Original subtitles

[Narrator] This time on Heavy Rescue: 401...

[Dylan] Boom out!

[Narrator] A new rotator...

Slow down, Dad!

It's all tangled up.

Pull!

[Narrator] ...gets snarled.

[Barry] Keep 'em both tight, young blood.

[Narrator] A rookie operator...

[James] It's fighting the brakes right now.

[Narrator] ...pulls his weight...

[Duncan] Like, every [bleep] odd is against you out here!

[Narrator] ...and Gary and Collin...

[Collin] That snowbank

is all that's holding this thing up at the moment.

[Narrator] ...hang in the balance.

[Gary] You don't even wanna breathe on this thing wrong,

and it's going over.

[Narrator] It's the end of a calm night

for the highways of Toronto...

[Narrator] ...but on the QEW west of the city,

morning is bringing a shift in the conditions.

Weather changes so quickly,

especially by the lakes.

[Narrator] A high-pressure system

unleashes gusts of over 70 kilometres an hour,

and constable Erin McMillan is on a mission.

[Erin McMillan] We're right on Lake Ontario.

We're going to go see how windy the Skyway Bridge is.

You can feel it getting windier as we go up.

[Narrator] 150,000 drivers a day

depend on the Burlington Skyway,

but towering 200 feet above the lake,

it can be high risk

in high winds.

[Erin] It gets up to 100 kilometre winds.

Very dangerous.

The wind warnings can get to a point

that we actually have to shut the bridge down.

[Narrator] Just a few years ago,

wind speed built too quickly

to shut the Skyway in time.

[Narrator] As the sun starts to rise...

[news radio] We have very strong wind gusts developing

around 80 to 100 km/h.

[Narrator] ...so does the speed of the wind.

[news radio] The high will be plus two,

but the windchill, minus 14, my goodness.

[Narrator] Ministry operators are watching,

poised for a closure.

[Narrator] Just before noon,

a sudden gust

overwhelms one driver...

forcing a narrow escape

for another.

201 to site 2.

QEW Fort Erie bound on the Burlington Skyway

at the top.

We have a tractor-trailer rollover.

[Narrator] Heavy op Chris Baker answers the call.

We just got a call

for an overturned tractor-trailer

on the Burlington Skyway.

Apparently it's right on top of the bridge.

[Narrator] Chris joined Burlington-based JKM Towing

just a few months ago,

but as a 12-year recovery veteran,

he knows the Skyway well.

[Chris] For an empty transport truck.

a high bridge like that is... worst nightmare.

Essentially you're driving a 53-foot windsail

at that point.

[Narrator] Westbound drivers are already backing up

into Oakville.

[Chris] Oh, boy, traffic's crazy.

Hopefully we get there as quick as possible,

because minute by minute,

the traffic backlog is growing.

Oh, my gosh!

Whoo!

[wind gusting]

Unbelievable wind.

[Narrator] It's some of the worst wind

that JKM owner Kevin Moore

has ever experienced.

[Kevin] My truck weighs 72,000,

and it was rocking it

with the gusts coming over the edge of the wall

up on Skyway Bridge.

Oh...

Crazy.

That was a good hat.

All of a sudden, gusts of wind,

and they're blowing the hats off of people,

and blowing gloves away.

I don't know.

It's gone.

[Narrator] With the wind accelerating,

there's no time to chase a lost hat.

[Chris] Well, we're gonna separate the tractor

from the trailer,

and then we're probably gonna flop it onto its wheels,

get it outta here.

[Narrator] While Chris rigs to remove the tractor,

Kevin assesses the bigger obstacle,

the trailer.

[Kevin] It's empty.

That's why it flipped.

If we try to flip the trailer up here

with the gusts that we're having,

it's just gonna flip right back over.

[Chris] I've done small jobs on the Skyway,

such as live-lane breakdowns,

but this is definitely the biggest recovery

I've had to do on the Skyway.

[Narrator] Crews are ready to shut down the bridge

as soon as they can clear the last of the traffic.

[horns honking]

We've got this tractor-trailer

blocking three and a half out of four lanes.

Behind that, it's just a sea of traffic.

