Original subtitles

[Narrator] This time on the season finale

of Heavy Rescue: 401...

[Andrew Vink] She's frozen in there.

[Narrator] ...stuck semi...

[Bill Fell] Whoa, Andrew!

[Narrator] ...strikes back.

He's getting ahead of me!

Yo! Hey!

Dennis, stay on that, man.

[Narrator] Eric fights...

[Eric] Dennis, Dennis, it's fast!

[Narrator] ...to keep it together...

He's too fast!

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

So cold, everything's frozen.

[Narrator] ...reach deep.

[Gary Vandenheuvel] I haven't had one

this deep, steep, and stuck in many, many years.

[traffic news radio] Well, this storm

is certainly catching drivers by surprise.

We have slick roads and numerous collisions

right across the GTA.

[Narrator] It's a brutal late-March morning

on the highways of Toronto.

[Narrator] The springtime storm

is hitting even harder

100 kilometres outside the city,

near Cambridge.

[Kerry Schmidt] Coming up to Highway 6.

It's been a really messy commute.

Snow and slush everywhere,

a lot of traffic.

[Narrator] Sergeant Kerry Schmidt

is driving westward

to a major scene

causing major headaches.

[Kerry] So, I'm just on the way to a crash,

and it involved two transport trucks.

Both trucks down in the ditch,

emergency responders are on scene there.

Traffic is backed up for quite a ways here.

I've already gone by five or 10 kilometres worth

of crawling traffic.

[Kerry] The hazard that we have with this now

is that the unexpected slowdowns

can catch many drivers by surprise,

and if they're not driving with their full attention,

they may very well end up

plowing right into the back of stopped traffic.

[Kerry] Wow, what a mess.

[Narrator] The double jackknife

has forced the shutdown

of two westbound lanes of the 401.

[Kerry] It's morning rush hour.

This is a huge mess,

and this is going to cause headaches

for thousands of motorists.

We have heavy delays in the area,

only one lane getting by.

This transport truck here was travelling along

in the middle lane,

and a vehicle in front of it braked abruptly.

He tried to avoid a collision,

sideswiped the other transport truck,

dragging it into the ditch as well.

[Narrator] SD Towing from Mississauga

has already cleared the first semi,

but they're still fighting the second.

Gonna be out

in 20 minutes, okay? -Okay, right on.

[Narrator] Heavy ops Jaz Singh and Deep Sarai

are up against difficult terrain.

Because of that valley rig down in the ditch,

that's gonna give us a little bit of trouble.

[Deep] We're dealing with

a relatively deep ditch here,

and obviously

when you have an incline like that,

you're going to come through with a lot of resistance.

Hurry, hurry.

[Kerry] You can see the delays that we have here

backed up all the way back to Highway 6,

only one lane getting by.

Crazy weather, man.

Crazy people.

[♪♪♪]

[traffic news radio] We have a transport truck

in the ditch

westbound on the 401,

and major backups in the area.

[Jaz Singh] You can keep pulling.

Yo, yo!

That's okay, keep going.

[Kerry] The snow's been coming down all night.

This is the worst time that it can happen.

7:00 a.m., the start of morning rush hour,

and now we got a big mess on the highway to clean up.

[Narrator] The crew has the trailer

straddling the ditch.

Now they need to get the entire transport

across the gap.

[Deep] So we're gonna try

to get the back end of the trailer

and put it up on the highway,

and then kinda just swing the tractor

and get it right level right onto the shoulder.

[Jaz] Hold on!

[Deep] This one's empty,

but empties have their own struggle, right,

and it changes the centre of gravity and all that.

[Narrator] To swing the front end across,

they need the trailer as an anchor,

but with no weight inside,

it's hard to control.

[Jaz] I'm just gonna keep it down

so it won't go nowhere.

[Deep] Adding a secondary line through a snatch block

was really going to bring that trailer

closer to the ground

and keep that centre of gravity really low.

Okay, go!

Let the green go.

Come on...

Okay?

Yeah.

[Kerry] Highway 401 westbound,

the last transport truck is outta the ditch.

[Deep] Once you see the cops open up the roadway

and all that traffic flowing,

that's a huge sigh of relief.

