But they can't spend any more time on cutting.

I'm just gonna give it a nice easy little pull,

and we'll see what happens.

They'll rely on force to wrench the rest of the trailer apart, so

they can clear this road.

That's her! We're good.

Let's hook 'er up, get 'er outta here.

The crew can tow away both ends of the trailer, but that's not the only

reason to celebrate.

Just heard from the OPP that the passenger that

was injured in the vehicle, she's gonna be OK, she's gonna recover,

so that's a good thing.

People count, that doesn't.

That's just steel.

Right there.

I think we did a really good job.

It was a first for me to call in an arborist to come cut a trailer

in half, so that was a new experience for me.

Get it outta here, open up the highway.

As a new day dawns... Let's get 'er done.

Mitch Wright is prepping for an unusual recovery.

Directions are a little off, but it's not like there's a regular,

you know, address where we're going.

Mitch and fellow operator, Mike Ladner are heading to a

job, 125 miles west of their yard, and far off the 401.

We have a car that's been burnt, it's in the middle of the woods,

so we're on the way up right now to try to locate the vehicle, and then

see if we can't get this thing pulled out.

So we're going up a half mile, we're going to see an old railroad line.

Over the past three years, Mitch has cemented his role as a rotator op on

big recoveries.

We're used to doing recoveries with, you know, 53-foot transport

trucks and the big stuff.

This year, he's started to take on a leadership role.

This thing out? Way... Yeah.

We're 45-minutes max, I'm starting to lose my patience.

Dark does creep up pretty fast this time of year.

I... Gong show, like always. I went in with a little bit

of overconfidence, and this job is pretty good at humbling you pretty

fast if you're not careful, so yeah, it kind of bit me in the ass.

But today, facing just an SUV, he's feeling confident.

At first glance of this, this recovery, kind of,

does look like it's going to be a walk in the park.

I guess keep your eyes peeled for that old railroad line.

I'm thinking this might be it right up in here.

That's where we gotta go?

Yeah, that's where- Oh, at the railway line.

Yeah, but 1,000 feet up, there's another trail, and we gotta go in

that trail 1,500 feet down, past the mud bog.

We'll just take the Bobcat right in, I guess.

This is as far as the truck can go.

From here on, they'll have to rely on the mini excavator alone.

Alright, let's do it. I have one bar on my phone.

I'm a little concerned about this job because we don't know exactly

where it is, or what we're in for.

That sun's already going down. Yep.

Two hours left, likely, before it's gonna be sundown, so getting

this thing out of here with enough time, with the daylight

and everything like that, and getting home, is a priority.

Yeah, just straight back. Let's do it.

Let's go. We have some directions.

They're a little bit sketchy, but, you know, I think if we just pay

enough attention, I think we'll find our way there.

Pretty easy to get lost out here.

We know that we're in the right general area,

but unfortunately, you know, in the woods, you can get lost.

You don't know where you are at all times.

I don't know. 1,500 feet down the trail...

I'm not sure I can estimate 1,500 feet.

Well, I would say right about where we are. But no burnt car.

I'll walk ahead of ya.

We're looking for a needle in a haystack at this point,

and, you know, soon enough, we're going to be looking in the dark.

It's a recipe for disaster at this point.

Just 45 miles southwest...

We'll go see what's going on down there.

Mike Ross is back on the road,

and heading for a heavyweight recovery.

We're headed down towards St. Thomas, to Highway 3.

There's been a serious accident down there involving a truck with

a coil of steel on it.

You want me up in front of this thing too?

Following close behind in the second rotator is operator, Brad Prince,

ready for a tough fight.

Coils are complex because they're some of the heaviest loads that are

going down the road.

Some of these coils can get up to 80,000 pounds.

That's a lot of weight.

80,000 pounds, it's almost what this truck weighs.

Big mess here, lots of debris.

A smaller vehicle collided with the truck, sending it

off the road and into the ditch.

Unfortunately, with this collision, it is a fatality,

so there's at least one person that's not coming home tonight.

But right now, the crew must focus.

That coil's a handful down there.

Mike's father, David, has already arrived and sized up the job ahead.

The coil of steel became dislodged, broke the chains and hardware.

It went through the side of the trailer.

Part of it's laying on the ground, in the mud.

Probably going to have to drill it.

The cap's way underneath the tank.

Yeah, I see that. I'll get the drill.

As younger operators join the crew,

for this job, David is happy he can rely on tested experience.

