[Narrator] This time on Highway Thru Hell...
[John] Incoming!
[Narrator] ...a near miss...
Whoa, buddy.
[Narrator] ...has Reliable under pressure.
Hold up! Hold up!
[Narrator] Jamie's new iron...
[Jamie] Get ready to run.
[Narrator] ...helping the competition.
[Cary] Yes, sir.
[Narrator] And team MSA...
[Kirpal] Gurk, boom up, boom up.
[Narrator] ...face an emergency.
- [siren wailing] - That ambulance is here!
What's the traffic like going in?
Well, you can only go as fast as the guys in front of you.
[Narrator] In Western Canada...
This stretch of road is like running a gauntlet this morning.
[Narrator] ...Highway 1 runs deep...
Be advised, we've got another slowdown.
[Narrator] ...through the mountains
of southeast British Columbia.
In one of the few open areas of the mountain pass
lies Three Valley Gap.
He went in there gangbusters and lost it.
Must have been a little rough ride.
[Narrator] 465 kilometres from home in Abbotsford,
MSA's 50-tonne heavy, Lion,
heads to the scene...
[Gurkirat Banwait] We got a call
for a loaded tractor-trailer in the ditch.
[Narrator] At the wheel,
the youngest of the Banwait family,
Gurkirat or "Gurk",
with his brother Gursimran or "Sim".
[Gurk] We know that the wreck is in a wetland,
so we're not sure exactly what that means.
So that may be a challenge.
[Gurk] My dad's in the Moose.
[Narrator] Their father, Kirpal,
and swamper Kuljit Kang
follow in the 35-tonne.
[Kirpal] We're buying more equipment
to keep the boys busy,
and, um, get the business going.
[Gurk] Our new hire, Amar, he's in our tandem bed.
We'll know in a little bit what we're up against.
There's a tow truck on scene.
[Sim] That's pretty bad.
[Narrator] The MSA team gathers at a pullout
just down the narrow road.
[Gurk] We'll walk down there first, take a look,
'cause they're gonna have to shut a lane down anyways, right?
[Narrator] Two days ago,
the semi lost control,
hurtling down the steep embankment,
slamming onto its side in a marsh.
[Kirpal] There is the water.
If this trailer is sitting in the water,
it's going to be bad...
Let's see.
...'cause it's going to be full with the water.
[Narrator] But taking a closer look...
[Kirpal] Oh, yeah.
[Narrator] ...reveals...
[Kirpal] That's all diesel here.
[Narrator] ...a bigger problem...
[Gurk] You can smell that diesel, eh?
[Kirpal and Kuljit] Yeah.
[Narrator] ...there's diesel in the air.
[Kirpal whistling]
Oh boy.
Yeah, it's nasty.
[engine starting]
[♪]
[horns blare, engines roar past]
Whoa, some guy went off the road here.
[Narrator] 35 kilometres west of Revelstoke...
[Gurk] We have a gap on both corners here,
that's perfect.
[Narrator] ...Team MSA is ready to rig...
[Gurk] We'll be able to get our straps in
and do our initial pick.
[Narrator] ...but a spill will require clearance.
Yeah, we've just got more diesel here
than we had initially anticipated.
[Narrator] Minutes later...
[Sim] The way it's sitting right now,
it's all just puddled up in one spot.
[Narrator] ...an environmental emergency response officer...
[Gurk] Come right here, yeah,
there's already a path going down.
[Narrator] ...is on site.
[Gurk] Five litres or 500 litres,
if it's a diesel spill, it's a diesel spill.
You have to report it.
[Sim] It doesn't look like it's spread anywhere.
[Kirpal] No diesel, nothing in the back there.
[Gurk] The truck couldn't have settled in a better way.
[Narrator] With the diesel confined to a small area...
[Gurk] They want us to recover the truck first,
then they'll start the remediation process.
[Kirpal] Okay.
[Narrator] ...they get the green light to begin.
[Gurk] We'll get our trucks pulled through,
and we'll get this show on the road.
Because the diesel is confined to a small area,
we're gonna recover the wreck, get it out of the ditch,
and then we'll deal with the diesel after the fact.
We've got more than enough muscle, we'll be good.
We're going to try our best to work quick.
Tow trucks getting ready.
[Gurk] It's a single lane both ways.
That stretch of the highway is very crucial.
There's no detour anywhere near there.
Tow trucks on scene.
Slow and steady, man, we're gettin' 'er done.
