Original subtitles

[Kerry Schmidt] Hold on, it's gonna be a wild day.

[Narrator] This winter on Heavy Rescue 401...

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

[Kerry] People are stuck everywhere.

We got heavy trucks blocking every single lane.

[engine roaring]

Slow down!

Somebody's gonna cause an accident.

-[thud] -[car horn honks]

You okay, Chris?

[siren wailing]

Now the fun starts.

Every once in a while,

Mother Nature likes to remind us who's in charge.

Unbelievable!

This is the part that makes me nervous!

The pressure's on!

Tonight we got trucks everywhere.

No, no, no, no, no! Run!

[shattering]

[Narrator] On the highways of Toronto,

winter has started off slow...

[Narrator] ...but this morning,

it's making up for lost time.

[Narrator] Plunging temperatures

have covered the roads in a slick layer of ice.

[Kerry] This is the first blast of winter that we've seen,

and we know, you know,

when winter conditions happen,

traffic can change in an instant.

[Narrator] Just west of the city.

Sergeant Kerry Schmidt

is bracing for the chaos

that comes with a sudden turn in the weather...

[Kerry] We expect drivers to be hypervigilant

and be prepared to respond

because we know traffic can come to a stop

in an instant.

[Narrator] ...and as morning gives way to afternoon,

one driver has stopped in the worst possible way.

Orillia 5 Tango 007,

I'm also en route to 427 northbound 401.

[police radio chatter, siren wails]

So, I'm just heading over to a rolled-over tanker truck...

Orillia 5 Tango 007 on scene.

Obviously, there will be environmental issues here.

[Kerry] Oh, boy, what a mess.

[♪♪♪]

[Narrator] Northbound traffic trying to funnel into the 401

is completely stuck.

[Narrator] Diesel isn't as flammable as other fuels

like gasoline,

but it's still a threat,

and if the diesel reaches the storm drain,

the environmental impact could be even more serious.

We have fire department on scene here right now,

pumping the fuel

that's leaking onto the shoulder,

trying to, you know, absorb.

and draw that diesel up

before it overwhelms the dams

and ends up going down into the ditches

and into the catch basins.

[Narrator] There's a long clean-up ahead,

and a long afternoon for northbound drivers...

[Kerry] Traffic is being diverted

all other directions from this area,

going 401 eastbound,

427 north and other areas.

[Narrator] ...and as the day finally winds down...

[Narrator] ...across Toronto,

the ice is only building up...

[Narrator] ...but as crews battle

to make the roads safe...

[Narrator] ...the biggest call of the night

is far off of any highway.

[Narrator] In North York,

just south of Eglinton Avenue,

one family has had a very nasty wake-up call.

[Narrator] A double tanker,

loaded with 57,000 litres of gasoline

has smashed right into a house.

[Narrator] The family is unharmed,

but the entire neighbourhood is shaken.

It was like an earthquake,

it was really like bad, really bad thunder.

It's really just shocking.

We have a driver who was trapped in the truck.

He had minor cuts and bruises.

He is in the hospital right now just getting checked out.

[John Allen] Wow, what a mess!

[Narrator] Abrams Towing veteran lead op John Allen

is facing a job unlike anything in his 25-year career.

[John] The entire front corner of the house,

it's gone.

Whoa-ho!

The front six, eight feet of the house is wiped out.

[sighs] Whew!

Oh, my God.

[John] I've never seen this type of accident

within the city.

This is above and beyond your normal accident.

So, you see another, you know, 30, 40 feet ahead of him

is a retirement home, right?

You know, if he was a little more that way,

he could have took this house right down.

If he was a little more this way,

he might have missed the house,

but he could have ended up in the retirement home.

Yeah, this could have been way worse.

Wow, what a mess.

There's a whole recipe for disaster here.

The house could possibly collapse under the tank.

We've got fuel lines dangling.

If a pole comes down, we can get sparking, arcing,

you know, people get electrocuted,

not to mention gasoline.

It's just a recipe here

for things to go way wrong, way too easy.

