Original subtitles

This time on Highway Thru Hell...

Unreal.

In the belly of the beast...

Getting really up close and personal.

...Jamie...

Watch out!

...powers through.

Somebody went for a ride.

Aggressive...

I'm so sorry, Bertha!

...sends big iron...

That is a lot more truck than I thought.

...into the backcountry.

Got 'er?

...and Quiring...

It's a bad spot.

...feels the squeeze.

It's getting real tight.

In British Columbia's

Rocky Mountains...

...on the Trans-Canada Highway...

I feel like I'm in the belly of the beast...

...Jamie Davis is entangled

in his second day...

Can you chop it or what?

...of an unrelenting wreck.

Why's it not going?

Two nights ago...

...a fully loaded semi...

...lost the road,

and toppled down the steep bank.

Last night...

There's no way that that is 5,000 pounds.

No way.

...wrong information...

There's way more weight in here

than what they're saying.

...resulted in Jamie's recovery...

Unreal.

I've never seen anything like it.

...becoming bigger than he bargained for...

...and he only left...

Now we drag 'er home, boys.

...with the tractor.

We had a plan,

had it all in line,

we knew what we were going to do,

we had it figured out.

Man, oh, man.

But, you know, we got thrown a curve ball.

What can you do about that?

Today,

they're cutting off the back of the trailer.

Got it?

Yeah.

The main goal here

is just to get the rear section of the trailer out...

I'll hold it.

...and open up a pathway for us to recover the cargo.

With the rear section free...

And we'll put that towards the back end of the trailer.

...Jamie rigs to the trailer's rear wheels,

or bogies,

for the rollover.

We're gonna tie up to the bogies

and get it outta the way.

You ready for the flip-over?

Are we good?

You gotta be real careful.

You're in tight there.

You're in a dangerous situation.

Things could go really, really wrong

really, really fast.

Unreal.

Just east of Revelstoke...

...Jamie

and his 50-tonne...

...are grappling with a torn trailer.

Unreal.

The bogies are on the road...

Okay, let's just unhook it.

The main goal here

is just to get the rear ends out of there...

This part here has to get cut off,

...and then we'll go onto getting the cargo out tomorrow.

...but first,

they'll try to tow the wreckage

back to the yard.

Towing it back,

we don't have to bring a lowbed,

makes it a little more efficient.

Watch out.

Yessir.

All righty.

Even made road ready...

...the bogie's 100-kilometre journey...

I don't know how it'll tow.

...will test Jamie.

I'm worried the unit's too short,

and it'll become a wiggle wagon

and won't be towable.

I'm gonna chain up one axle

and tow it on the second axle,

so that it's a little longer,

and it won't wobble all over the roadway.

It's gotta be able to tow safely.

Can't play around,

it's serious stuff.

I'm just cringin'.

550 kilometres southwest,

on the eastern edge of Harrison Lake...

All right, let's do this.

...Aggressive Towing's

50-tonne rotator...

Harrison East, zero kilometres up.

...and heavy operator Chris Mervyn...

head to an off-road recovery.

I love this side of Harrison,

it's pretty.

In this area,

it's very steep, rugged,

and it is just classic west coast country.

Joining him...

Go have some fun.

...Jaydan Dick.

I haven't done much

for off-road recoveries.

Yeah, this is what I remember about Harrison.

Like Bob Ross.

To reach the wreck...

I'm so sorry, Bertha.

...the rotator needs to make

a 27-kilometre journey...

14 up east Harrison.

...through steep, rugged terrain.

Oh, ho, ho, ho.

Bertha's favourite,

FSR cruising.

We know we are operating

on a very narrow area

of this forest service road,

and that is one of the benefits to a rotator,

is it can just reach over the side and pick things up.

Good news...

100% still here.

This is down, man.

Yeah.

Jesus...

It's a service truck.

I think the guy was out in the logging camp,

couple clicks down the road,

and he just put 'er down there.

Yeah...

No better time than now, Dicky.

We're definitely dealing 40 degrees, it's steep.

Somebody went for a ride.

Somebody went for a rip.

Six hours northeast...

...an unwieldy load

must travel over 100 kilometres...

I'm checking it for wobbling and shaking.