[Kevin] Any idea how much more traffic there is?

Okay. He's just gonna make a U-turn,

make sure all the traffic's gone.

The minute that the tractor-trailer flipped over,

the OPP started to close down

both directions of the Skyway Bridge.

[horns blaring]

[♪♪♪]

[Chris] Everybody's clear?

[Kevin] The wind is just crazy, eh?

-Oh, that was me. -There you go.

Thank you.

I figured it was in Scarborough by now!

[Narrator] Now that the bridge is clear,

Kevin and Chris can get moving.

[Chris] Usually when I'm up there,

my goal is to get back down as quick as possible.

Oh, there we go, tornado.

Whoo, blustery!

[Narrator] Their first step,

flipping and towing the tractor...

Whoo!

[Narrator] ...but the wind is just too much

for them to upright the trailer in place.

[Kevin] If we try to flip it,

it's just going to flop back down again,

or it'll take our trucks with it,

because it's like a big kite.

[Kevin] With the gusts on the Skyway Bridge,

we had to drag the trailer down to the bottom.

[Narrator] They'll pull it

on its side

to a more sheltered spot...

[Kevin] Okay, it's time to go!

[Narrator] ...more than a kilometre away.

I'm happy to be getting off this bridge.

[reverse alerts beeping]

Let's go see what the plan is now.

[Narrator] Conditions are better here,

but still far from good.

It's actually pretty windy here.

The main concern is,

as we lift it up,

the wind off of the bay here and any gusts.

Okay.

[Narrator] So they'll use both wreckers to upright...

[Chris] Tighten up my line.

[Narrator] ...without lifting too high off the ground.

Ready?

Oh, jeez.

[Chris] We just want to make sure

once it starts going towards being on its wheels,

it keeps going that way.

That went awesome.

That went really good.

Now that it's sitting back on its wheels,

and nothing's at risk anymore,

big sigh of relief.

[reverse alerts beeping]

[Kevin] Next is, we hook up,

and we get out of here,

and they can open the Skyway Bridge.

Uh, actually, you know what,

in this case,

I don't think they're going to be opening the Skyway Bridge

until the wind dies down.

[honks twice]

[John Campbell] It's on a bad corner there

at Long Beach.

[Narrator] 400 kilometres east,

John Campbell is heading out

to a big job

on a dangerous curve of the 401.

We got a 53-footer on its side

blocking the whole fast lane.

It is a big emergency, being on a blind corner.

We gotta get this sorted out.

Traffic is gonna get bad this afternoon.

[Narrator] Over the summer,

John made a big move,

buying his first rotator

from one-time competitor Derek Kane.

[John] Derek just got to a point

where he wants to enjoy life a little bit more,

and we made a deal.

-Storage. -Yup.

[Narrator] John's new rotator

will be just one of the few available in the area,

stepping up to the next level of the business.

Pressure gauge on both sides,

so you can see what's going on.

Nice.

[John] It's a beast.

I mean, it's 70,000 pounds of steel.

People rely on us,

and I had to step it up or step aside,

and I'm not ready to step aside.

[honks twice]

[Narrator] Today

is the new truck's first big test.

[John] Oh, boy.

Quite the situation, eh?

Way to start your Sunday morning.

[Narrator] The semi,

carrying a full load of mixed cargo,

rolled in the tight curve,

slamming into the median barrier.

We're gonna have to offload it,

'cause it's full from front to back.

[John] The trailer was compromised.

it skidded down the road at least a quarter mile,

so it wasn't an option

to flip that thing over loaded.

Okay, guys, you ready?

[Narrator] John's son Johnny Marsh

is ready to move fast.

[Johnny Marsh] We're gonna use both trucks,

flop it down onto its wheels,

tow the tractor away,

and then we can get ready

to start doing the trailer offload.

So if you get a chain ready--

And go right down to the block, yeah.

--snatch block down to the leg.

We're nervous right off the hop

because of how dangerous this corner is here.

If people aren't paying attention,

they're not going to see us,

so we gotta get this done quick.

Into the chain, the snatch block into the leg,

and pull down on it.

[Narrator] John will soon have to make a tough decision...