[police dispatch alert beeps]

[Narrator] On a residential block

in North York,

emergency crews are facing a highly flammable load,

embedded in a family home.

[John] I just imagine what it'd be like to be in bed,

and this thing come plowing

through the front corner of your house?

To walk downstairs,

and find a fuel tanker, like, inside your house.

It'd be quite the, uh, wake-up call.

[Narrator] John will need help for the job ahead...

Oh, wow!

[Narrator] ...so veteran op Bob Lachaine

has brought in a second wrecker.

Nice little wake-up call on your night off, eh?

Oh, yeah.

It's not an everyday thing

that you see a loaded set of fuel tanks into a house.

[Narrator] Abrams heavy manager Peter Colagiovanni

is assessing the extent of the damage.

We'll wait for the engineer to arrive

for the house there, right?

Never seen nothing like this before.

[Narrator] The tanker-trailer lost control,

barrelling over the sidewalk,

and directly into the building.

[John] Our plan

is we're going to get this thing off-loaded,

make it a little more manageable

and a little safer.

[Narrator] They'll pump the cargo into a second tanker

that's arrived on scene...

...but before they can get started

on the heavy work,

the fire chief has new info.

So just to update you,

natural gas,

we still have it running in this building.

-Okay. -So, if you smell gas,

we don't know if the line's been severed, right?

Yeah.

Super, super careful.

There's still gas going to the building,

and in on the wall behind here,

we've actually got a gas main.

This is gonna be quite the challenge.

[Narrator] Until the gas line can be shut off,

the recovery is on hold.

[John] The house is at risk of falling down.

We got a loaded tractor trailer

full of gasoline,

which is very volatile.

There's so many things that can go wrong here.

Hey, Mike!

Go right to Morrisburg,

you can't miss us!

[Narrator] 400 kilometres east,

Duncan Cooper is on the move.

[Duncan] Okay, great, yeah, I'll see ya there.

[Narrator] The Cornwall crew

is answering an urgent call

to back up Bill's Towing...

[Duncan] We're heading out to the 401,

we got a rolled-over tractor-trailer reefer unit

that's blocking traffic on one lane,

so we gotta get there as quick as we can,

see what we can do.

[Narrator] ...and Duncan has a new weapon in his arsenal,

a 50-tonne rotator.

This is the first real big recovery for this truck.

We've been through all the testing phases,

and this is now the real test.

I'm very anxious to see how it's going to perform today,

so I got a lot riding on this truck.

[Narrator] It was a huge off-season project for Duncan...

[Al] Hey, Dunc!

[Duncan] Yes, sir?

[Al] Can you back up a bit?

[Narrator] ...and his father Al,

who ran the company before him.

Watch me in the mirror here.

We had the truck in stock...

The front up!

...we re-worked the frame,

installed the wrecker on it, and...

Okay, hold it!

[Al] ...it should be another good unit.

-There! -There.

Very good.

[Narrator] The powerful new truck

is part of a new era for Duncan and the company--

one that comes with a bold new look

for the fleet.

[Duncan] I always liked blue,

and it just never came into the equation,

so I decided that we would run with this idea,

and I had a lot of help from Kathleen on this.

[Narrator] Duncan's girlfriend helped plan the new design,

but Al had a harder time letting go of tradition.

[Duncan] Originally,

he didn't think we should go with that,

but then also at the end of the day,

he says, "You know what? It's your deal.

You can do what you want."

Boy, oh, boy, does that ever look sharp.

[Al] I know I get grumpy sometimes,

but it worked out very good.

Very good.

You did a good job.

[Duncan] I got a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in this thing,

so let's see what it's made out of.

All right, what do we got?

For whatever reason,

a tractor trailer coming down the highway,

he came into the ditch,

and he wound up like this.

[Narrator] The refrigerated trailer

is loaded down

with over 40,000 pounds of frozen meat.

[whistles in disbelief]

That's heavy.

We'll be here for a little bit.

[Duncan] This is going to be a heavyweight job.

This is going to be a serious recovery.

Hey, we're back at it again!

[Narrator] Veteran op Mike McPhee

is still feeling the aftermath

from the broken ankles he suffered

just over a year ago.