We'll see what it does. If

I have to, I'll put the drag winch on, tug it over away a little bit.

He's got a lot of years of doing it.

He has an appreciation for weight.

That is probably one of the biggest things.

Weight and balance. That's what you gotta have for this job.

We gotta pull the truck and trailer out first to get access

to the coil. It's kinda leaning up against the coil in the ditch.

Hopefully, with any luck, this coil stays where it is.

The coil, weighing in at an estimated 55,000 pounds,

could shift during the pull, causing damage to the trailer.

The trailer has some war wounds, but surprisingly, it's in

relatively good shape for going through a collision like this.

Can you pull up the chains that are falling out the other side

and the back of the trailer?

Ideally, they would pull the trailer sideways, away

from the coil, but in this ditch, there's only so far they can pull.

We got the coil on the other side that's pushing up against

the trailer, and we got this culvert that's really only a

foot off the other side.

We don't have much wiggle room to try and manoeuvre this

trailer to get it outta the ditch.

It's probably about a $125,000 trailer, so you

don't want to do any more damage to the trailer for the customer.

Mike will use a lowline to divert the trailer sideways

as much as possible,

while two lines from the second rotator steer the truck

to the road.

Give 'er a tug.

Winch it from there and see what it does.

Gently pulling this thing out.

Really gotta be careful how we do this.

They need the trailer to clear the coil,

without getting caught and dragging against it.

Watch the coil on the other side.

Whoa! Whoa!

Give 'er a tug.

On Highway 3 south of London... Gently pulling this thing out.

Really gotta be careful how we do this.

The Ross crew is working to ease out the trailer without jamming

it on the 55,000-pound steel coil.

Watch the coil on the other side.

Whoa! Whoa!

When Brad started pulling it out, the back of the trailer got into

that coil, and it was just kinda, gonna cause damage to the trailer.

It's pushing on that coil real hard.

The coil is starting to drag along the side of the trailer.

Find something to hook to.

Now, that they've cleared the culvert, Mike should be able

to redirect the trailer away.

Just don't want to cause any more damage to the trailer.

Time for round two.

You got it up to your truck?

We'll get this thing out of here now.

It's coming out just fine.

We're fine.

Come out of the ditch real nice, actually.

But the truck was just the warm-up.

The real challenge will be the coil itself.

Can you confirm the weight of that thing for me?

Guess we'll find out.

Up a back road, 45 miles northeast...

There's no maps. Just trust your sense of direction.

With the sun starting to set,

Mitch's quick and simple job is so far, anything but...

We can't locate the SUV at this time.

We have next-to-no cell service.

You know, our directions are very vague.

But just as hope is fading away...

Oh, there it is.

They've finally found the wreck, and the first signs are promising.

It looks like everything is still intact,

so we should be able to just drag it out of here.

Sun's dropping.

We've probably got 45 minutes before it's pitch black in here.

I've run that Bobcat, you know, pretty much my whole life.

I think we can make it happen.

Go! Alright, let's get aggressive.

Not quite what I was hoping for...

Yeah, keep going. But from the first pull...

Iced up already, man.

The job is slipping away.

Hang up. It's not even moving, is it?

No, it's not moving.

We're done. It's iced. We got about six inches of snow,

on top of basically a sheet of ice,

so it's like a hockey rink under there.

Take it off the Bobcat.

Alright.

OK, so he'll try to push it. He's just not getting any traction.

Ready? Watch out for a sec, just in case.

Yee-haw. Alright.

Give 'er.

Come on, baby.

While Mitch has trouble finding traction...

Pushing things isn't working very well, is it?

The SUV is finding too much.

With a burnt-out car, you have no wheels, you have no tires.

You know, everything's locked up, everything's digging into

the ground, and just creating more resistance.

Hook a chain around that front bumper... Get it hooked, and, uh...

Ugh. Fingers crossed.

OK, you're good.

I thought this was kind of gonna be, you know, hook the chains up

and drag it out, but I can't push this thing, I can't pull

this thing. We're out here alone, we've got no help.

Drag it towards us a little bit, before we try and do a lift.

See how it likes it.

It's a lot of weight.

On Highway 3 in Talbotville, the Ross crew is rigged up

and ready to wrestle the steel coil from the ditch.

We're told it's 55,000. Hopefully, that's an accurate number.

It's kinda rolling here now. This thing's heavy.

Lifting up to 55,000 pounds off the side,

could topple Mike's rotator.