[John] We've gotta get this open,

and we gotta find

the lesser of the evils to get it done.

[Narrator] ...and close the last remaining lane.

[John] I don't have much choice.

There's no room to work.

We have to close most of the highway,

which is really not something we like to do.

I don't want somebody driving by and getting hit.

Holy Jeez. [groans]

[John] All right, get ready, guys.

We're gonna pull it over.

[Narrator] On the westbound 401,

the Campbell's crew

is racing through the first stage

of their high-pressure job.

That was all hands on deck, it's like go, go, go.

[Narrator] With traffic still squeezing past,

their first move is flipping up the tractor.

[John] Just watch yourselves.

[Dylan] Watch yourself.

It's gonna come right over here.

-Whoa! -Clear!

-Good! -Watch out!

-[John] Perfect. -There she is.

Get your truck!

[air hissing]

[John] We're gonna hook this tractor up,

and pull it off to the shoulder outta the way.

[reverse alerts beeping]

[Johnny] Okay, nice and easy, brother!

[Dylan] We got a bunch of boxes,

all kinds of fabric products,

and nothing's on skids,

so she's 100% hand-bomb.

[John] Shutting down the 401

for that length of time

for the offload and everything,

that's not an option.

[Narrator] So operations manager

Dylan Driscoll

has called in some extra hands.

We don't want this dragging on all day.

We gotta get this road back open.

[Narrator] With the backlog building,

John needs to have a plan in action

the minute the trailer is empty.

[John] After we close the back doors...

[Johnny] Yeah.

...put the telehandler underneath this corner,

lift it up, run a strap through,

flip it over while you're on the front of it with red,

just kinda controlling it.

[Johnny] Yeah, okay.

Easy peasy,

and we're almost empty here on the trailer--

[John] Don't say "easy peasy."

That's when things go sideways.

Well, we want it to go sideways,

onto its wheels. -[laughing]

[John] Traffic's gonna get pretty heavy,

so quicker we get this flipped back on its wheels,

the better.

We're messing up a lot of people's days here.

[Narrator] 100 kilometres farther east,

drivers through Cornwall

are getting a rare break from winter.

[Narrator] ...but the beautiful day

has delivered an ugly wreck...

[Duncan Cooper] Got a call early this morning

for a tractor-trailer that rolled over.

It's all ripped apart.

It looks like the load came right through the roof,

so it's gonna be quite the job.

It is a mess.

[Narrator] ...and as Duncan Cooper rolls up,

it's even worse than reported.

[Duncan] You always get a good one

right after all the snow leaves,

and birds are singing, the sun is shining,

and here we are.

Don't understand it, but it happens.

[Narrator] The eastbound semi lost control,

barrelling through the median

and across the westbound lanes,

before crashing over in the ditch.

Trailer looks good from this side.

Can hardly wait to see the other side.

Oh yeah.

Oh, ho, ho...

Oh yeah.

[whistles]

Oh, what a mess.

[Duncan] The roof was out of this trailer,

and the sidewall is out of this trailer,

and most of the load is laying in the roof,

and it's in a swamp, too.

Looks like a full load of medical supplies,

like masks, and I don't know what else.

[Narrator] There's no way to lift it upright

with the cargo in place.

[Duncan] We have some friends here helping,

so it's an all-hands-on-deck deal

to get this unloaded.

All right.

So the goal

is to load everything from there

into there.

Oh yeah, it's gonna take a while.

Watch it don't hit you in the head, boys,

get outta there.

[Narrator] Heavy op Barry Wagner

joins in the offload...

Take it easy, eh, Mike, you old fool.

[Narrator] ...just as the final member of the crew

rolls up.

[Narrator] ...Mike McPhee

is still recovering from breaking both ankles

just over a year ago...

[Duncan] He always says "Call me,

if you need me, call me."

I was like, "Okay,"

but I still have to be careful with what he's doing.

Oh, stay there, Mike,

don't go on that slippery [bleep].

Yeah, that's super slick.

As long as I don't move and stay still, it'll be okay.

[Duncan] You got to really watch with him,

because he'll keep on working,

and to the point where he can't even stand anymore.