You got a sore paw this morning?

I'm walking!

I'm not in a wheelchair this year!

[Mike McPhee] It's coming along good,

a lot better than I expected.

I don't think I'll ever quit.

[Narrator] Bill's Towing owner, Bill Ewing,

sized up the scene

as a perfect first job for Duncan's new truck.

[Bill] What are you thinking here, Duncan?

Bill got the job.

He was called in for it,

but he asked us to come in,

and let's use the rotator.

We're going to need a lot of muscle

to get it back up.

This job is going to be a good test

for the new rotator that Duncan built.

Okay, I want to hook up both lines into that chain,

'cause I want to try and see if we can lift the trailer

and push it that way a bit, okay?

[Narrator] With the load inside at risk of spoiling,

Duncan needs to work fast.

First, he'll make a small lift

so he can gauge the damage to the trailer wall.

[Duncan] We're going to lift the trailer up,

we're going to block it,

give a little bit of a pick,

see how it looks.

You just stay down, Mike.

You don't need to get up there.

[Mike] Can ya get it?

[Duncan] This is one of those situations.

It could be air cushions involved.

There might be unloading involved, we're not sure.

Everybody clear?

[Duncan] Air cushions,

you know, they're a wonderful tool,

but they're extremely time-consuming,

so if I can avoid that, I will.

[Narrator] Air cushions support a trailer

as they lift.

They can prevent a rupture,

but slow down the job.

Is the front of the trailer lifting at all?

Right into the corner here?

Yeah, if we can put two, I'll put two.

-Hold it! -Hold it!

Holding it. More?

Okay.

The side wall of the trailer,

it is going like this,

but not too, too bad.

I don't know if we're going to need to air cushion this.

[Narrator] If Duncan avoids air cushions

and relies on the rotator alone,

he could shave hours off the job...

[Duncan] Quite honestly,

I don't feel like dragging them cushions out,

if we don't have to.

[Narrator] ...but if the trailer rips open,

his crew is facing a messy clean-up.

[Mike] You got enough over there?

[Duncan] It's a bit of a gamble.

[Narrator] Late morning in Toronto...

That entire corner is hanging there now.

[Narrator] ...and the fire department

has managed to turn off the gas supply

to the damaged house.

[John] The fire chief actually found the gas meters

in amongst the debris,

still attached to the gas lines.

That's what you call luck.

Air going to it?

-[air line hissing] -Yeah, that's taking air.

So now the sun's up,

and you really see the destruction

that this thing caused.

You got hydro over there,

fixing the pole,

you got the gas company over here

starting to dig holes.

You got fire department.

There's so many precautions.

[Narrator] The gasoline offload

is almost complete.

-I guess, yep. -Okay.

[Narrator] John and crew

need to remove the final obstacles

to their recovery of the truck.

[John] This whole scene,

it's like a big game of pick-up sticks.

You move the wrong stick, everything collapses.

There's many different obstacles here.

Lift away there, lift away!

[John] This is one of them jobs

where, you know, it'd be nice to get started,

but there's so much involved

before we actually get into pulling the truck out.

John, can you start lowering it down?

You happy?

Yup!

[Narrator] Back on the eastbound 401

near Morrisburg...

[Narrator] ...afternoon traffic is starting to build,

and so is the pressure on Duncan.

[Duncan] We're hoping we can pick it up with straps.

It's a bit of a gamble.

[Narrator] To save time,

Duncan has decided to skip the air cushions,

and bet that his new rotator can lift the trailer intact.

[Duncan] So, what we'll do,

I'm going to use four straps in total, okay?

[Mike] Okay.

[Narrator] Mike's wrecker will pull on the front

to force down the tractor,

while Duncan cradles the trailer with straps

and wrestles the semi upright.

And this one can go into this yellow strap.

[Duncan] We call it "Christmas wraps",

when you're criss-crossing your straps.

So, it almost looks like a Christmas present

when you put that ribbon around it.

Okay!

[Duncan] I don't wrap presents very well,

but I'd imagine that's what it should look like.

