This time on Highway Thru Hell...
...a pricey load...
Good ol' seacans.
...puts Reliable...
I'm pulling my truck over!
...in a pinch.
Hang on, hang on.
Merv tries to land...
Keep going!
...a riverside catch.
Whoa!
...and Autow is under pressure...
Pull more on the front.
...on a chip truck recovery.
Whoa, whoa.
On British Columbia's
Coquihalla Mountain pass...
...freight on its way to the coast
must survive the shifting conditions.
You can never underestimate Mother Nature
on the Coquihalla.
One day it could be sunny,
the next day it could be a snowstorm.
50 kilometres north of Merritt...
...heading to the crash
in a Reliable 50-tonne wrecker...
We're on our way.
...operator John Dods...
Where are you now?
Oh, perfect.
Andy's just behind me.
Between me and Andy,
we've got the truck power out here.
I have no doubt
that we'll be able to get this job done.
It's go-time.
Lead operator Andy Cullum follows
in the 50-tonne tri-drive "Heavy Metal."
Always get a rush when you pull up.
He went in with quite a bit of speed,
and he's pretty far down off the road.
The semi is outfitted
with a refrigerated seacan trailer
full of meat.
Good old seacans.
Downside to seacans
is they're more solid steel, solid walls.
How much weight?
I was told it's 55,000.
They usually pack a little bit more weight into them,
so there's a lot that can go wrong
when you're pulling them over.
Heading south to the port of Vancouver,
the driver lost control,
swerving into the ditch,
and landing his cargo 30 feet down the embankment.
Three axles. Heavy.
After the impact...
Broken tire rod, not gonna steer very well.
...the truck and trailer
are in rough shape.
This is gonna be fun.
...and the premium load
has a price tag...
...of a quarter million dollars.
It's extremely expensive meat,
and we cannot let this spoil.
High on the Coquihalla...
How much weight?
I was told it's 55,000.
John and Andy face a heavyweight recovery...
We'll get one of us on each side of it,
and get it over.
...but the initial call...
Is that what Jas's plan was?
...went to Coquihalla Towing's Jas Sran.
What's up, buddy?
What's the plan there, big shoots?
John and Andy are pretty experienced operators,
but at the end of the day,
it's my reputation, my name on the door.
It's on top now.
Launching his company
just two years ago...
We're done.
You did 'er.
...Jas purchased Mighty Mo from Jamie Davis...
Let's get 'er going.
...and has been
learning the ropes of the tow biz...
Get it to your truck, and then hold it,
and I'll get the front end over.
...with help from outfits like Reliable.
Back in business, baby!
Jas is younger,
but he secured this wreck.
We're just here to support.
If he's got questions,
I'm gonna, I'm gonna be there to answer for him.
Stand it up, pull it back.
Okay.
Between the weight of the load
and the distance away from the roadway...
It's pretty steep, no?
Well, you got two 50-tonnes for a reason.
...I don't think Jas has handled
something like this before.
Also here as an extra pair of hands...
Singles right through.
...Reliable's Dalen Golish.
With containers,
rigging points are an issue.
We only have corner pockets.
Yeah.
The weight is an issue. It's very heavy.
It's gonna be a challenge.
Definitely glad we have two 50-tonnes.
We're gonna use a low line...
Yeah.
...to help keep the truck level as we pull on it.
Unless you got a better idea.
No.
Jas is a good guy. He's learnin'.
They're all learning good.
Low lines to the axles,
and high lines to the corner...
It'll just stand right up like nothing.
...John and Andy start the rollover...
Hey, John...
...but moments in...
You might wanna have more pressure on the top line.
I can't get any!
...John's wrecker is struggling.
He's off the ground, Andy.
We have to keep our booms pretty low
'cause we're pulling as far as we are,
and, uh, they're leaning the trucks pretty good.
I'm pulling my truck over!
300 kilometres southwest...
...Aggressive Towing's 50-tonne rotator
follows the Fraser River...
...with lead operator Chris Mervyn.
They called
and said they needed a hand getting it back to shore.
Mad Props Marine go around and recover sunk boats.