...before Jamie can get it safely off

the Trans-Canada Highway.

I don't want to hear any bashing and crashing.

I want things to be right.

I can see it, it's looking good.

Still though, I don't want to get too, uh, confident here.

You gotta be very cautious.

But his biggest hurdle...

...is coming up.

The only worry I really have ahead here

is the tunnel...

The drive will take Jamie

through Highway 1's low-clearance tunnels.

This area is close to Revelstoke.

They have snow tunnels,

so that if an avalanche comes down,

it doesn't go on the road.

Left unchecked,

overheight loads

can cause significant structural damage.

If anybody hits it,

it would shut everything down,

shut the highway down.

Big problem.

Big fines.

I'm gonna slow down,

and I'm going to stop before the tunnel.

We're gonna reassess everything.

You don't want to take chances with that.

It's either right, or it isn't.

I'm going to recheck this again.

It's pretty serious stuff.

I don't want to be the guy that hits the tunnel.

I wanna make sure

that we're gonna have enough clearance

to get through them.

We're 4.38.

Okay, what does our sign say here?

4.40.

We're just under.

Jamie has only two centimetres to spare.

We're right at the very limit of heights here.

All right, so we're good.

We're gonna have to be careful.

Until we clear the tunnel,

we're on pins and needles.

It's gonna be close.

On the Trans-Canada Highway...

Well, we're .02 under.

...Jamie's 14-foot-tall load...

So I'm just gonna go through here gingerly.

It's close.

...clears the low ceiling.

Really close.

We just-- just made it through.

...but with six more tunnels to go...

Just take it nice and easy.

...Jamie can't lose focus.

I'm pretty sure they're all the same,

but we'll be double checking.

You just gotta go Steady Eddie,

and be slow and cautious.

4.40.

Probably good that I did this job.

I don't want anybody to take the rap

if something goes wrong here.

It's, uh, working out for us,

I'm still going through the tunnels slow.

Easy does it.

We'll persevere, we'll get there.

After 45 minutes...

We just passed the last tunnel,

so we're all good.

...Jamie is on the home stretch--

for today.

Very happy

that we're able to do this in one shot...

...but the nightmare recovery

is far from over.

We'll come back tomorrow for the rest of the trailer.

You gotta be a little nuts

to be in this business.

Six hours southwest in East Harrison...

Somebody went for a ride.

...Jaydan and Merv face a service truck...

Somebody went for a rip, yeah.

...nose down a steep bank.

We're basically hanging

on the edge of the cliff side here, more or less.

An Aggressive flatdeck arrives to help.

Just makes it easy to get it out of the bush.

We're unsure of the amount of damage,

or if it is towable on an underlift or not.

Might just pick it up,

and it'll want to spin on its own,

and then we'll just lay it out behind us.

Let's get it out of here.

With the Rotator,

we can reach out about 24 feet off the side of our trucks.

We don't have to worry about debris, and rocks,

and dirt, and trees,

and all sorts of stuff as we come up this bank.

Lines from the rotator

hooked to chains

will fish the pickup out of the ditch.

Then with the rotator's rear winch line

running from the flatdeck to the pickup,

they'll level the wreck

back on solid ground.

Right there?

We're gonna let Jaydan come up with his own rigging plan.

What he's going to attach to, how he's gonna do it.

One on one side, one on the other.

Definitely feels pretty good,

that he's comfortable with my decisions.

I'll have to reach past ya then boom in.

Hopefully you can reach them cables after.

I was gonna say, I didn't bring my pin puller.

You can't quite reach that or what?

-100%. -Okay here, now?

-Nah. -No?

Uh, sorry, gotta steal your gloves.

Ah, Jaydan, he's doing well for us here.

He's learning.

He likes coming out and playing in the steep banks,

so we make sure you bring him every time.

He's young, he's got the energy to do this.

I'm getting old.

How long do you have those chains, Jaydan?

-Real short? -Real short.

No, no, we need 'em long,

'cause what's gonna happen,

when it rolls over, when it comes up,

it's gonna be on my cables on the tailgate.

I mean, we can try.

We can see what happens.

I'm a gamer.

I'm gonna blame it on you if anybody makes fun of it.

Too late, we're doing it now, boys.