[Narrator] 250 kilometres west...
10-4.
[Narrator] ...on Highway 5...
[John Dods] We're about five minutes out.
[Narrator] ...Reliable Towing's 35-tonne Elsa is on the move
with operator John Dods.
We got a call for a rolled-over reefer trailer.
Comin' to a stop.
It's a load of groceries and sushi.
[Narrator] A reefer truck is broken in half
deep in the ditch.
The truck and trailer are completely destroyed,
half the wall is split open.
[Narrator] With the unload crew nearly finished...
[John] Yeah, so we got two skids left in there
that still have some weight on it,
so I'm just waiting
for the medium-duty wrecker to get here.
[Narrator] ...A 16-tonne arrives
with Reliable's Jesse Maunu.
[John] I might have you on this end.
This is a nasty one.
Start swinging this that way...
It's definitely a big job without a 50-tonne.
...and then yard it up the hill on its side...
Okay.
...so that it slides on the snow.
We're working up about a 50-foot drop,
and, uh, we're going to be fighting snow and the hill
the whole way up.
Duane's here.
We got a tandem deck now to help out.
We got a bunch of light-duty guys
helping out in the heavy division today.
[Narrator] Reliable operator Duane Smith rounds out the team
with a deck truck.
[John] We're going to try to land it
between all the trucks.
Today's going to be a bit of a learning experience.
- There. - [Jesse] There we go.
[Suki Manj] John Dods is a unique character.
He's a hard worker,
he needs minimal supervision,
and knows his way around a tow truck.
I gotta separate them.
[Duane] Okay.
There's no way it'll come up together, so...
[Duane] No doubt.
[Suki] I'm confident
that he's gonna be able to help the others
that don't have as much experience
and are learning on these big wrecks.
[Connor] Whoa.
Run this one down to that front axle,
we'll bring the other one to the trailer.
We'll try to swing the tractor like this
while we pull up on the trailer.
[Connor] Okay.
We're gonna run this one over
and that one to the back.
We're gonna separate the tractor if we can.
The fifth wheel plate's pretty twisted,
but we're going to see what we can do.
- [Laine] No snatch block? - [John] No snatch block.
[Jesse] What's gonna be tough about this one
is getting the truck detached from the trailer.
[Narrator] Merritt manager Laine Pare
is also on scene.
[Laine] He should just give it a try right now,
and see if we could separate.
It's very important to support each other
out on the road.
[John] Great, tighten 'er up.
[Narrator] John's 35-tonne works the tractor...
[Jesse] I think I'm good where I'm at now.
[Narrator] ...as Jesse's 16-tonne...
[Jesse] Try to straighten it out.
[Narrator] ...and Duane's flatdeck...
[Duane] We gotta give John-boy all the help he needs.
[Narrator] ...pull on the trailer's bogies.
[John] It's my first time really getting out there
with a bunch of new guys,
and trying to show them how to do it.
[Duane] You're comin' up way high.
- [John] I know. - [Duane] Okay.
[Jesse] I'm gonna be learning a lot from him...
Heads up.
...and we're gonna work together here
and get this done.
[Duane] Oh, he's moving it.
[Narrator] Under John's coordination...
[Jesse] How's that?
[Narrator] ...the three wreckers...
[Duane] There you go.
[John] That's good.
[Narrator] ...pull the units apart.
Gotta love that!
We're under pressure to get this thing off the road.
We've still got quite a bit of work
ahead of us here.
Fingers crossed.
[Narrator] Two and a half hours east,
traffic in Three Valley Gap...
They're alternating traffic.
[Narrator] ...squeezes by team MSA.
Slow and steady.
[Gurk] Given that the trailer is hauling mail,
we're not allowed to offload it without the proper authorities.
We're just gonna flip it and recover it as-is...
[Narrator] Kirpal's youngest son, Gurk...
...without doing any damage.
[Narrator] ...takes command...
[Sim] Do you want to pull those straps out right now?
[Gurk] Yeah.
His boots are all soaked,
so he's gotta put the waders on.
[Narrator] ...with Kuljit swamping.
[Gurk] Okay, Kuljit, I'm gonna go down.
[Kuljit] Yeah.
[Kirpal] Gurk is good leader...
Ladder, ladder!
[Kirpal] ...but sometimes,
he's just a little bit too bossy.
Go!
[grunting]
Okay, Kuljit,
take this strap,
and feed it underneath that corner there.