Good to go.

Okay.

Go!

[Kerry] Great job on that cleanup, man.

It happened in record time.

All right, thank you so much, Sarge.

Thank you.

[Narrator] ...but the day,

and the season's last storm

aren't over yet.

[Kerry] It's been snowing all night,

and still snowing in the morning rush,

and we've had this mess to clean up.

The morning is just getting started.

[trucks honking]

[traffic news radio] Well, it looks like emergency crews

have worked their magic on the westbound 401,

where all lanes have reopened,

and traffic is starting to improve.

[Narrator] 500 kilometres east,

it's clear skies over Cornwall...

[Narrator] ...but frigid temperatures

are icing up roads...

[Narrator] ...and sending Andrew Vink

and his heavy crew...

Ready to roll?

[Narrator] ...to answer an overnight call.

[Andrew] I got the team rolling behind me

responding to this tractor-trailer

in the ditch off the 401.

We found ourselves in a minus 17 overnight,

so this is gonna be frozen solid in this ditch.

We're bringing out all the big guns for this one.

[Narrator] Following Andrew up front,

Bill Fell is bringing the second rotator,

and they'll need the power.

[Bill] It takes weight to move weight.

I love a challenge.

This is gonna be a challenge.

I'm in the convoy, a big step. I'm here.

[Narrator] Close behind,

the newest member of the heavy crew,

Cassandra Hay.

Today I'm driving the day cab.

It's the rookie truck.

[laughs]

They call it "The Boneshaker."

Oh, boy, he's really in the bushes.

[Andrew] We got the tractor-trailer

fully loaded with produce out of Arizona.

It went in pretty wet,

and now she's frozen in there,

so it's gonna be quite the fight.

[Narrator] As a tow truck was working

on the side of a highway,

a fully loaded semi lost control,

hit the truck,

and plowed into the ditch.

[Bill] This situation kind of hits close to home, you know,

'cause we're out on the same highway

doing the same stuff,

and you never know

when something like this is going to happen.

[Andrew] Luckily the operator was fine

and walked away with minor injuries,

but it still, it hits home, man.

You know, it could have been one of my guys.

[Cass] So, are you gonna teach me how this works?

[Josh] Yeah, why not?

[Narrator] After months rebuilding his team,

today Andrew's aiming to give the rookies

some vital experience.

I was able to grab Cass and Josh

to give us a hand as well.

[Andrew] Usually I'll bring people that are green

to the simpler recovery

where I can have the time to teach these things.

This job, this one's a tough recovery.

One clevis, one strap.

One clevis, one strap, okay?

Okay.

[Bill] I was once in that position,

learning all the different rigging,

what was what.

There's a lot of learning to do in this.

[Narrator] Senior op Bill will guide them,

and it's only been a few winters

since he was the green one.

I'm gonna rotate a bit back?

[Herb] No, you gotta slide back.

Slide back, right.

[Bill] I think I've come a long way.

I love where I'm at now.

Still got a lot to learn, obviously,

but I've come far.

[Andrew] Very gently, gently.

Okay, next.

Just rigging up the back of the trailer

to be able to pull that outta here.

[Narrator] Today's recovery will test everyone,

no matter how junior

or senior.

[Bill] This thing's already 70,000 pounds.

Being encased in the ice like that,

it could almost double that weight.

This is going to be pretty challenging to get out.

We've got ice right up to the hubs.

It's kind of frozen into the ground,

so we'll have to sweet-talk it outta there.

[Andrew] Plan A is to get the 50 rigged up

to the rear end of that trailer,

and we're going to use the reach of the 80

to go over the trailer

and pick up that trailer with two slings.

Fingers clear?

Yes.

-Nothing at all, eh? -Nope.

[sighing]

There's only one thing moving, and it's my trucks,

and that's not a good sign.

She's frozen in there.

Oh!

At least we're getting closer to it.

-[metal scraping] -Whoa, Andrew!

[metal scraping]

[Narrator] On the 401 east of Cornwall,

Andrew and Bill are locked in battle

with a trailer locked in ice.

[Andrew] It's frozen in there.

Oh, wow, man.

[Bill] She ain't budging.

We actually pulled the 50 towards the ditch.