[Narrator] ...and this offload

won't be quick.

It's gonna be a hard offload.

This is gonna take time.

It's gonna be a late night, boys.

Gonna be a late night.

[Narrator] Back near Brockville...

[honks twice]

Heads up!

[Narrator] ...the trailer is empty,

and the Campbell crew is prepping

for a rapid-fire upright.

[John] Go ahead, down!

[Narrator] Young Johnny's wrecker

will hold the front of the trailer

while his father lifts and flips it.

[John] Flip 'er over,

and it'll be up on its wheels in a few minutes.

[Narrator] Westbound traffic has been choked into one lane

for almost two hours.

Now, John needs the entire highway.

[John] I don't like flipping stuff on the highway

with vehicles going by

in case something goes wrong.

[John] The last thing I need is a cable to snap,

a chain to break.

You never know, it happens.

[Dylan] Okay, I'll tell the cops to go back,

and we'll shut 'er down for you.

[John] Let the good times roll.

[John] As soon as you close the highway,

you've got I don't know how many people,

their lives are on hold.

So now the pressure's on. It's tense.

[Narrator] It's time for the new rotator

to take centre stage...

Pull! Pull.

[Dylan] You gotta pull on it.

[John] Pull it out, it's getting tangled.

[Narrator] ...but any new truck

comes with a learning curve.

[Johnny] The cable was folded over on itself.

We have to pull all that out

to get that fold out of there.

-Keep pulling! -Keep pulling.

Pull!

[John] I gotta get that knot out of it,

or we're in trouble.

[John] I'm thinking,

if anything can go wrong,

it's going to go wrong when you are in a big hurry.

[Johnny] Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Slow down, Dad!

It's all tangled up.

[bleep].

[Johnny] It's all tangled up.

[Narrator] On the 401 near Brockville,

westbound traffic is fully stopped...

[John] I gotta get that knot out of it,

or we're in trouble.

[Narrator] ...while John Campbell's recovery

has hit a major snag.

[John] That rotator is still a new ballgame to me.

I'm just still learning.

I've never had one before.

[Dylan] We let a little too much tension off,

and you get a little horseshoe in the cable.

[John] I got a little fast with the winch

compared to Bentley up on top of the trailer

pulling out the cable,

so I turned my winch into spaghetti.

Pull! Pull!

Whoa! You're pulling it back in!

It couldn't have happened at a worse time.

Okay, what do you want me to do?

Go out!

[John] How much more?

Whoa!

Now you're good!

[John] That cost me five minutes

of the highway being shut down

that I didn't really need.

[Johnny] Okay, ready?

[Narrator] With their winch line

finally untangled...

Johnny start, then you.

[Narrator] ...the crew needs to finish the job

with no further delay.

[Johnny] They're putting us under the pinch,

like, we gotta get this done right away,

and book it up out of there.

[Dylan] Pull harder, Johnny.

[Johnny] I'm going as quick as I can.

[Dylan] Okay.

[Johnny] Pull!

Whoa!

[reverse alerts beeping]

[John] All we gotta do is hook 'er up

and get this highway open.

Good day for Johnny Campbell's.

All right, perfect, let's get this bitch open.

[Narrator] It was a minor stumble,

but a major success for the new rotator

and its proud owner.

[John] That's a pretty big purchase

for my little company.

I mean, I stuck my neck out pretty far,

but so far, it's earning its keep,

and that's all I can ask.

[honking]

[honks twice]

[Narrator] Back at the eastern end of the highway,

Cornwall's offload is hitting traffic hard.

[Barry] Cops are complaining about the traffic--

[Duncan] Well, there's so much of it.

Hopefully this will speed it up some.

[Narrator] The loader should help

speed up the operation...

[Mike] Throw it in the bucket!

I can't move too well. I gotta stay still.

[Narrator] ...but Mike needs to slow down.

[Barry] If you let Mikey go,

Mikey'll work harder than he has to all the time.

[Duncan whistles] Mikey!

Don't be bending down so much.

I don't want you moving around too much,

so you're gonna drive this.

I'll drive that.

The Cornwall Towing wheelchair.