[Gurk] Crossing our straps
allows us to evenly distribute our weight
all the way through the trailer...
Make sure it's seated properly.
...without causing any more damage.
[Narrator] With the trailer's wall
bearing the weight of the load,
the 50-tonne will take on the front,
the 35-tonne will cross over for the rear,
while also using its side puller
on the tractor's drives,
with the deck truck pulling on the nose.
[Gurk] Tighten it up just a bit!
Should we do this?
[Kirpal] Gurkirat, go!
[Narrator] Forced to recover the trailer loaded...
[Kirpal] Go up, Amar, go!
[Gurk] Sim, let me catch up a bit!
[Narrator] ...they start to roll it...
[Gurk] Sim!
Tighten up your high line a bit.
[Narrator] ...safely out of the water...
This was the easy part.
Getting the trailer upright without damaging it.
Now we gotta get it out without damaging it.
Yep.
[Narrator] ...but without their lines...
[Gurk] Keep tension.
[Narrator] ...the wreck could easily topple back over
at any moment.
[Gurk] That's good there, I think.
[Kirpal] That's it.
[Gurk] We're at a kind of a vulnerable stage
in the recovery right now,
'cause this bank is very steep.
The last thing we want is this trailer to go back over.
They couldn't have picked a worse spot.
Looks like a bunch of activity going on in there.
[Narrator] At Three Valley Gap...
Yeah, one lane open, trying to pick a truck in the ditch.
[Narrator] ...MSA holds a wreck from toppling back over...
[Gurk] I think it might be better
to get my truck in the front now.
[Narrator] ...but they need to reposition their wreckers...
[Sim] Okay, I don't think
I'm going to be able to let go of my top line.
[Narrator] ...to pull the semi up the bank.
[Gurk] Well, we're gonna have to shut down
both lanes then.
[Sim] We've got it up nice and smooth,
so now we're going to reposition some of the trucks
and get it back onto the road.
[Narrator] Two days ago,
the semi lost control...
...and landed in the marsh.
[Gurk] We're gonna need to shut the highway down.
[Narrator] Now...
Okay, we're shutting it down.
[Narrator] ...they need a complete closure
of Highway 1.
[Gurk] We don't want to shut the highway down,
but it's really the only way to do it at the moment.
[Narrator] With traffic stopped...
I'm holding on my end.
[Narrator] ...the 50-tonne repositions at the rear.
[Gurk] So, I've backed in, I've turned my truck around
so that we can get the Moose free...
The whole road is shut down here.
...and once I've got all the weight
on the 50-tonne here,
we're gonna get that highline off of the Moose,
and we're gonna get all the tension
on the highline of the 50.
Let this line out, Ro.
Okay, Ro, that's good for now.
[Narrator] But as the big 50-tonne
takes the weight...
[Gurk] You're not gonna get more snug than that.
[Narrator] ...traffic is backing up...
We have a time limit.
[Narrator] ...and the clock is ticking.
Clean up the mess, let's get going.
Big truck on its side.
[Narrator] An hour north of Merritt,
on Highway 5...
Lights are on, tow trucks up there.
[Narrator] ...Reliable wrestles
with a destroyed trailer.
Pull that way, we got a hold tighter on it.
[Narrator] Working with smaller wreckers...
[John] I'm gonna do a high and a low
off that front end
just to have more control.
[Narrator] ...and a crew new to heavy recovery...
[swamper] Hey, I'm still learning
every day of my life.
If you ain't learnin', you might as well get dyin'.
[Narrator] John's team...
...starts dragging the wreck up to the road...
[John] Pretty close.
It's coming up nice now.
[Narrator] ...but as they reach the shoulder...
[Laine] Hey, watch out behind you, boys!
[Narrator] ...they're up against a live lane.
[John] Yeah, he just needs to hold it long enough
for me to get my ass over more.
[Narrator] Jesse's 16-tonne
squeezes in to take the weight...
[Duane] Can't quit now.
[John] We're at the spot.
We're at that spot, can't quit.
Get 'er up here.
[John] I'm going to get out of the way here.
[Narrator] Now Elsa can make room...
[John] Will definitely fight us.
[Narrator] ...for the arrival of a tilting trailer.
We've got about an hour left to be off the road.
[Narrator] As darkness falls,
their window to finish the recovery
is closing...
[John] We're at the point
where we just got to get this thing pulled up
onto the trailer.
[Narrator] ...but the wreck may not handle another pull.
It's definitely not in good shape.