We're gonna let him witness

his own rigging in play here.

Let's see what it does.

How I've rigged it,

it's not the way he would've done it...

...but I'm comfortable with it.

Nice and easy.

There she goes.

That's slick.

The rotator

has to clear all 22 feet of the truck...

That is a lot more truck than I thought.

...before it can be swung onto the road.

We gotta manage to get 'er laid out

behind us here.

Okay, boys.

Grab the nose, and pull it that way,

and then we'll set 'er down.

We got it standing vertical right now.

We want to set it down on four tires,

so my flatdeck operator can load it up...

There ya go.

... and get 'er out of there.

Using the flatdeck as an anchor,

a line from the rotator

will level the pickup.

Okay, hook 'er in.

It's gonna want to roll towards the bank here, too,

so watch yourself.

Merv's masterclass...

Yeah, see that's...

that's where I was saying.

...is back in session...

Now I guarantee you understand why.

Yeah.

...as he shows how Jaydan's short chains

caused the winch lines

to bear the full load of the wreck.

Everything's a learning experience.

De-rig everything, we're done.

You just got to point these things out,

and then, uh, he understands them.

We'll take everything off of it

'cause then he can load it.

This is one of the aspects

of thinking the recovery through in its entirety,

versus just one section.

Slow and steady all the way down, buddy.

But Merv and Jaydan...

Want a Chevy, too?

We can...

...aren't leaving just yet.

There's another pickup further down the bank.

We'll get 'er, bud.

I don't like garbage left in the bush.

It takes away from the beautiful scenery.

So if I come right here,

this one should pick flat.

Not the truck we came up for,

but might as well clean up the environment a little bit.

But being Good Samaritans...

Ow.

...means working in the dark.

You want B Posts?

Yeah, both singled out.

Okay, right there, buddy.

You can't see things around you.

Falling objects in such steep terrain

becomes a danger.

In order to get this ugly eyesore out of there...

...it's worth it.

This vehicle's been in there

for a good couple years.

We're just rigging to the strongest points.

We'll just go from there.

We are all ready.

But recovering a random wreck...

Watch behind ya, buddy.

...comes with its own risks.

There's so much damage...

She's comin'.

...if we can get it up on the road in one piece...

Ooh.

...we'll be laughing.

Ooh-hoo-hoo.

Anybody order a truck?

On a forest service road...

...Merv and Jaydan are going above and beyond...

Yeah-ya!

...to clean up mother nature.

Just an extra step we can take to take care of it.

Whoo-hoo-hoo!

Still got back tires on it?

We might be able to tow this home.

We may be able to. I think it still does.

We're gonna to put 'er on the back of Bertha

and bring 'er back out of the bush.

All right, buddy, de-rig.

It went pretty good, nicely.

Jayden preps the second wreck

to be towed out...

Oh, working with Merv is amazing.

He's a great teacher.

He's always willing to show you different tricks,

and he has been doing it for ages, so he knows...

knows a thing or two.

...and Merv's lessons in the backcountry...

Now we're good.

...are done for the day.

Yeah.

I really enjoy working with Jaydan.

Yeah, Dicky Bird.

All right, let's get home.

I'm hungry.

The next morning,

east of Revelstoke...

All right.

...Jamie is back on scene.

We're on day three of this job here.

For us, the priority is to get the load out of the trailer.

Oh, so there he is now.

He's bringing in

a 28-tonne crane truck

to help with the offload.

The cargo,

it's down a few feet from the highway.

There's a very steep bank.

You can barely even stand up in this trailer.

So what we wanna do

is reload that stuff in your basket,

unload it up here,

create pallets,

and we'll put the bobcat in,

you know, lift 'em into another trailer.

With a 95-foot reach,

it's a vital recovery tool.

This job is just going to take time.

The crane is going to be a lot quicker.

But first...

Okay, that's good.

Good enough.

...Jamie rigs a safety line...

We're just gonna hold it.

...to protect the salvage crew...

We need to make sure

that it doesn't just

slide down the bank further.

Be careful going down there.

...which, today, includes his daughter,

Alexis.

Yeah.

I have never seen a crane like this in my life.

It is the biggest piece of equipment

I've, like, ever been beside.

Here, Alexis,

-just carry one at a time. -Yeah.