That's dangerous, man.

[Andrew] There's a very thin line you're riding here

because you're pulling on something that's not moving,

and eventually something is going to give.

We gotta rethink our plan

before somebody gets hurt or we break something.

-Bill? -Yeah?

I kinda underestimated the ice.

Back up the 80,

get you freed up...

Then we'll be able to do what we need to do.

We have no choice now

but to move the 80-tonne into position

to try and break this trailer free.

[honking horn twice]

[Bill imitates reverse beeps] "Beep, beep, beep..."

If I can't lift it up with this thing,

she's staying there till spring.

Work your magic.

[Bill] If this doesn't work,

we're seriously going to have to consider

leaving this here until it thaws,

and we don't want to do that.

[Andrew] Watch out, fingers clear, Bill?

[Bill] Yeah, go ahead.

-[Andrew] Yeah? -[Bill] Yeah, good.

[Andrew] Okay, watch out, 'cause we might snap the chain.

At this point, it's an all-out tug of war.

-It's moving a bit. -Yeah.

[crackling]

[Bill] The ice is breaking here.

[Andrew] Yeah, well, I sure hope so.

-She's coming! -Whoo!

There she is, you big mama.

There she is.

She's a-slingin'.

There.

There we go.

[Narrator] They've broken the back of the trailer free...

[Andrew] Look at the hubs.

That thing was real deep in the ice.

[Narrator] ...but that was only half the problem.

[Andrew] We only lifted the back end.

We haven't touched the front end yet, so...

you know, that might be another fight of its own.

[Sonny] It's freaking cold, man.

This is crazy.

[Narrator] 500 kilometres west...

I got a truck deep in the ditch.

[Narrator] ...Sonny Subra

is ready to rig up a semi

that plowed off the 400 in last night's storm.

[Sonny] There's a load inside the trailer,

so we don't want to damage any load,

and then roll it over.

Can you hook the front, man?

[Narrator] With no second operator on scene,

Sonny needs to lean on the only help available...

[Sonny] So, I'm alone.

The driver is there.

The driver is going to be my partner now.

So, okay, we're gonna go slowly.

Keep it straight, keep it straight, okay?

[Narrator] ...and Sonny's staring down a hard deadline...

My wife is leaving today to go back home,

taking my son,

so I have to drop them off at the airport.

Yeah, good.

[Sonny] I'm really tight with the time,

because you have to be at the airport very early.

[Narrator] ...and if he misses his window,

he won't see his family again

for weeks.

[metal scraping]

Oh!

[scraping]

It doesn't want to come out.

[Sonny] The roads are ice.

The truck is simply sliding.

[groans]

Hopefully it's gonna come out.

My truck is sliding,

because my truck is just a 25-tonne wrecker, right?

It's not heavy enough to pull this tractor-trailer.

It's just gonna keep sliding and go into the ditch.

[Sonny] I'm gonna tell him to put it in gear

and hit the gas.

Give me some traction, give me some pull.

Nice and easy, okay?

Just roll it, it's gonna slide out, okay?

Ready?

[scraping]

It's coming out.

[Narrator] The tractor is moving forward...

...but Sonny can't get the right trajectory

for the trailer.

[Sonny] Keep coming straight,

don't slide, don't slide, don't slide.

We're gonna be a whole day here.

Brake!

[Narrator] To pull the whole transport

onto the road,

Sonny needs to change the angle,

and he needs more room.

I'm gonna ask the officer to completely block it,

I'll put on one winch,

and then I'll drive.

You're gonna drive behind me, okay?

Almost done.

If you give me a whole lane,

gonna pull him out all together, one shot.

So I'm gonna pull straight out,

and I'm gonna put it in the shoulder,

he's gonna drive off, I'm gonna go home.

Final moment, final pull,

and then we're gonna be outta here.

[Narrator] He must make his move

the second the OPP closes the lane.

[Sunny] Be ready.

Any moment, they're gonna block the highway.

Ready, ready, ready!

Whoo!

Come, come, come, come, come.

Yay!

We did it, man, we did it.

Awesome.

[Sonny] This is working.

Thanks God, I can go, I can go.

Onto the shoulder.

Onto the shoulder completely.