Right now my biggest concern
would be just the structure is gone completely.
That's a hell of a park job.
Both lanes are blocked, everyone's stopped.
[Narrator] 30 minutes west of Revelstoke...
[Sim] As far forward as possible.
[Narrator] ...Highway 1 is shut down...
They're just trying to clear the highway, so hang out.
[Narrator] ...while MSA
quickly repositions for their next pull.
[Gurk] Okay, get me hooked up in the front now.
We're gonna get the Moose on the front end of the truck,
the 50 on the back end of the trailer,
and the 40TB kind of in the middle.
[Kirpal] It'll jackknife, then it'll come.
[Narrator] With lines from the 35-tonne
pulling the tractor,
the deck truck on the drives,
and the 50-tonne pulling the trailer,
they'll jackknife the semi
to haul it up the bank onto the road.
[Gurk] Because most of the weight in the trailer
is at the front,
we're able to jackknife the tractor,
and essentially make a 90-degree angle
with the tractor and the trailer.
It's going good.
Even if we were to let go,
it's not gonna go anywhere.
[Kirpal] That's it.
[Gurk] Oh yeah.
[ambulance siren wailing]
I'm pretty sure the road's closed in front of you there.
[Narrator] But as the jackknife pull
starts showing progress...
Got an ambulance running hot on Highway 1.
How far is that ambulance, man?
[Narrator] ...word comes of an approaching ambulance.
The pressure is on.
We don't wanna hold the ambulance.
Go, boom up, boom up.
[Narrator] Just as the wreck crests the road...
That ambulance...
he's coming up on you pretty hard here, buddy.
[wailing siren approaching]
Yo! That ambulance is here!
This recovery is important,
but somebody's life is in danger.
Slide your thing over if you can.
Kuljit, take that line off!
[Kirpal] It doesn't matter what,
we have to get this ambulance through.
Hey, Kuljit!
Drop it, drop it, drop it, drop it!
We have no choice.
[Gurk] Got it?
[Kirpal] Boom down, boom down, boom down!
Boom down!
- [Kirpal] Boom in. - [siren wailing]
[Narrator] On Highway 1...
[Kuljit] Yo, hurry up.
[Narrator] ...with their recovery...
[Kuljit] Wait, wait!
[Narrator] ...perched on the precipice...
[Kirpal] Oh, my God.
[Gurk] Yeah, you can come up though.
You can come creep up right here.
[Narrator] ...MSA must pause...
- [Sim] Kuljit, back me up here. - [Kuljit] Yeah.
[Narrator] ...to make way for an ambulance.
[Gurk] Thank you, have a safe night.
Now that the first responders
have passed through the recovery scene,
it's time to get our trucks back positioned.
Take this line, I'll do this line.
Yeah.
[Narrator] They re-attach their lines to the wreck...
[grunting] Come on...
Come on.
[exhaling]
[Narrator] ...as traffic is backing up.
[Gurk] We have a lot of people waiting on us
in both directions,
and they can't go anywhere until we open the highway.
Okay, watch your face.
[Kuljit] Yeah, give 'er.
[Gurk] Give 'er! Give 'er, give 'er, give 'er!
The Moose and deck truck are pulling the tractor.
We're there.
It's working, we're almost there.
We're gonna get this thing out.
[Gurk] Kuljit, how's she lookin'?
- [Kuljit] She's good! - [Gurk] Give 'er!
In recovery work, there's always pressure.
[Gurk] Hold it!
You gotta get it out of there as quick as possible.
It's sitting perfectly on the asphalt.
[Narrator] With traffic still stopped...
Any idea how long it's gonna be down?
[Narrator] ...and their 15-minute closure window done...
Should be clear shortly, hopefully.
[Narrator] ...they work quickly to open a lane.
[Sim] Just drop it.
Let me move my truck forward.
[Narrator] Sim will use Moose...
[Sim] Okay, hook one of my lines up.
I'm just gonna drag this thing.
[Gurk] Tell him to drive.
[Narrator] ...to drag the rest of the wreck
onto the road.
[horn honking]
[Gurk] I say just unhook the tractor right here.
[Kirpal] Okay, sure.
[Gurk] Get this one lane open for alternating traffic,
and we're gonna hook up and get outta here.
[Narrator] MSA clears the far lane,
and traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway...
[Kuljit] They're backing it up.
Oh, we're moving now up here.
[Narrator] ...is finally rolling again.