Since she was eight years old...

You can do this one.

....Alexis has tagged along on wrecks.

Perfect.

Alexis, look, look.

Pick it up.

I like driving,

to the recovery, to towing it,

everything.

Good job, Alexis.

I'm like "Wow."

When she grabs the controls,

she just knows.

She's a natural.

Proud of you!

I'm gonna give you guys hard helmets.

Here, Alexis, you wear mine.

There's some big risk inside of a trailer, unloading that.

You don't know what's gonna come down on ya.

So we want to be safe.

We have a mixed load.

Lego,

uh, labels,

soap,

TVs.

Yeah.

This is a, front to back, fully loaded trailer.

Isn't 5,000 pounds.

Also back on scene...

Holy mackerel.

....swamper Martin Stefek.

Okay, bring it up!

Okay.

Helping at road level

is Jamie's stepson, Brandon Kodallas.

It's a heavy hat, but it's safe.

So we're at three days straight here,

but you just work until you get the job done,

and today's unload,

so that's what we'll be doing.

But removing a full load...

Okay, that's it, go up!

...on a 45% grade...

Watch out.

...comes with challenges.

Definitely a lot of things to watch out for.

Whenever that cage comes down,

you gotta watch, like, metal flinging back and forth.

The sidewalls of the trailer are not meant to be walked on,

so you're sliding everywhere.

You have to pace yourself with this.

What do you got up there still?

About eight pallets?

On top, loaded more.

You got about a third of a trailer left.

We want to make sure all of this load

is out of here today.

We won't have the crane tomorrow.

With daylight fading...

Okay, let's get at 'er, pitter patter.

...the team needs to hustle.

Once it gets dark,

it becomes a distraction to traffic.

It could cause a secondary accident.

The hazards and the danger triple with nightfall.

It's do or die on the cargo right now.

On the Trans-Canada Highway...

I got two skids coming up!

...the race is on...

Watch yourself!

...to empty out a full load of mixed goods.

Yup, all right.

...but as night falls,

concern for his crew...

I'll go have a look.

...has Jamie reassessing his plan.

It's dark out.

Visibility is a problem.

Accidents can happen.

How's it going?

We almost got it.

It's coming, I know.

With over two thirds of the trailer unloaded...

Let's just finish these boxes here, okay?

Okay.

...Jamie makes the call...

We're just gonna pull out

the rest of these boxes,

and then we're gonna pull it out tomorrow

with some of the load still in it.

I know what it takes to do these jobs,

and I know when to hold 'em, and I know when to fold 'em.

With the arrival of the offload trailer...

Just come right here.

All right.

...Alexis...

Okay, that's it.

...and Martin...

We're good to go.

...can call it a night.

Definitely feel good about today.

We got a lot done.

But even after clocking out...

You're not tired yet?

No.

...Alexis continues to pitch in.

Man, you're my little hero.

You work like the old man.

Yeah, that's why I have your hat on, man.

That's why you got my hat on.

Yeah, that's why my name's Jamie today.

I definitely see me in him, yup.

Yup, I see-- Yup, I do.

...and even big brother Brandon...

We'll get this one figured out.

...is taking notice.

Not only am I proud of Alexis

for being able to do this kind of work physically,

but I'm just genuinely shocked.

The effort level is very impressive.

Have a good night.

Thanks!

The offload complete...

This is gonna be the last one, Bran, eh?

Nice.

...marks the end of day three.

Everybody really worked hard today.

We're gonna come back tomorrow and, um, pull the trailer up.

I'm outta here.

I need my pillow and a blanket.

550 kilometres southwest...

....in the Fraser Valley...

...a 50-tonne Vulcan wrecker is on the move

with Al Quiring.

Well, we're just heading back out on the highway

for, uh...

for an incident that happened earlier in, uh, the daytime.

Hours earlier...

...a dump truck left the road,

and its trailer flipped over,

spilling its load,

backing up traffic for kilometres.

It takes a matter of seconds

to back up our highway corridor

on the Trans-Canada.

So we had to make a choice,

disconnect the truck...

...Separate everything quickly,

and just clear the scene

to hopefully get traffic flowing again.

We're gonna deal with the trailer this evening,

now that the roads are clear.