[laughs]

[Duncan] I decided to cage him in the skid steer,

and he can operate it.

At least then I know he won't hurt himself.

If the shoe fits, wear it.

It fit me perfectly.

[Duncan] Just watch he don't run into ya.

[Barry] Oh, [bleep] yeah.

[Narrator] They've got the offload on track,

but the distraction is proving too much

for some passing drivers.

[Duncan] Get off your [bleep] phone!

[Barry] Hold your phone up!

[Duncan] Unfortunately,

some people don't have enough forward thinking

to realize that it is a bad idea

to stop and take a picture.

[Narrator] A bad idea

that could result in a rear-end collision

and pileup.

[Duncan] Look at this guy.

[bleep] camera.

People are going to get hurt and get killed

because they're not paying attention.

[Duncan] It's my understanding

there was a secondary accident somewhere, too.

I wanna get out of here before dark,

before there's any more accidents.

[Duncan] Let's get this job done,

and get this highway open,

because this is how fast it can happen.

This is the reality of it.

Okay, good enough.

Let's stand it up.

It's very compromised.

We got the inside of the trailer strapped,

we got all the broken stuff floor loaded,

so hopefully it won't tear the wall out as it comes over.

Bowflex, brother!

All right, good enough.

[Narrator] The trailer is rigged up

and ready for the upright...

if it can survive the process.

That's good right there, buddy, yeah, pull it across!

[Narrator] ...and there's a late addition to the crew,

Duncan's son, James.

[Mike] How ya doing, James?

We're just about done, you show up?

Little late to the show, I was out on a job, right?

[Narrator] James joined the company as an apprentice

over the summer.

Oh, you know,

you gotta train these young fellows

to work, you know.

They're taking over the towing business.

[Narrator] Mike immediately

took the 19-year-old under his wing.

[Duncan] James and Mike, you know,

you got the young pup and the old dog there,

and they're gonna try and teach each other

a little somethin'.

-Okay, you ready? -Yup.

Let 'er rip!

[James Cooper] I'm the third generation

working in the towing business,

and I want to carry on the legacy.

Oh, he needs practice, but he'll come.

He'll make a good tow truck driver.

[James] I am in a very good place to learn.

There's a lot of knowledge that can be passed down to me.

[Mike] That's it!

[Mike] It's time for me to slow down,

and at least I know somebody will be replacing me.

[Mike] Take your time and try to remember everything,

every time you go out--

Hey, Mike?

Take your time--

[together] But hurry up.

[laughing]

[dog barking]

[Narrator] Today,

the rookie will get to play in the big league.

[Duncan] Okay, listen. Guys, come here.

[Duncan] James showed up right at the right time.

so I decided to let him run the big wrecker.

This is one of his first times running it,

and this way here, he can get his feet wet.

Barry's gonna stand right beside you,

and you're gonna pull it over on my command.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Okay?

[James] I wasn't expecting to get to run the truck.

It was the first time.

I was a little nervous.

[Duncan] We're going to help with the back,

and I'll be the guy in the middle.

[Duncan] You're not gonna get this kind of training

in the yard.

This is real life.

This is the best way to train him.

We're just gonna roll 'em over this way,

this fellow's gonna grab the back.

-Okay. -Pull on the trailer.

[Duncan] You ready?

It's go time.

[Barry] Okay, you go ahead.

Just start bringing them both in.

[James] Okay, so I'll lead with the front,

then I'll follow with the back.

[Barry] Give 'er a little more on the back,

he's just gonna follow us.

[Duncan] It's a real learning curve for him,

lots of people running around,

and you know, he doesn't want to mess up.

[Barry] Yeah, see, you got it.

Yeah, just bring 'er right over now,

both of them right in.

[James] Okay, I got a good pull on 'em.

[Barry] Yeah.

Keep 'er coming, yeah, she's gonna flop there shortly.

She's on the tipping point.

You're doing good.

Yeah, little more on the trailer, and she's ours.

Yup.

Timber!

There we go.

-Awesome job. -That's beautiful.

[Duncan] That's awesome, he's learning,

'cause he's scared of the big truck,

so we're gonna teach him,

and a big job like this is a confidence-builder.