[Sim] The wreck is out,
we have a proper environmental team lined up
to come clean up the fuel spill.
[Kuljit] Go up...
Stop.
[Gurk] Like I said,
we'll be home in time for dinner tomorrow,
not tonight.
[laughing]
[Kirpal] It was tough job,
and it was dirty,
but we did it.
At the end of the day, we got the job done,
so everybody's happy.
[Gurk] Teamwork makes the dream work.
[Kirpal] Yeah.
They're getting ready to go here.
Well, you guys have a good night.
10-4, thank you.
There are still crews working on the highway.
[Narrator] High on the Coquihalla...
Slow 'er down.
[Narrator] ...north of Merritt...
[John] Hook your lines to it,
and we'll start sucking it while I pull it over.
[Narrator] ...Team Reliable
must winch a demolished wreck
onto a tilting trailer.
[John] All right, here we go!
While they're pulling it up with the winch,
I'm just keeping it straight on the trailer
and helping it go up a little bit better.
[Duane] Keep 'er going!
[Narrator] ...but the frame...
[grinding]
...is biting...
[Laine] Digging into the trailer.
[John] Quite a bit of load still on the front.
We're fighting it a bit.
[Narrator] ...and the trailer's winch
is struggling.
They don't have a huge winch on it...
[Narrator] John moves in to lift the corner.
[John] So we're just going
to have to assist it a little bit with the 35-tonne,
and see if we can't get it up.
I'm just gonna hook another truck to the back
now that I'm up front lifting it.
[Laine] Okay.
[Narrator] Jesse moves in to secure the wreck
with the 16-tonne.
[Jesse] It's not too heavy,
but it's quite a mess.
[Laine] All right, here we go.
[Narrator] They pull again...
[Duane] Just a little bit, though, at a time, right?
[Narrator] ...and the wreck
inches onto the titling trailer.
[John] Okay, how's that side looking?
[Laine] We're doing okay.
We got an accident here, slow 'er down.
[Narrator] To speed the process up...
[John] Okay, let me unhook...
[Laine] Yeah.
[John] ...and move to the front,
'cause I can drag the front.
[Narrator] ...John will try a new tactic.
I'm going to hook a line up,
and try to drag backwards
while he's winching the trailer forwards.
[Narrator] He'll pull the tilting trailer
under the wreck.
It's not something I've ever done.
In this situation,
the winch just isn't cutting it,
so we've got to do what we got to do.
[Jesse] Try now?
[crunching]
[Narrator] But the wreck...
[John] Hold up, hold up!
We just split.
Hold on!
[Narrator] ...is at its breaking point.
[John] We're gonna rip the floor right here
in half.
It's definitely not in good shape.
Okay, suck on it a little bit.
[Duane] He's ripping the wheels out of it.
[John] Watch yourself!
[Narrator] On Highway 5...
[John] What's going on, buddy?
[Narrator] ...Reliable's recovery is coming apart...
[Duane] He's ripping the wheels out of it.
[Narrator] ...but it's all part...
[John] I know.
[Narrator] ...of John's plan.
[John] Gotta love that.
All right, we'll just take a saw in here
and we'll get rid of all these lines.
[Duane] Okay.
[starting motor]
[John] In this situation,
the trailer was already a write-off anyways.
We're just going to rip the bogies
right out the bottom end of the floor,
tow them back separate,
and it'll be a lot safer.
Looks good to me.
[Jesse] It's a pretty big learning curve.
There's a couple techniques we learned today
that I probably wouldn't have learned anywhere else.
[Narrator] With the bogies cut free...
[Laine] I'm gonna get it ready for transport here.
[Narrator] ...Laine preps the trailer.
[Laine] Well, we're just going to, uh,
take it down to the next exit,
and clean it up,
and get it ready to get back to our home base.
[John] The longer we're in a lane,
the longer we're hazards
to other drivers on the road as well.
I'm just gonna flop it and tow it back.
[Narrator] Using the 16-tonne...
[Jesse] Where do you want me?
[John] We're gonna hook you on the front axle!
[Narrator] ...and Elsa on the rear...
[John] Okay, load 'er up!
[Narrator] ...inches from a live lane...
[truck horn honking]
[John] Okay, let it off!
Okay, everybody, watch your heads!
[Narrator] ...John...
...rolls the bogies.
[John] Okay, hook it up!
Get it outta here.
[Jesse] Just watch behind you.
[Laine] I'm always concerned,
working next to a live lane.