Okay, let's roll.

Returning tonight...

...Al's sent a crew ahead

to prepare the trailer.

Because this truck is in the median,

I've sent out a mini excavator

to empty the trailer out,

so it'll be a simple recovery.

To help with the rollover,

his son, Cary, follows

in his 20-tonne wrecker.

I got Cary coming out with a little tow truck there.

He's gonna hook onto the front of it

and tow it away for me once I rip it out.

But working at night,

next to the live lane

is a constant concern.

Being in the fast lane is a pretty dangerous place.

It's only a 100K zone...

...but still, people in the evening,

not really paying attention.

Perfect timing.

Cary rolls into the scene...

All righty.

...and quickly gets to work.

It's very challenging at night

to be working out on the highways.

There's lots of dangers, hidden dangers.

...and these days,

the stakes are exceptionally high

for the Quirings.

Last summer,

Cary and his wife, Sarah,

welcomed their son, Tanner.

Got 'er?

Every day in North America,

tow truck guys get hurt on the side of the road,

and I don't want to have my son,

I don't want to have my family,

I don't want to have my workers

in any situation like that.

Being a dad,

my goal every day is to come home alive.

It's a bad spot there.

On Highway 1...

...the Quirings must work beside a live lane...

Got 'er?

...to upright a tipped trailer...

We're hooking it up

so when we do flip it over,

this doesn't catapult into something or someone.

Cary, he'll be in control

and hold that front bogie system,

as I upright the trailer,

and drag that onto the road.

Go right up over the tire there.

...but in tight quarters,

Al is relying on every tool he has.

Having the side-pull

on the truck that I operate,

it greatly benefits your recovery ability,

especially when you're in a live lane.

For new father Cary...

Should I put my spade down?

...and Grandad Al...

No, just let your truck roll ahead,

just make sure you don't go in the ditch though.

...every minute counts.

Our Trans-Canada,

in this part of the province,

is not very wide.

Ah, let's pull it out.

So head on a swivel,

keep your eyes on traffic,

because it's a dangerous place to operate out there.

Oh yeah.

Gently laid over...

Go forward.

...the trailer must be pulled onto pavement...

...but between his wrecker,

and the wreck...

Getting real tight.

...Al's feeling the squeeze.

Sometimes, it does get a little squishy...

There's risk.

Good, good.

...but I like to be in the action, too.

Barely 25 minutes after they arrived...

Good enough.

...the trailer's good to go.

-Ready? -Yeah.

All right.

You need to have your plan laid out.

I like to be Seal Team Six.

That's the way my dad, that's the way my grandpa,

that's the way my uncles taught me.

It went good.

Yeah, it went perfect.

Working with my dad,

well, I always look forward to it.

It's a bonding time.

All right, we're rolling.

I want that situation

to be as safe as possible for everybody around.

I've got a responsibility

not only to Cary and Sarah,

but, you know, Tanner as well,

and, hopefully, future grandchildren,

you can quote me on that.

Six hours northeast...

The final piece of the puzzle.

Four-day wreck,

doesn't happen often.

It just... pushes you to the max.

...Jamie Davis' new 50-tonne HR100...

This job's been long.

...heads back to the big recovery.

Four days ago...

...the fully loaded semi

lost the road...

...and toppled down the steep bank.

Also back to finish the job...

...Brandon...

Time to push through,

and get the last bit done.

...and Alexis.

Day... I don't even know.

I'm pretty driven to do it

because I've seen my father do it,

like, my whole life,

and he hasn't quit.

Bringing in 30-tonne HR130

for the big pull...

There's Rockin' Rob.

Ready to give 'er.

...operator Rob Wall.

It'll be a relief when this gets back to the yard tonight.

Yeah, that's good.

Let me bring the cable.

We need the big straps over the trailer.

We'll put two around it,

and we'll try to basket it.

The reason we're using the straps on the back

is because there is nothing to hook onto.

Yeah, bring that one down,

and we'll go right around the whole back.

Here's the shackle for that guy.

The straps are wrapped around...

Here's a thing to pull it.

...what's left of the destroyed trailer.

We're just doing whatever we can...

to get it rigged up for recovery.

You getting it through?

I got it...