[Narrator] Pulling the semi upright

was just the first step.

Now James needs to help move it onto the road.

[Duncan] Okay, we'll start rigging

onto the front end, okay?

Oh, she's heavy!

Oh, I'm having a grand old time.

[James] We're going to hook the tractor,

and we're going to try and pull him out of the ditch.

Hopefully, everything will go as planned.

[Barry] Bring it right over the top, young blood.

There you go, right there.

[James] There, there.

[Barry] Okay, yeah, you go ahead.

You wanna start turning that nose around?

You're pulling a little bit, your leg will slide, eh?

Yup.

Keep 'em both tight, young blood.

She ain't rolling.

[Duncan] As it's coming up the hill,

the wheels aren't turning on the tractor.

-No, eh? -I don't think so, Barry.

[Barry] It's not working very well, is it?

[James] No. It's fighting the brakes right now.

[Duncan] Why are those locking up?

I know we pinned all the brakes.

What?

Must've pulled through.

[Narrator] The caging bolt

used to release the air brakes

has pulled into the brake chamber.

[Duncan] It'll put the tractor brakes on,

not enough to actually stop it,

but enough to start creating drag.

It's like every odd is against you out here.

[James] It's fighting the brakes right now.

[Duncan] Yeah.

Why the [bleep] are those locking up?

[Narrator] On the 401 just east of Cornwall...

[Narrator] ...a single caging bolt

has put the brakes

on Duncan's entire recovery...

[Duncan] The brakes aren't released,

so it's going to make it difficult.

The pin's pulled?

[Narrator] ...and the brakes are just the first problem...

Well, let's have a quick look.

She's twisted, eh?

Yeah, both sides are open. It is open a bit.

[Narrator] The fifth wheel plate,

which connects the tractor and trailer,

is bent,

and barely holding on.

[Billy] If it does come off

and swing down into the ditch still,

it's gonna pivot on the bogeys

right into the back of my truck.

[Duncan] Let's just move your truck.

That way if the trailer comes off,

nothing swings and hits it.

All right,

let's get those two winch lines back in there.

[Narrator] James will need to fight the locked brakes

to pull the tractor,

hoping it doesn't wrench free of the trailer.

[James] Yellow's going in.

[Duncan] Before you pull, let Billy move.

[James] Okay.

[Narrator] It's a lot of weight

on the rookie's shoulders.

-You all set? -Okay, give 'er.

-All right, everybody? -Yep.

-Both lines, James. -Yeah, yeah.

Trying to steer it a little bit.

[Barry] Try to finesse it, eh?

Oh, she's starting to move now.

Yeah.

[Mike] It's coming, it's coming pretty good.

You convinced it.

Look, it's listening!

[James] I intimidated it.

There's lots going on here.

It's not as straightforward

like we're pulling a little car out of the ditch...

Keep going.

Okay, whoa!

...but he held his composure, and he got it done.

[Duncan] Okay, leave it tight,

and TJ's gonna steer it out

as we drive ahead, okay? -Yeah.

Ease into it.

[Barry] So you're, you're finessed.

Give you a little more control.

Now you got 'er. Keep that red tight, too.

There she goes!

Whoo-hoo, baby!

You're doing a great job there, young fella.

Victory!

[laughs]

[Duncan] This is a big job,

and I was pretty proud of James there.

He's gonna trip and fall a couple of times.

This is all part of growing, and learning, and whatnot,

but I want to try and show him

how it's done.

-[Barry] Beauty, beauty. -[Duncan] Okay, good.

[Duncan] I want him not just to do it my way.

I want him to work with the other guys.

He gets great input, great training,

all the way around.

[Duncan] James,

I'll see you at supper tonight.

[James] Yup. See you then.

[honking horn]

[Narrator] It's just the right time

for some new blood on Duncan's crew.

-Good job, Mikey. -Yeah!

[Duncan] Mikey's taking a step back,

so this is very important.

We want to get the young fella trained up.

[Mike] He's coming along good, James.

He'll turn out to be a good tow truck driver in time.

Till the next one!

James is, he's the next man up.