I don't know if it's going to work the way I want it,

but we're going to try.

[Bill] Try anything once.

[Narrator] The straps will hold the trailer wall

against the 50,000 pounds pushing from inside,

but straps can't provide the same support

as air cushions.

[Bill] It's a calculated risk.

Is it going to come?

If it's coming,

it's going to do it a whole lot faster.

[Duncan] Okay, we're gonna bring it over.

You guys ready to go?

-Yeah. -Okay.

Take it away.

[creaking and crunching]

[Duncan] You can hear the trailer stressing.

It's creaking, it's groaning.

I'm like, "Oh, come on, baby, don't-don't disappoint me now."

About to come over, gentlemen.

Textbook.

[Narrator] Duncan's risk is rewarded.

[Duncan] Absolute powerhouse.

All that work for a minute and 17 seconds of fun!

[Duncan] It was a gamble that paid off.

Just a good example

of what this truck is capable of.

Got 'er all hooked up, over with no airbags!

[Bill] I'm not going to lie about it,

but the fingers were crossed this was gonna work.

Good job, Bill!

-That went well! -Yeah!

Duncan made the right call on not using the airbags.

It was a win-win for everybody.

Thanks for coming out, Mike,

I know you're hurting a little bit, but...

Oh, yeah, but I gotta keep going!

All right, we'll see you back at the yard, okay.

[Narrator] It's a successful job

kicking off a big winter...

[friendly honking]

[Narrator] ...and a bright future.

You couldn't have asked for a better opening wreck

for the season.

[friendly honking]

[Narrator] Back in Toronto...

[John] Oh, this definitely could have been a lot worse.

[Narrator] ...it's been almost 20 hours

since the tanker crashed into the house.

[John] I'd like to say we're halfway done,

but for some reason,

I don't think that's the case.

[Narrator] John and crew

have finally been given the okay to try to remove it.

So, what, are you just gonna just pull an axle

on this thing, hopefully?

Yeah.

[John] Finally,

we're going to have to start dragging this thing out.

We're going to watch real close,

make sure, you know, nothing big is going to fall.

The last thing we want

is the entire house to come down.

You're going to set up on one way,

and Bob's going to set up on the other.

We're going to drag it this way.

[Narrator] Bob will pull

and direct the rear trailer from the side.

John will wrangle the front trailer,

dislodging it along with the tractor.

[John] Being that it's a B-train,

it's a little more complicated

with two pivot points versus the one.

I've got the fire guys

keeping everybody beyond a tree over there.

[Bob] When you're pulling on something very heavy,

there's a lot of things you've got to watch out for.

It's all about safety, more than anything.

Okay?

Yeah, go ahead.

Everybody clear?

-You guys ready? Go ahead. -Okay.

We're pulling this truck out,

and there's some creaking and crunching.

It's gonna be pretty serious if the house falls down.

[crumbling]

Whoa!

[Narrator] On a residential street

in North York...

Whoa!

[Narrator] ...the Abrams crew

is working to ease the tanker from the house

without toppling the entire structure.

[John] We're pulling it out,

and a few pieces of wood are falling.

There's a little bit of creaking.

[Bob] That didn't sound too good.

[John] I don't know.

We got to keep going,

but, hopefully, this thing don't come down.

Okay, we're good.

Stop there, Bobby.

Stop!

Good!

That's as far as it's going.

[Narrator] The house is still standing...

[John] Wow.

[Narrator] ...but the job is far from over.

They need to move the tanker onto the street,

and there's a car fused to the front end.

It's pretty mangled, eh?

[John] I've never seen a car

get wrapped around a truck,

like this car is wrapped around that truck.

Not even on the highway

have I seen a car get crunched this bad.

We're going to put a line to the car,

try to weave it in around

to whatever's left of the car there.

Hopefully, as Bob pulls the truck back,

the car kind of pulls itself out.

That's the plan.

Is it going to work?

I think I'm just going to rip the car to pieces,

but I gotta try.

[Narrator] But just wrenching the car free

comes with an added danger.