I really wish people would get the fact
that, you know, we're just trying to do a job...
...and get the road back open.
- [John] Incoming! - [truck horn blaring]
Accident almost happened right beside us.
Oh, my God.
[Narrator] John's seen enough...
It's just time to get this thing loaded
and get gone.
[Narrator] ...and pulls his team...
[John] If you're loaded, get outta here.
[Laine] Thanks, boys.
[Narrator] ...for the night.
[John] Yeah, you're perfect, buddy.
Hard part is over at least.
Tractor, we're gonna have to come back for tomorrow.
Pretty good towing.
[Narrator] The next day...
[train horn blasting]
[Narrator] ...300 kilometres southwest
in the Fraser Valley...
[Cary Quiring] Today, my dad wanted a day off from towing.
[Narrator] ...Quiring Towing's Big Green is on the move...
[Cary] He told me to take his wrecker,
we've got a small project.
[Narrator] ...but it's Al's son, Cary Quiring,
behind the wheel.
Not every day is a tow day.
It's been very sporadic,
so we do get creative
with the work that we are finding.
[Narrator] Today's job
brings him to a surprising location in Hope...
[Jamie Davis] Looks like he's driving Al's truck today.
[Narrator] ...as Cary arrives at the Jamie Davis yard.
[Jamie] Today, we have a small job
helping take a cement drum
off of a truck that he has to tow.
[Narrator] The concrete truck took significant damage
when the driver rolled it.
[Cary] How are you doing?
Good, man.
Good. Nice to see you.
Our families have been competition since birth.
[Narrator] Competitors for decades...
These three bolts on both sides.
Okay.
[Narrator] ...today is a team-up
between the two legendary towing families.
[Cary] Can't recall a job
I've actually worked alongside with Jamie...
- Take that hydraulic tank off. - Mm-hmm.
...and here he is helping me to help my customer.
It's going to be a good day.
Okay.
[Jamie] We just help each other out,
and it's a good, positive environment.
[Narrator] Cary will disconnect the drum...
[Cary] And we'll just wrap a chain somehow.
I've got big straps.
[Narrator] ...which is filled with hardened cement.
[Cary] I'm going by how...
Dad's got a diagram on the tow truck.
Oh, does he? [chuckling]
Yeah.
[Jamie] We estimate the weight of that
to be around 55,000 pounds.
The hardest part is getting outta that hopper.
Is it?
[Narrator] It takes a special machine
to lift a load this heavy.
It's a pretty big weight there, 55,000 pounds,
so it's not a light load what's going on there.
[garage door opening]
[Narrator] Jamie's rolling out his newest secret weapon...
...a Kershaw railway wrecker
he's named "Chromeo".
[Jamie] In the last few years,
I've been buying older railway wreckers.
If you put a railway wrecker beside a rotator,
they just out-lift and out-work the rotator
every day of the week.
[Narrator] Today,
Jamie's newest iron
will be put to the test.
[Jamie] I don't think
I've lifted a cement drum loaded before,
so this is a first for me
and, and it's a first for Chromeo.
If it works, it works.
If it don't,
well, you got egg on your face.
[Narrator] In Hope,
Jamie positions his newest railway wrecker.
[air hissing]
[Cary] It looks good, though, Jamie!
[Jamie] It's a pretty-looking crane,
so we call it "Chromeo".
- [Cary] Chromeo? - Yeah.
[honking horn]
[Narrator] Chromeo is Jamie's second railway wrecker...
[chuckling] He needs a paint job.
[Narrator] Last season,
he added Crusty
and its 125-tonne lift capacity
to his fleet.
[Jamie] Go down.
Okay!
I guess we're good to go.
[Narrator] Chromeo is even more powerful
with a capacity of 130 tonnes.
[James] This machine's pretty cool.
[Narrator] Even Jamie's son, James,
has come out to help with the inaugural job.
It's got a high-lifting capacity,
probably the highest we have,
so it's good to test it out.
[Narrator] Lifting the 55,000-pound cement drum
will be its first test.
Chromeo can lift 130 tonnes
or 260,000 pounds.
So get, uh, this off for this side?
Really is the perfect job for Chromeo.
[Narrator] But first,
they need to balance the machine.
Little one's here, big one's on that end.
[Narrator] Jamie's newest hire,
Maxime Chamberlain Normand,
is also training on Chromeo.
[Maxime] It is the best place.
[Jamie] One pad on this side, one pad on that side.