We did a good job!

[barking]

Yes, we did, eh?

[barking]

[honks twice]

[dog barking]

[Narrator] A new day...

[Narrator] ...brings a fresh blast of winter

to the highways east of Sarnia,

and Gary Vandenheuvel

is on the move.

Just heading out this morning with Collin.

We have a tractor-trailer that's gone off the road.

Wheels are up on this truck,

has not rolled over yet,

so it's in a really precarious position.

These ones tend to be a little tougher

than, uh, your standard pull outta the ditch.

[Collin] Wow.

I'm impressed it didn't just-- right over.

You're lucky.

Lucky, lucky.

[Narrator] The truck, loaded with groceries,

slipped off the road in whiteout conditions.

Somehow it didn't roll.

[Collin] I have no idea

what's holding this thing up right now.

it should be on its side.

Man, oh, man,

and you got 30,000 on?

-Yeah, around, yeah. -Okay.

If this thing tips over,

it writes the load off,

and that's the last thing we wanna do,

so we're gonna upright this, get it on the road,

and hopefully we can get him on his way

to deliver to the store.

[Collin] Crazy, crazy, how much of a lean that is.

Like, I can touch the top of the trailer on this one.

Wow.

You don't even wanna breathe on this thing wrong,

and it's going over.

No kidding.

[Collin] Right now the load,

the trailer, everything's intact,

and we want to keep it that way.

I wanna get working on this as quickly as I can...

'cause that snowbank

is all that's holding this thing up at the moment,

and it's melting.

[Gary] Time for a shovel.

[Narrator] On a back road north of the 402,

Gary and Collin are facing a loaded semi

ready to topple.

[Collin] We've got this truck,

it's actually in a pretty bad situation here,

it's just about ready to fall over.

[Gary] If this trailer goes over,

and that food spills out in any way,

it's no good.

There we go.

[Gary] This is tougher than a rollover,

because a rollover, it's gone over,

the damage is done.

Now we're trying to prevent damage

to the customer's truck and trailer, and the load,

so there's a lot at risk on this one.

This one has some real serious potential to go bad

if this isn't done right,

so this one is a Collin and I job.

[Narrator] Today,

Gary will be leaning hard on his senior operator...

[Gary] Collin's reached a level

where, you know, he's really good at what he's doing.

I can concentrate on what I'm doing here.

Collin's back there

doing exactly what he needs to do.

I don't have to worry about it.

That wind is just absolutely insane today.

Holy crap.

Uh...

where is the edge of the road?

Right about here.

[Collin] We're dealing with a fairly tight road here today,

so we gotta get the truck in the exact right position,

'cause once we start getting this coming up,

we're not gonna be able to move.

We're going to run a high line over top of this trailer

to help keep it from rolling,

and then we're going to put a low line

with the drag winch off the rotator...

That's good.

...and that's going to give us the pull that we need

to get this thing sliding sideways.

[Narrator] ...but to rig his high line,

Collin will need to climb up onto the trailer,

and risk upsetting the balance.

I just don't want my extra weight up there

being the thing that tips this thing over.

-Hey, Dad? -Want my help?

Yeah, can you grab me something to push it up?

[Gary] Okay.

Got it?

[Collin] I think so.

It's caught on the edge.

It's in a bad spot.

Got 'er?

Yeah.

I'm not a fan of heights.

Ha ha, that's a win!

[Narrator] The line is in place,

but there's an added concern as they prep for the pull.

[Gary] We're close to something here,

we're concerned about it.

We just gotta make sure

that trailer doesn't slide any further into the ditch

as we're pulling it out.

[Collin] We really have to be careful

when we're working around this,

because if we break the gas line,

we're in for a world of hurt here.

That's good there.

[Narrator] Collin will slowly upright

and pull the trailer sideways, away from the line,

while Gary winches the tractor onto the road.

[Collin] Okay, you ready?

[Gary] Yeah, go ahead.

[Narrator] Running two winches,

Collin will need a delicate balance

on his controls.

[Collin] I'm kind of spreading the load out

between the low line and the high line.

I could actually tear through the side of the trailer,

rip it wide open,

so I really have to be very mindful

of which winch has got more power on it.