As you're doing this,

we're going to get a couple hand lines on just in case.

-Yeah. -'Cause there's fuel here.

[Peter] There's leakage from the gas from the cars.

I'm smelling fuel.

Any sparks, anything could happen.

[John] One wrong spark and...

poof, up it goes.

All right!

I'm ready to rock!

[winches whirring]

[metal crumpling]

Are we there, John?

Okay. Keep going!

Okay, stop! Stop, Bob!

Wow!

[Peter] The car came detached from the front of the tractor,

so it worked in our favor.

I'm amazed.

It just, it slid off not even snagging whatsoever.

Beautiful!

[Narrator] Now they've got to weave the tanker

around the utility poles and debris

onto the street.

[Bob] I am positioned at the back of the truck,

so we could pull the trailer out onto the road

on a bit of an angle

to get it all the way out.

Bob, go ahead!

Watch yourself!

[Narrator] But as the tanker moves backward,

the tractor starts turning toward the house.

Tell him to stop.

Stop!

[John] The steer axle's busted.

It's causing the truck to steer towards the house.

I've been here 15 hours already,

and we just keep getting obstacle after obstacle.

This is terrible.

We're so close, but so far.

[Narrator] 300 kilometres southwest...

[Narrator] ...border-bound traffic

is backing up at the Bluewater crossing.

What's your thoughts?

What do you think we can do with it?

[Narrator] A semi has sideswiped a tanker,

shutting down the road,

and cutting off access to the bridge.

We might have to lift the back end just a hair,

to get the pressure off.

[Narrator] Gary and Collin Vandenheuvel

had to cut their dinner plans short

when the urgent call came in.

[Gary Vandenheuvel] Any time we have a collision

at the bridge,

it's always critical to get these things cleaned up

as quick as we can,

because this is an international border,

the second-busiest border crossing

in North America.

Watch your eyes.

[Gary] We get collisions here on a regular basis.

Sometimes, they miss the fact

that the trucks in the lineup have stopped,

and, unfortunately, these are the consequences.

[Collin] Big mess.

Big, big mess!

[Narrator] Tonight,

neither driver has been badly hurt,

but the destruction is extensive.

[Collin] Holy. Mess, mess, mess.

[Gary] It's a big wreck,

and we've got debris everywhere,

so I'm gonna be bringing out the entire team for this.

[Narrator] It's a team that looks very different

from past winters.

Do you want me to come up to the front here now?

Yeah, if you can come up in front...

[Narrator] Collin's relying on junior op Tim Halliday,

still learning the ropes of heavy recovery.

Tim started last year,

and he's slowly been working his way

up through the ranks.

[Tim Halliday] Other than Gary and Collin,

I'm the most experienced one there,

which is really weird... [laughs]

because I'm still pretty new at this.

Keep going!

There we go.

Now I got room for the boom.

[Narrator] Just before 8:00 p.m....

the float trailer arrives,

driven by another new face...

Pull up way in front of it, and he'll do the lift, okay?

[Narrator] ...rookie Aaron Gregory.

We'll go in between the spring and the frame.

-Is that all right? -Yup.

[Narrator] Over the summer...

[laughing]

-That's how it's done! -Nice!

[Narrator] ...Gary's two senior operators left town,

and the company.

[Gary] With Kyle and Glen both moving on...

Absolutely perfect!

...it's changed things again for me.

Now we have to bring in a new crew,

a little bit of retraining here going on.

Should be fun.

Okay, uh, we'll get the truck swung around here, and...

[Narrator] Collin is now Gary's senior heavy operator,

working with a rookie crew that needs his guidance.

No, that's boom down.

That's boom in towards you, okay?

You know what,

you don't have to go on the outside of the spring,

just outside of the frame there, yeah.

[Narrator] Tonight,

Collin's leadership,

and his new team,

face a major test.

[Collin] It's a little bit of a different dynamic.

I'm trying to show them what we do here at Preferred.

[Narrator] So, while Gary clears the tanker,

the semi and its mangled tractor

will be up to Collin and his beginner lineup.

So this will give us lots of your angle,

so we're not gonna break the chains,

or anything like that.