Pull it.

With lines from the 30-tonne to straps,

and the 50-tonne at the front,

they'll drag the unit

back on to the road.

I want to make sure this thing's gonna come out

and come out smoothly.

You got it?

Okay.

Arriving to watch their final move

is Jamie's wife and business partner, Sherry.

My family's out here,

so I'm hanging out with everybody.

Okay, everybody out.

But with 8,000 pounds remaining

inside the destroyed trailer...

Okay!

...the pull...

Holy, man.

...is still a fight.

Get it moving.

We're hoping that the trailer stays together.

Keep going, keep going.

The more pieces that break off means more work.

Keep coming.

Almost there.

And after four days of a job that consumes you

and everything around you...

Well, it's up and on the road.

...you just want to get this done

and you want to move on with life.

I'll get out of the way.

A specialized lowbed arrives for the wreckage...

What do you think about pulling on something?

...but dragging the mangled unit

onto the tilting trailer...

Well, there's-- the only thing we could pull is on here.

...comes with new challenges.

Look right here though.

Where?

There's a pretty big spot right there.

It's thin, light material.

We don't have a lot to work with here.

We'll get three 3/8ths chains

and do three points.

If we can get two or three places to hook to,

we might have a chance--

without it breaking apart.

Hey, Alexis!

Need a hand!

Everyone's pitching in.

Basically, the job is "don't stop."

That's the job, just keep working.

Just hang onto it,

and pull it.

She's there right to the very end,

right through the nitty gritty to see it done.

Okay, let's see what it does.

Okay, we good?

Yeah, just try pulling a bit.

Yeah, let's pull.

Stand back there, Rob.

You never know.

Watch yourself.

-She not going? -Hold it. All stop.

Okay, suck it up!

On the Trans-Canada Highway...

Okay, slow down a bit. Slow down.

She not going?

...the last pull...

Hold it. All stop.

...of Jamie's four-day recovery...

Let me see.

...has hit a snag.

The winch... it'll pull a certain amount...

Yeah, that's working.

...but the trailer needs a bit of finessing here

to make this work.

Determined to make this the final push...

Maybe go to the back end with a skid steer.

Yeah, I'll try a little bit.

...they bring in the onsite skid steer.

Yeah.

The trailer,

it's got some weight in it,

so the Bobcat can give us a hand

pushing on the back to make this happen.

Careful, Rob!

That way.

Just gentle, gentle though.

Gentle.

Yeah, that's working.

The last thing we need is this thing falling apart.

With a final push...

It's actually coming up good.

Yeah.

...the mangled unit

makes its way onto the tilting trailer.

There we go.

Nice.

A little more.

After four exhausting days...

I think it's pretty good.

...the wreck is finally out of the ditch.

Perfect.

It's coming together.

We've got a little bit of stuff to load,

and then we're all good.

Basically, today I'm working so hard

because I got places to be tonight.

Looking forward to a night off?

-Yeah. -Huh?

-You've got a date? -Yeah.

Are you kidding me?

What do you mean a date?

I don't even know you have a boyfriend.

Who is it, that guy?

-Yeah. -Same guy?

Yeah.

She's worked 12 hours,

and she's still got enough energy

to go chase a boyfriend.

Like, what?

Huh.

I checked him out, he's okay.

Four-day wreck, doesn't happen often...

Ratchet up.

It takes lot of work, lots of people...

Now you're good, just tie it up.

Yeehaw!

...but we got it done.

It's a win for the whole family.

It was a family effort going on here

to get this thing done.

That's good.

She's good to go.

Everybody worked really hard.

It's nice to have the family all work together.

And Jamie's newest wrecker...

I love this truck!

...comes out on top.

Whew...

You know, we're on to better things.

Heading into the winter,

there's a lot of energy around.

Everybody is in a good mood,

and they're gung ho.

The kids wanna get out there and work.

That's it, we're outta here.

You've gotta get out there and get it done.

You just don't give up.

Next time on Highway Thru Hell...

...over the edge...

...with team MSA.

How are we gonna get this outta the way?

Extreme grades...

It's just too steep.

...an uphill battle...

...and a logjam...

This is gonna be a big pull.

...of trouble.

Hey, hey! You're rolling over.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!