When you're lifting a coil of that size, you wanna get it as close to

the truck as possible before you start to lift.

And to place the coil onto the new trailer, Mike will have to swing it

right over top of his truck.

Everything has to be perfect in order to lift a coil like that.

Ready? Just take it real slow.

They said 55. It is 55. Pretty good lift.

There's so many things that can go wrong when you're lifting

something that heavy.

Which axle does he want it on?

Whenever you swing it over the back of your truck,

it always goes through your mind, you know, "What if...?"

You just hope it doesn't fall when it's over your truck, that's all.

Anywhere but there.

If anything goes wrong at this point, it's game over.

We're almost there.

It's always nice when you set 'er down on the other side.

No problem, looks good.

With younger operators poised to move up the ranks at Ross,

the current lead op still has a lot left to teach them.

Well, that went good.

Everything went well here.

Mike has acquired quite a skill set for doing these jobs

over the years, and I'm very proud of him.

Straight back!

Wow.

Back in the forest,

Mitch has finally been able to move the SUV, barely.

It's all uphill, downhill, it's icy. To move it 10 feet takes 10 minutes,

so it's definitely a struggle.

Right now, they're losing the race against nightfall.

Go, go, go, go, go, go!

With the sun going down, we don't have time to waste.

Whoo!

That could be an issue.

We've just gotta keep pushing it, shoving it, slamming it,

and pulling it, doing everything we can to try and get it out of here.

And the path through the trees... Bring it more this way.

..is getting tighter. Where am I at?

You go straight back from where you are.

Problem is that we've gotta navigate through this kind of bush part.

We're gonna have to push and pull in different directions

to weave it through the trees.

This is a mess.

Mitch, hang on. Just stop.

They need to change the plan.

There's 10 times more room to go through it here, but I don't want

to put the Bobcat on that ice. Down by the mud bog, it's iced over.

We're not exactly sure how deep it is, or how thick the ice is.

I don't know if it's six inches deep, is it four feet deep.

Well, I could potentially just drag it straight in here, but, like...

You're gonna crack through the ice.

I can make it in. OK, we got about 15 minutes of daylight.

If I go through here, we're stuck here all night, that's it.

So, he decides to make a test run

over the bog before he tries it with the car hooked up.

This is either going to go really good, or... That's hairy.

No. Mitch! Mitch, you've got water! You've hit water!

It seems like Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C, are all, uh, bad ones.

That's a problem. If I go this way through the trees, we're gonna

be here all night, so I don't know, I'm kinda stuck both ways.

It's decision time. A part of me wants to just hold it wide open

and send it across this, but if I get stuck, we're here all night.

The potential of getting stuck and being there all night long

is there, or we can go the long way through the trees,

which...it's a maze. To get there, and think

it's going to be, you know, this easy go, it's frustrating.

We want this thing out of here.

OK, I got an idea.

OK, so we're gonna bring it down through the trees,

past where the water's gonna be...

Like, where the water's showing from us... And then we're sucking

it out that way, through the other end of the pond still.

You don't want to go all the way around?

I think if we screw around with going through here, and through

here, and turning it, and... Like, it's a lot of thick trees in there.

OK, I hear ya. Alright, let's try it.

Alright. 10 minutes left of daylight.

This should be interesting.

We're gonna go halfway through the trees, the longer way, and then

shoot across the centre of the bog, and hopefully it's gonna be

a home run. OK, you ready? I'm ready!

This is hairy.

Only got about 10 feet

before you have to turn, or you're gonna end up in the drink.

But weaving through the trees is far from simple.

Going this way, you've got all kinds of problems

with turning the whole vehicle.

Once we get about another 50 feet over that way, we should be able

to have a straight shot out to the road.

Whoo! Come on, baby.

But that takes Mitch right back over the thin ice...

Come on!

And the muck below.

Go, go, go! Come on, oh, that's icy.

I'm not stopping.

There we go. That's what I'm talkin' about.

I'm pumped up. The last thing I wanted to do is, you know,

be sleeping in that truck and having a camping night out in the woods.

Whoo! She's out.

We're out. It wasn't pretty, but she's out. Perfect.

And today, success comes with a lesson.

For it to be a car, and, you know, in your head to be like,

"Oh, this is gonna be easy," is not the case.

I mean, we've rolled transport trucks over, that went easier than

this car did. That's good. But, you know, the job was to get the burnt

SUV out of the woods, and get it on the truck, and that's where it is.

Alright, we're going home!

I think all in all, that went pretty good.

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