[Narrator] After a winter of adapting to a smaller truck,

Sonny's learned just how much his skill has grown.

[Sonny] I learned a lot the last seven years.

I've pushed myself to the limit,

and I worked so hard.

I've built my life.

We're gonna be outta here now.

I think I will make it on time.

[Sonny] I am confident I can do anything.

With all this experience,

and all the scenes I went to,

I can do any wreck.

All right.

[honking horn]

[horn blares]

Here we go.

Nah, she's wedgied.

[Narrator] Back at the eastern end of the 401...

Pull in on your right more.

[Narrator] ...the Herb's crew

is working to separate the trailer

so they can wrestle out the tractor on its own...

Got it.

Okay.

[Bill] There was no way

that we could have pulled this out as one unit.

The tractor sustained pretty good damage on the front,

so we needed to separate them.

[Andrew] Okay, so, Bill, I'll support it,

and you need to pull it outta the jaws.

[Bill] It meant that we can get that trailer out of there

and then work on the truck.

[Narrator] ...but without the tractor up front,

they'll need to lift out the trailer,

all 70,000 pounds.

My concern is my end is another five foot out.

[Andrew] The 80-tonne doesn't have enough boom

to be centred over the trailer.

Initially, that trailer's

going to have to be dragged up the embankment

till it gets centred underneath that boom.

[Narrator] They'll first move the trailer

closer to the road,

and then use both rotators

to lift it out of the ditch.

[Bill] Ready.

[creaking]

[Andrew] This thing's gonna swing towards us.

-Here she comes. -Okay, whoa.

All right, you're past the fifth wheel plate.

Okay, just give me a sec, let me lift it up. Whoa.

[Narrator] Now that the trailer is centred under the boom,

they can attempt the heavy lift.

[Andrew] The challenge of doing a deadlift

is the first few inches.

Once you can get this thing off the ground

and centred,

it's game over.

This is gonna fight us right to the end.

Okay, whoa, whoa.

Let me try and straighten 'er out a bit.

Go ahead.

It's coming out.

Try bringing it towards you a bit, Bill.

There she is.

Yeah, another four feet.

Okay, watch out, Bill.

I think I'm good right there, buddy.

Okay. It's all yours.

Good. Right there.

I'll bring the back end down.

Tight fit,

but that's exactly where I wanted it.

Good job, guys.

Okay, let's get this thing unrigged.

[Andrew] It's home free for the trailer.

The truck, on the other hand,

that's a different ball game.

If we just judge by the resistance

the ice added to the trailer,

the tractor's gonna be another fight.

-Frozen in there, Billy. -Oh, yeah.

[Narrator] At the eastern edge of Ontario,

Andrew and Bill are sizing up their next challenge,

the tractor.

[Andrew] The axle's pushed back

almost underneath the passenger's side door,

and it's obviously buried in snow.

[Narrator] The damage

and the distance

are a tough combination.

Okay, everybody watch out.

[Narrator] The first step,

get it out of the ice

and closer to the road.

[Andrew] I wasn't giving that tractor any chance

to give us an ounce of trouble.

She's comin'.

[Narrator] He's banking

that with access to pull on the back,

he can ease the tractor free.

[Andrew] I think it went fairly well.

We picked it up from the ass end

with the 50-tonne,

dragged it backwards

so we got close enough to lift.

There you go.

[Narrator] Now they'll re-rig with both rotators

for the delicate lift to the road.

-Beautiful. -Above your head, Cass.

Watch your head.

[Bill] It can sometimes be a little tricky

lifting these tractors that are damaged,

being that they're so far out.

There we go. She's in.

Okay, watch out, guys.

There she goes.

Look at that.

Okay, you wanna start picking it up, Billy?

And she's coming up right now.

Look at that.

[Narrator] The tractor is holding together.

[Andrew] Okay, swing your end.

[Bill] Okay, swingy, swingy.

[Narrator] Now they need to carefully set it down...

-Good? -Yeah, so far.

Okay.

[Narrator] ...without swinging into live traffic.

Okay, hold.

Just wanna make sure that we're not into that lane, eh?

[Bill] We still have traffic going by us,

so yeah, we've gotta be very careful.