So this is the first major scene

that Aaron's coming to with us,

so I'll just keep him under my wing tonight,

and show him what we gotta do.

Okay.

I am super excited to be here,

and working with the team.

Can I grab the yellow spreader bar there?

Oh! Yeah.

[Narrator] To speed up the removal of the tractor

and keep it from breaking apart,

Collin's banking on a new piece of gear.

[Collin] Just set it on the ground

beside us right now.

I'll lift it with the rotator itself.

[Collin] We've brought out a specialized stabilizer bar

to help us actually lift this tractor up

nice and evenly, without it wanting to roll.

So, I'll need two chains,

one on each side, two shackles.

-Three shackles? -I guess, yeah.

Instead of trying to put two chains down there

and have them crush up into the engine,

we can run two chains straight down,

and then it will line up to the spreader bar there,

and it lifts it perfectly so...

[Narrator] It should steady the lift,

but Collin hasn't even had a chance to try it out,

and he's got to get his new crew up to speed

in a hurry.

[Collin] This is our first test with it,

but everything we've seen,

it works really great,

so pretty excited to use this.

[Gary] The rigging point is taking a pretty good hit,

so I'm just a little concerned about the structure.

Just wanna make sure that when he does lift,

it holds together.

[Aaron] Watch yourself here.

[Collin] We got the spreader bar in place,

they're just putting the chains up to it right now,

and then we'll get this thing flyin'!

That's pretty good.

Yeah, that's good.

I'm happy with that.

[Collin] As I'm starting to lift the truck,

it's actually starting to lean further and further.

[Aaron] She's definitely mangled.

[Collin] If we keep lifting...

...it's actually gonna fall over onto its side.

I don't think she's gonna work the way I want 'er to.

Yeah, it's not going to work.

[John] It's gotta work, man, it's gotta work.

[Narrator] On O'Connor Drive in Toronto,

the marathon recovery

has placed a hurdle at the finish line.

[John] Tractor is getting a little close to the house,

so we're gonna winch the tractor sideways.

[Narrator] John has had to reposition

to steer the tractor away from the house,

or risk toppling the structure.

[Bob] I'm very tired.

I've been here since 2:00 in the morning,

so I'm almost on a 24-hour shift now.

[Narrator] After being on scene since last night,

it's a wrinkle that nobody needed.

[John] So I'm going to pull it away from the house,

as Bobby pulls it on the road.

So it's kind of like a dance.

Bob's going to lead.

I'm going to follow.

-Am I good to yank? -Yeah.

[Narrator] It's a precision move

that demands total coordination.

[John] 24 hours on scene,

you know, I'm feeling a little tired.

I have a little recharge through the day,

but you know, to run 24 straight,

you know, we do it once in a while.

You just, you push on.

You push on till you're done.

Stop!

Hallelujah! We got 'er out!

Finally!

[John] A few challenges, you know, throughout the day,

a few speed bumps to overcome.

A little bit of risk of things bursting into flames,

but, you know,

we managed to, uh, stay cold on this one.

[Peter] It went the way we wanted it to go.

Good job for my team.

[Narrator] The building is still standing...

...and so is the crew.

-All right. -All right.

-Good job. -Good job, buddy.

It was nice working with you again.

Always.

We'll see ya in the ditch again.

So this has been a long job,

but the team, we pushed through,

we got this done,

and we're finally on our way.

I don't want to see this intersection

for, like, five years.

[Narrator] On Highway 402,

just east of the Bluewater border crossing...

[Narrator] ...the backlog of trucks and cargo

is only getting longer.

[Collin] The spreader bar

isn't going to work for this one, unfortunately.

[Narrator] Collin needs to rethink his plan,

and re-rig the tractor.

[Collin] The way that this truck is bent,

and the frame is pushed over,

it's actually pushing a lot of the weight

to one side,

which is making it want to roll as we're picking it up.

So, we'll just get rid of the spreader bar in total then?

As much as I'd love to use our fancy new toy,

it's not going to work out in this situation.

How goes the battle, guys?