[Gary] Okay, that's all you wanna put

on that upper strap, okay?

[Collin] Okay.

[Gary] Let me kick that front end around.

Okay.

Hopefully my truck will sit still.

Come on.

There we go.

Just gotta get 'er moving forward now.

Come on.

There we go.

Up and out.

[Collin] I'm gonna start pulling sideways

with the drag winch.

[Collin] I'm going to just keep feathering the controls

as my dad's pulling the front of this thing up.

We're just going to kind of walk it together,

just keep things nice and even.

There we go, now we're popping out.

That's what I'm talking about.

All good?

Yup.

That's it.

[Gary] Nice job, Coll.

[Collin] No problem. Thank you.

[Gary] Collin's done a great job

of just doing that balancing act

between sliding the trailer sideways

and holding it up.

Now it's my turn.

I've gotta get the rest of this tractor

up onto the roadway,

and if that goes well,

then he's on his way shortly.

[Narrator] But first,

Gary has to make some room on the road.

[Gary] I'm just going to have to reposition,

get a little further up onto the road

so that I can take this whole unit up

and outta the ditch all the way.

[Gary] No!

[Narrator] On a narrow county route

northeast of Sarnia,

Gary has run out of road.

[Gary] Damn.

[laughing]

Unfortunately, got a little too close to the shoulder,

and it is certainly slippery.

I understand why the truck went in

on the other end.

[Gary] I may have to winch myself back.

Oh, you're... stuck?

No, the front end is sliding out.

[Gary] I've gotten myself a little too close to the ditch,

just like he did,

and I can't get up and out.

[Narrator] Gary wants to use the semi as an anchor

to pull his wrecker backwards.

[Gary] I'm gonna winch myself back.

[Collin] You're gonna winch yourself?

We can do it from here.

Turn the button that says "control."

-Yeah, it's on. -Okay.

[Collin] This truck's actually got a really nice feature,

it can release the brakes from the controls,

so I can hold the release

and winch myself backwards.

[Gary] If it doesn't come out, it's all your fault.

[Collin] Yeah? All right.

[Gary laughs]

[Collin] He's got too many trucks.

He forgets what all the buttons do.

[Gary] It's fun to come out on a job like this.

Collin's got his views of how he wants to do it.

He just looks at things a little different than I do,

and they're working out.

[Gary] Every day,

it's a learning experience for both of us.

Working father-son,

those roles are reversing, and it's kind of neat.

I can just back up if need be now.

Okay, yeah, I'll watch for you.

[Narrator] Now they can finish the job

with Gary up front

and Collin watching the back.

[Collin] I just gotta keep a line tight on the back here

and just watch

and make sure we aren't going to roll over still.

Looks good.

-[Collin] Okay! -[air brakes hissing]

[Gary] There we go, she's free.

Went really well,

that came up very, very nice... -Yeah.

...and not a lick of damage on the trailer,

which is nice.

[Collin] This truck's going to be able

to get down to the grocery store,

get offloaded,

and all this food and stuff

is going to be on the shelves

by, you know, mid-afternoon,

which is a good feeling.

[Narrator] But that's not the only good feeling

for Collin's father.

Good job.

Thank you. You too.

[honking horn]

[Gary] You know, I congratulated him on it,

I said you did a good job, and he turned it on me.

I wasn't ready for that.

He said, "Yeah, you did, too, Dad."

I'd never had that before.

That was a new moment for me,

and kind of something new in my career.

Now my son is telling me, "Hey, Dad, you did a good job,"

and that was pretty cool, pretty special.

[honking horns]

-[Alam] Are you ready, Sonny? -Yeah!

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

Let's go, let's go!

[Narrator] ...Sonny's plan...

-[Alam] Stop! No!

[Narrator] ...unravels.

[Narrator] A violent crash...

This don't make it very nice.

All the structure is gone.

[Narrator] ...tests the crew.

[Steve] Whoa, whoa! Stop!

[Narrator] ...and a new team member...

[Cass] We're here, baby!

[Narrator] ...makes the cut.

Whoo!

[♪♪♪]