-You good, Bill? -Yeah.

[Bill] I think it's pretty impressive

when we do stuff like that,

you know, using two rotators

to lift a truck up in the air,

and then swing it over between our trucks

into another lane.

Right there.

Hell, yeah!

[Andrew] It's a kind of art.

Some people, it's Picassos,

and for us, it's having a demolished tractor

sitting 20 feet off the ground

on the tip of your boom.

Something about that, it's just there to love.

She's done!

Beautiful. Good job, guys.

Oh, that was awesome.

Quite an experience just being here.

It fought us till the end,

but that's what it's all about.

[Narrator] For a new team...

[grunting with effort]

Next thing,

hooking this thing up, then we're going home.

[Narrator] ...and a new company leader...

-[crunching] -Whoo!

[Narrator] ...it's been a job

that caps off a winter

of hard-earned success.

[Bill] I've come a long way.

I've worked hard.

It does pay off.

Done. Good job.

Cass? Good job.

Thanks, boss.

You do so many recoveries

that it's hard to get one of the recoveries

to fit into your memory books,

but definitely this one

will have a page dedicated to it.

She was a hell of a fight,

but the team got 'er done.

Going back home.

[honking horn twice]

[honking horn twice]

[honking "shave and a haircut" tune]

[Narrator] 800 kilometres west,

a frigid night

is giving way to an icy morning

at the far end of the 401...

[Eric Godard] Just got a call from the OPP,

we've got a tractor-trailer actually

that's run off the highway.

[Narrator] ...so Eric Godard

is back on the road.

It's been a pretty crazy night.

A whole lot of ice, and a whole lot of snow

makes for a really long night

for people in our line of work.

I'm heading out here with Big Orange,

and I've also got Daren coming out

with the other rotator,

and Dennis is going to come out as well.

[Narrator] The semi jackknifed off the 401 near Tilbury,

skidding into deep snow

between the highway and adjacent service road.

[Eric] Today someone's looking out for us.

We're going to bring this tractor-trailer

right out here onto this road.

It'll be a whole lot safer

than trying to work on an icy 401

that's got traffic coming at us

60 miles an hour.

[Eric] The road is snow-covered,

but it's a small enough road

that we can shut it down with the trucks if we have to,

and then there's no concern that moving vehicles can get us.

[Narrator] The challenge will be pulling the semi

up to the road

while keeping it upright.

[Eric] The big concern on this one,

number one is gonna be the lean coming up.

It doesn't look like much of an aggressive lean

because there's so much snow,

but that's snow, and it's not gonna hold the weight

of this tractor-trailer.

[Narrator] Eric will need help,

and the first of his backup has just arrived...

Dennis!

[Eric] Nowadays,

I pretty much have more help, I guess,

is what it comes down to.

When you get into those kind of jobs,

and you're dragging all the chains, and...

I call for help.

Right about... there.

[Eric] Unfortunately, in my case,

my body's falling apart,

so it just is what it is.

I'm not a very old guy, but my body's 80 years old.

I'm needing to step away as much as possible.

It's just a necessity.

[laughing] You ain't man enough--

I can only do one at a time, I know.

I was gonna say,

you ain't [bleep] man enough, buddy.

Oh, my God, I'm not man enough.

[Narrator] After three decades,

stepping back isn't easy.

[Eric] I want to be that hands-on guy.

I like to get my hands dirty.

I like to get involved.

[Narrator] The first step is simple,

pulling the tractor straight.

[Eric] And there we go.

[Dennis] You don't get much better than that, Eric.

[Narrator] As they face the tough part of the job...

Yo!

[Narrator] ...Daren pulls onto scene

with the second rotator.

[Eric] Here comes Daren.

[Daren] I'm seeing a lot of trucks in the ditch.

Kind of makes you nervous, driving the rotator.

You're good.

[Narrator] Daren's rotator will pull on the front,

while Eric holds the semi upright,

easing it towards the road.

[Dennis] You got two lines or with one?

Yeah, both.

[Narrator] They're rigged up

and ready.

[Eric] Dennis!

[Narrator] ...but for the big pull...

[Eric] You wanna work this?

[Narrator] ...the "hands-on" veteran

will take his hands off the controls...