If I can do the job here, I can do it everywhere else.
We just have to balance it a little.
[Narrator] They raise the crane...
[Jamie] We've gotta make sure we get it really close to level.
[Narrator] ...and level the legs for stability.
[Jamie] Yeah, right there.
Okay, let's shoot 'er down.
So I got the three bolts off.
[Narrator] With the drum detached...
[Jamie] On the hook, James.
[Narrator] ...they rig straps for the lift.
[James] Okay.
[Jamie] This is like a big egg.
You know, the challenges really are
to try to find the right lifting points.
[Cary] Then we'll pass you this through, James.
Can you reach?
Pull it through.
[Narrator] Each strap has a capacity
of 80,000 pounds.
Okay, pull the slack.
Rigging has to be just right to make this happen
and to make it safe.
Okay.
[James] Yeah, we're ready.
[Jamie] Good to go?
[Cary] Yeah.
Lift off, Jamie.
You looking okay?
[Jamie] It's a bunch of weight.
[Cary] Yes, sir.
Nice.
[Narrator] With the slippery 55,000-pound drum
suspended 20 feet in the air...
- [Cary] Stand right here... - [James] Okay.
...and just make sure I don't hit that, okay?
All right.
And just look in my mirror.
[Narrator] ...Cary uses Big Green...
[Jamie] Get ready to run.
[Narrator] ...to move the cement truck...
[engine starting]
[Narrator] ...out from underneath.
Stand back, James.
I'm feeling my oats right now,
you know, like, I'm feeling pretty positive.
[Cary] Go down?
[Jamie] Once I'm lowering that down,
and we're putting it down on the dunnage,
it's like, yeah, this is a good machine.
[Cary] It went, uh, as planned.
With Chromeo here, and, uh, Super James.
Jamie is grinning ear to ear.
You know, I don't blame him.
Jamie's always loved his toys.
If you can get it up all the way, and latch it even.
[Narrator] The last task
is getting the truck ready to be towed.
[Cary] Beautiful.
You know, he's seen me grow up.
It's nice to have that-- that friendship.
Yes, at the end of the day, we are competitors, but...
I appreciate Jamie's help.
[Narrator] Cary will come back for the drum another day.
[Jamie] All right, you're good to go?
Yeah, thank you, Jamie.
Yeah, no problem. I'll click the gate for you.
[Cary] Yeah.
[Narrator] It's a successful team-up
between Jamie Davis and Quiring Towing,
and for Jamie,
another bold move
into the world of railway wreckers.
The advantages of having a railway wrecker
is you have a more economical machine,
huge lifting capacity.
They're a good tool for us in our toolbox.
Not a bad day, eh?
[Narrator] An hour and a half north...
[John] There you go.
[Narrator] ...John Dods is back on Highway 5...
We're getting this tractor pulled out of here.
[Narrator] ...with Team Reliable.
[John] We got the new guys back out today.
They're going to be able to finish the job
that they started.
Okay, hold the weight, tighten up!
I'm just going to get Duane to hook the front end
and drag it over.
[Narrator] Now in the safety of daylight,
John leads his team
to wrap up the tough recovery.
[John] All righty, tighten 'er up.
[Jesse] Come on, baby.
Come on, baby.
[John] I'm proud of the guys...
I just don't want it to roll, right?
...for being out here and doing their best.
Let yours out.
Unhook ya.
[Narrator] Reliable's two-day recovery is nearly done.
So, that went pretty good all in all.
Tractor's outta the ditch,
and, uh, we're outta here.
[Suki Manj] John did great coordinating it,
I'm really proud of what my team accomplished.
[John] All righty, guys, we'll see ya at the yard.
I think they did a great job.
Right on, good job, Team Reliable.
Thank you much.
Be safe out there.
[Narrator] Six hours north...
That storm's supposed to come in here a little bit later, huh?
That's what I heard.
[Narrator] ...an Autow two-tonne
heads out to a recovery on Highway 97...
[Kyle Langlois] We're gonna try and get this car done
as quick as we can.
[Narrator] ...with operator Kyle Langlois.
[Kyle] We're calling for 10 centimetres of snow tonight,
so we want to try and get out of there
before that snowstorm starts coming in.
[Narrator] Following in a deck truck...
[Paul Langlois] A small SUV flipped off the road
down a very big embankment.
[Narrator] ...Kyle's older brother, Paul.
[Paul] Highway 97 north of Quesnel,
that is an ugly road.