We can't use the spreader bar.

Not working?

[Collin] We need to get this thing cleaned up

as quickly as possible

to get the border flowing again.

So, we're gonna put a short chain on one side

and a long chain on the other,

and then that way,

that'll give us the pick that we need, hopefully.

[Narrator] With pressure mounting,

Collin needs his rookie team to work like old pros.

[Gary] He's the lead operator,

and he's in charge of the guys.

He's making the calls out there.

Just want to make sure

it's going to lift for us properly.

She's in the air!

Okay.

If I can get you to come in now.

Okay.

I'll get it lifted, okay?

All right, sounds good.

[Narrator] The tractor is rising,

straight and steady...

That's good enough.

Bring 'em back!

[Narrator] ...but as Collin swings it

toward the float trailer...

[Gary] Little breezy tonight, eh?

She's blowing a bit!

[Collin] Yeah.

[Collin] The wind's starting to pick up,

and with the way that this truck is damaged,

it's already leaning to the one side,

and any external force like the wind

can really have a devastating effect.

Ooh, that wind is getting strong!

Man, that is ugly.

Yeah, whoa!

Whoa!

How am I over there? Where are the tires? Good?

Yeah, you're looking good!

Okay.

What do you got there for height there, Aaron?

What?

14'9"?

[Collin] We thought we were ready to roll out,

but the problem is,

we're way over height.

We've gotta knock this thing down somehow.

That high?

Holy crap.

What do you got there for height there, Aaron?

What?

14'9"?

[Narrator] On the 402,

at the doorstep of the border...

That high?

Holy crap.

[Narrator] ...Collin's rookie team

has reached its limit.

[Collin] We're gonna hit wires,

we're gonna hit overpasses,

we're gonna hit streetlights.

We've gotta knock this thing down to at least 14 foot

to clear all that stuff.

[Narrator] Twisted by the impact,

the truck is sitting well above its normal height.

14'9", that's a little high.

Yeah, that's a lot high.

Okay, well, we might have to punch the caps

out of these.

[Collin] So, we're just gonna let a little bit of air

out of these tires,

just to bring it down a little bit more.

[Narrator] By now,

U.S.-bound traffic

has been backing up for over five hours.

[air hissing]

That'll bring it down another four inches at least.

Four to six.

[Collin] If we can get it to around the 14-foot mark,

I know we're not gonna hit anything

on our way back to the shop.

How'd we do, Coll?

Good, we got it down about five inches so far.

What's it at?

14'4" right now.

That's not bad.

[Narrator] It should be just enough room

to get the truck off the highway,

so they can adjust further.

[Collin] I think that brought it down significantly.

It leveled it out for sure.

[Narrator] The job demanded quick thinking

and quick action--

a good lesson

and good trial run for a brand-new crew.

[Collin] A really good recovery by the guys.

You know, this is the stuff they need to see

before the winter hits.

You know, when we get in the thick of it,

they're going to be on their own for some of this stuff,

and they need to be able to work on their own,

and do stuff like this without any assistance.

We're just learning how to pick everything up

just right

and make sure everything goes good,

and everybody's safe at it.

That's the best way to go!

[Collin] It was really a good test for me

to step up and be that leadership role

that I'm looking to do,

and I think that my dad's gonna be pretty happy

with what he saw.

Collin's showing them the ropes,

so, uh, he's doing a really good job.

Big lift, so, uh,

you know, a great job for these guys to, uh, learn.

Good job to start with.

I think we've got a good start to a season,

and I think it's gonna be

a pretty good run for us this year.

[Collin] Okay, good job, guys.

We'll get outta here.

[Narrator] Next time on Heavy Rescue 401...

[tires spinning]

[Narrator] ...a massive snowstorm

buries Toronto.

-Come on. -[Narrator] Ice and fire...

Oh, this doesn't look good.

[Narrator] ...create a dangerous mix.

Ain't gonna work.

[Narrator] ...and deep snow...

I've only seen snow like this maybe twice in my life.

[Narrator] ...brings deep problems.

[John] So close, but so far.

[♪♪♪]