I need to be able to let go,

and I'm learning how to do that slowly.

Boom up, down,

and you're pulling with this one.

[Dennis] Eric really has all that experience,

and I listen to him every chance I get.

Yeah, just stay on that one.

We kind of got to get in there

and start really learning this stuff.

I'll let you know, Dennis, when to rotate.

[Eric] Big Orange

is a really intimidating truck to use,

so when you're gonna learn this truck,

it's baby steps.

[Dennis] Start pulling that right now?

[Eric] Yeah, take 'er out.

[Narrator] ...but stepping back

means Eric has to trust the two brothers

to stay in sync.

He's getting ahead of me!

Dennis, Dennis! It's fast.

[Eric] If Daren gets ahead of us too far,

then we can't control the lean on the trailer,

and now we'll end up with this trailer

out of the jackknife, but laying on its side.

Yo! Yo! Yo! Hey!

Dennis, stay on that, man.

He's too fast!

-Dennis, Dennis! -Hang on, he's too fast.

[Narrator] On a service road next to the 401...

I can't even keep up here.

[Narrator] ...Eric's trying to keep two rotators in sync

while keeping off of the controls.

[Eric] He's gotta slow down.

He's going too fast.

[Eric] I'm not built in my mind

where I can sit and watch somebody else do something.

I just can't do it.

Now just follow him out, Dennis.

I'm trying to keep up with the winch there,

but, uh, the other truck's a lot faster.

[Eric] Swing it, swing it!

[Eric] The winches just run at different paces.

It can come right down

to how many wraps you have left on a drum,

and each rotation will take a little bit more line,

so we've got a lot more line off the truck

as opposed to Daren,

'cause he's so much closer.

Dennis, let's get that line going.

[Dennis] It's going, buddy, it's going.

[Dennis] We're dealing with a little bit of lean

on a loaded trailer.

It may not look like much,

but it doesn't take much for things to go south.

You can swing 'er a touch.

[Eric] If Daren gets too far ahead of us,

we lose complete control of the lean,

so we turn a relatively easy job

with no damage

into a destroyed tractor-trailer that we've caused,

so that's the one thing we've definitely got to avoid.

[Eric] There we go.

Now we're playing with fire, boys.

[Narrator] The front of the truck is at the road,

and Daren is at the end of his line.

-Is he outta stroke? -Yeah, he's out.

[Narrator] Eric's hoping

that with the driver's help,

they can drag his semi the rest of the way.

[Eric] Okay, he's gonna drive out with you,

and you're just gonna put 'er in low and follow.

Daren, take him up, let's get the road!

Go, go, go, go.

[Narrator] They're clear,

just in time for the local workers.

[Eric] Just go slow!

It may seem like a minor road to us

and not so important.

There's a whole lot of people that depend on it, right?

Nice and slow. Slow.

Thank you.

It looks like the last of 'em.

Everyone's gonna get to work today.

[Narrator] As Eric struggles to step back,

today is a good reminder

that he can still move forward as a mentor.

[Eric] When I work with Daren and Dennis,

we tend to really click.

They're building their confidence

every time they touch the controls

with every job we do,

and, yeah, it will just make a that much stronger team.

At the end of my career,

as far as running a heavy wrecker every day,

it is... close.

I wouldn't change my career path for anything.

[Eric] I never really thought about leaving a legacy,

but when I leave here,

if the guys are that much safer because I was here,

that much more equipped to do the job,

then I've done something right.

[honking]

[Narrator] 100 kilometres north...

[Gary Vandenheuvel] The 402 was closed

for the majority of the evening last night.

A lot of trucks were rerouted onto secondary roads,

and we now have one that has rolled over.

[Narrator] ...Gary Vandenheuvel

is heading off of the highway

in the aftermath of an icy night.

[Gary] Oh, that's ugly.

This individual, due to the road conditions,

ended up in the ditch on its side.

It was so deep,

I actually had to search for the truck.

The customer's informed me

that this trailer is only about a month old,

so we're gonna do our very best

to make sure that we save the trailer for them.

This is a big one.

Pretty steep ditch.

The plows have been by,

they've plowed this all in on us here.