If it gets weather,
it changes fast.
[Narrator] Paul is back
after taking a break from the towing industry.
[Kyle] Business has been good.
Paul's come back.
He wants to try and give it a shot again,
see... see how it goes for himself.
It helps us big time.
They're setting up cones for a recovery.
Pulling up on scene, we notice the car.
It's quite a ways down in the ditch.
It's a little steeper than, uh, the pictures that I got,
so it's time to get back in shape
for the winter.
[Kyle] We deal with so much seriousness out there,
when we're in an environment like we are on this scene,
you know, we can play around a little bit more.
You good?
All right.
That hill is so steep.
I just want to throw a hook on that thing,
and we get 'er out of there.
Whew. [chuckling]
- Your cable's stuck on me. - [laughing]
That just about became interesting.
[Kyle] When my brother and I get to work together,
it's almost like our childhood comes out in us sometimes.
[Paul] The cable almost put me on my butt there.
[Kyle] It's gonna be an interesting little recovery.
Single, alternating traffic.
[Narrator] 25 kilometres north of Quesnel...
Car's still in the ditch.
[Narrator] ...the driver of an SUV
is lucky to be alive.
[Paul] The condition of the car,
you'd think there's no way this person's gonna be okay.
You can see just on the edge of the bank
where she came off.
She would've done a barrel roll in the air.
She's very lucky to walk away from something like that.
[Narrator] They rig low for a reverse roll.
[Paul] Uh, this side I've rigged down to the tire,
the lowest point that it's got right now.
[Kyle] You good?
All right.
You going back up or around?
I'm going up.
You going up?
You gonna stay down here to watch it
just in case I need to rehook?
- Yeah, yeah, I can do that. - Okay.
[Narrator] Kyle heads up the slope...
[Kyle, grunting] Oh, this is going to be fun.
[Narrator] ...to operate from the road.
[Kyle] It's called a reverse roll.
We roll it the other way,
away from us,
rather than rolling it towards us.
[Narrator] The roll reveals more carnage
of the crash.
[Kyle] What do you think
if we put both on the front, Paul?
[Paul] It'd be a good idea
because you got a tree down in front of it.
That way, it'll come up and over.
Just disconnect the green one,
leave that chain hooked up.
Yeah, yeah.
See how he does here.
[Narrator] But as Paul climbs out of the crash scene...
It's like a battlefield out there on some accidents.
[Narrator] ...he's reminded
of why he took a break from the family business
five years ago...
[Paul] I was first on call for fatalities,
rescuing bodies.
I've seen things that you just don't want to see.
Your body just says, "Your time's up."
You can only deal with so much.
[Narrator] Suffering from PTSD...
Um...
I had a...
a... a breakdown.
[Narrator] ...Paul stepped away from towing.
[Paul] Coming back,
I really had to put my problems aside.
Um, I know they exist,
they're always there.
That's what the time took me to realize,
was that, uh, my problems are always going to exist.
It's just,
now I'm able to carry on with them,
and I'm happy that I can, uh,
be back with the family working again.
Yeah, she's good.
It's good!
That pulled out really good.
Kind of went the way I wanted it to go,
so now I'm gonna get outta the way.
Paul's gonna get it on the deck truck,
and we're gonna get outta here.
Last step.
[Kyle] Paul and I both grew up doing the same thing.
You know, helping Grandpa out when we were younger,
going out on wrecks with him,
so if him and I can continue on
to be able to work side by side,
and, you know, see the future together,
I think it would be a pretty cool opportunity.
Yeah, let's get 'er outta here.
- Okay. - Okay, dude.
I think this job was, uh, really good,
and, uh, it was nice to work with Kyle again.
[Kyle] We did good.
The car came out actually fairly smooth,
so time to head back to the yard.
It's not like anything else.
You do what you gotta do to keep 'er going, eh?
[honking horn]
Thank you, guys.
[Narrator] Next time on Highway Thru Hell...
...a chain reaction.
[Rob] I can't believe the traffic.
[Narrator] ...puts Autow...
[Rob] Give it a shot.
[Narrator] ...to the test.
[Alan] Hey! Ho, ho!
[Al] Whoa, doggy!
[Narrator] Quirings in the quagmire...
We'll get James in there with his boots.
[Narrator] ...with an old friend.
No, no, no! Hey!
Whew!
[Narrator] And Reliable...
Oh, I love winter.
[Narrator] ...fighting the deep freeze.
[♪]