It's gonna be a challenge to get this thing up and out.

This thing's down deep.

[groans] Aw, no. It's frozen in here.

I can't open this door

to even look and see what the load's done.

She's just a block of ice.

[Gary] It's got a lot of challenges on this one.

It's deep, it's steep, it's loaded,

frozen into literally ice.

The customer let me know

that the weight was around 30,000 pounds of product,

so when you include the trailer at 20, tractor at 20,

that's a significant load

and a good-size recovery

down an embankment like this.

It's a big one.

This job is a very unique job.

I can honestly say

I haven't had one this deep, steep, and stuck

in many, many years, so... hmm.

It's quite the trek through the forest here!

[Narrator] On a back road south of Highway 402,

Gary is staring down an uphill battle.

[Gary] This job's making me think.

[Gary] There's a lot to look at here.

It's a really steep ditch.

It's actually locked in the water.

We have a loaded trailer,

and it's heavy.

It's a big challenge,

and there's a lot to think on this job.

A lot of different avenues

I can go with here on this one.

This is a job that I need Collin on.

I rely on him.

He's my right-hand man.

This is it, man.

What do you think?

[Collin] That's wild.

[Gary] Yeah, it is.

[Collin] Seeing this thing

for the first time,

I really don't know

how we're gonna get this thing out

without tearing it apart.

We're gonna have a job and a half

getting this thing back up and on the road.

Yeah, this is pretty impressive.

You don't see this sort of stuff on the 402.

Between the two of us, we'll work out a plan.

[Collin] There's definitely

a lot of responsibility on my shoulders on this job.

My dad's actually asking for my input on this one,

you know, and this is an extensive job.

It's gonna take all the brain power we got

to get this thing back up and on the road

without doing any damage.

-Let's get you in place. -Okay.

And then, uh, I can come up beside you.

Okay, sounds good.

[Narrator] It's a fight

that will take even more power...

...a third wrecker...

[Gary] Aaron, you're gonna be on the 50-tonne.

Okay.

[Narrator] ...along with junior ops Tim and Aaron,

rookies relying on Collin's guidance.

If your back end is about the same as mine...

[Gary] You know, it's kind of neat.

It's been a season of learning for these guys.

It gives me a great sense of pride

knowing that Collin actually brought these guys up

under his wing.

Do you want me to move over this way a bit more?

[Gary] Nope, you're good there.

[Narrator] The 35-tonne will rig to the tractor

with straps from the 50-tonne and the rotator

around the trailer.

Together,

they will roll the semi upright

and lift it from the ditch.

I'm losing traction.

I know.

[Gary] Tough working conditions.

Everything's frozen.

Wind chill's in the minus 30s, so...

guys are gonna have to tough it out today,

that's for sure.

Snug up on this one, please?

There you go.

[Collin] There's a lot of pressure on all of us,

because we have to do this in sync.

Everyone has to be pulling at the same rate,

because if one of us gets ahead of the other,

we could actually split this trailer in half.

I'm gonna watch that wall,

make sure it's not bowing too much.

Okay.

Let's just start leading a little bit.

Bring it up.

It's coming up.

Hold on, let Collin catch up.

Yeah.

Work it together, guys.

Aaron, you need it, too.

Whoa.

Not too much more on yours, Aaron.

Let them catch up. -Okay. Yup.

I can tell you every ounce of this load

is on that wall.

Keep going, guys, keep going.

Okay.

Catch up, Aaron, a bit, please.

Okay.

Yeah, I'm pretty well on the ground, eh?

Hold on, let's stop for a second.

Okay. Stopping.

[Gary] So that's pretty much landed, is it?

-That's landed. -Yeah.

Okay.

[Collin] Even though we've got the wheels

back down on the ground,

the ditch is so steep

that it is still almost

pretty well laying on its side.

Wow.

[Gary] I know that there'll be no letting go.

This trailer will not stand on its own.

[Collin] That was the easy part,

to be honest with you.

Oh, that's ugly.

Not quite where we wanna be there.

[Gary] Oh, that's ugly.

[Narrator] On a Sarnia backroad...

[groaning]

[Narrator] ...the semi is up,

but not out of the woods.

[Gary] This unit's now on its wheels,

but, really, there's so much more to this.

The problem's not solved of just getting it upright.

I know that all the load

has definitely shifted to that side.

There's an awful lot of pressure on that wall.

[Collin] We don't have enough room

to keep pulling the front of this truck over

and onto the roadway

with how the truck is positioned.

[truck honks]

[Narrator] ...and it's Collin's input

that might just make the difference.

[Collin] If he turns real hard,

it's gonna be where we need it.

Just gives him that extra little bit.

[Collin] We're gonna have to actually

put the 35-tonne's front end down in the ditch

to give us that little bit of extra room...

Okay, go forward now.

...and it's also gonna give us some more anchorability

to help get this thing back up onto the roadway.

That should move something now.

Gives you just that little bit more traction

that we need right now.

[Gary] It's really nice to have Collin show up on this one.

We work in tandem on this sort of stuff,

and having a guy like him

just makes the job and the challenge on me

a lot easier.

[Gary] Let's try again, guys.

It's a little bit of a game.

Lower winches, upper winches, lower winches, upper winches.

[Narrator] Tim will need to pull hard on the front.

[Gary] See if you can slide that front end over for us.

There we go.

You're breaking free.

[Narrator] Now the wreckers in back

need to match that force.

You guys can start tugging as well.

Collin?

Yeah, I'm maxed out on the drag.

[Collin] Once we start to crest the road,

that's gonna be the hardest point of this pull.

You guys got any pull or not?

Okay, we'll try.

[Gary] There you go, work together,

all of youse gotta work together, okay?

Uh, we're moving now.

Here we go, it's moving, it's moving.

That's it.

Just keep going, guys.

Do not stop now.

[Collin] It's a game of inches on this one.

I only have a couple inches

off the backboard of this truck

between my truck

and the truck we're pulling out.

[Gary] That's it, guys. You got 'er coming now. Nice.

Another couple feet, and you guys have got it.

Okay, Tim, just bring it the rest of the way.

All right.

Nice and slow.

Okay.

Good, Tim.

Good job, bud.

Thanks.

[Gary] You know, watching these guys

pull this out of the ditch,

you know, it's a sense of pride for me.

To see them do a job of this magnitude,

and do it so well,

I know the company is in good hands

as the future moves on.

Look at that!

Oh, look at all these berries!

Oh, wow.

It didn't even shift.

I'm not gonna lie, that's very impressive.

This has been a real challenging year,

a learning year for my guys.

The team has done just fantastic this year.

All right, what'd you think, guys?

That was your first really big one.

[Aaron] That was awesome.

Excellent.

Let's wrap this up, guys.

Grab the trailer, grab the tractor,

let's go home. It's been a long day.

[Gary] I've got a new team,

Collin's stepping up every day as a leader.

He's matured so much,

both as a young man and as an operator,

and to watch him be at this level today,

and now taking over the company.

[Collin] This is a huge step for me.

I've made a lot of huge jumps in my career

in the last few years,

and I'm proud of where I've come.

[Narrator] Along the highway

and across the province,

the next generation is eager

to take on a heavier load...

[Gary] I know the future of the industry

is in great hands.

There's a lot of young, great people.

I'm happy, boys.

Can't complain one bit.

Oh, boy!

This is gonna be a big one.

This is Andrew.

[Collin] This industry is a very tough industry,

and it beats you up,

and it takes a toll on you mentally...

-Good job, son. -Thanks, Dad.

[Collin] ...but at the end of the day,

you're helping someone get back up onto the road,

and you're helping someone get to their destination,

and that is something that I am proud of.

Okay, let's open the highway.

[Gary] Life is about developing and doing things for others.

If you can leave your mark on this world

in some way or form,

then that's what it's about...

[Herb Vink] I'm proud of the team effort.

They just get 'er done.

She's out now. She's on the road.

[Gary] ...and I truly believe

that we have been able to do that.

We've helped people

through very different situations...

I'm not usually a hugger, but...

Just glad to see they're okay.

...and I think we have made that mark...

Put one leg up on here.

[Gary] ...that's what this is about,

is being able to be proud of what you've done,

leave that mark on this world,

and march forward.

[honking horn twice]

[♪♪♪]