Every now and then he runs into one
where he just needs a little extra pulling power.
So they need you on standby down here.
...and backing up Merv tonight,
Rob Lewis.
This boat has been in this spot for about a month,
so now we're going to get in there
and get this thing hauled up.
On the northern tip
of Annacis Island...
I think something is starting to show right there.
...the dropping tide
starts to reveal tonight's salvage.
There's a boat.
I think it says low tide's right around midnight.
This boat,
they had it tied to a piling.
It eventually got a leak.
The water took over, and that was it for that boat.
They're here.
The Mad Props Marine crew arrives,
led by owner Jeremy Birch.
We can start to see the roof.
We got a problem, uh, on the south coast
with, you know, derelict and abandoned vessels.
This is one of them.
We've removed dozens and dozens of derelict vessels
and materials from the river,
netting, and sunk docks, and vehicles,
and the list goes on.
Let's go. It's moving.
Working BC's rugged coast
and the Fraser River,
Mad Props specializes
in difficult cleanup operations.
Tonight,
they're governed by the tides.
Float it before it gets grounded out,
so that we don't stay here all night.
Game A is to try to re-float the boat.
We hold it upright while the tide's receding
and then find out why it sunk,
plug the holes.
They'll need to finish
before the tide dips too low
to remove the boat.
We'll get the containment
all ripped apart, get 'em out of the way...
...and then we'll do the salvage.
North of Merritt,
on Highway 5...
I'm pulling my truck over!
...the Reliable team-up
is struggling...
Come on, John, boom up.
Lift that thing.
...with a meaty seacan.
Boom up!
This load is probably worth
around $250,000 to $300,000,
so the customer has requested us not to unload it.
Just pick it up and put it on the road.
Hey, bud,
go ask for the real manifest.
This is definitely heavier
than you're being told it is.
We got two 50-tonne winches on it.
150,000 pounds of pulling power, and it's not even budging.
She is heavy.
Hold on.
Let it down.
Working on the live highway, we have limited space.
Angles are a little different than what you need.
Why are you so high off the ground?
That's what I'm asking you!
- You're not getting any lift. - No.
Straps would do all the work
if we can get one over the top, you know what I mean?
Dalen...
I bet you it would just roll right up.
...suggests a different approach.
Yeah.
- That's my opinion, anyway. - Cross-strap the top of it.
Wrapping straps
across the far side of the container
will give each wrecker
a straighter angle on the pull,
maximizing their winch power
and cradling the semi upright.
We ready?
With the straps in place...
Yeah, look at that.
It's already coming.
...round two begins.
Is he going through the roof?
You going through the roof?
If we rip open a wall,
then this load of meat is now garbage.
Is that just snow, or is he going through the roof?
I can't tell.
Hang on, hang on!
North of Merritt...
Is that just snow, or is he going through the roof?
Andy and John's sealed seacan
is buckling under pull pressure.
It's gonna break.
Hang on, hang on.
I'm scared to go look.
It'd be a pretty bad thing
if we ripped open a wall,
because they're not allowed to expose that load.
It's not through. It's kinking, though.
That definitely speaks to the weight of this.
Pulling crossways on a steel box,
to be able to kink it like that,
you're pulling on some serious weight.
They'll need more might
to finish the job.
I think if we add Mo to it...
Okay.
Because you can get Mo square here.
Square?
- Yeah. - Okay.
John and Andy's trucks,
they're strong trucks,
but this is 50 or 60 feet away from the curb,
and that would mean
that we would need more pulling power...
- Whoa! - Whoa!
...so we're gonna put Mighty Mo in there
and do it right.
Let's get the lines on, let's go.
With Mighty Mo's lines
on the top corners,
they'll spread the force of all three wreckers
across six points,
to lift the seacan without breaking it.
That's good.
You ready?
Yeah.
Okay, let's get this done.
It's definitely old-school,
but Mighty Mo is a pretty powerful truck.
Good to have it here.
Pull.
It's not the fastest truck, but it pulls hard.
Gotta get that back end up.
He can't keep up to you.
Jas, get tight!
See that? You just need some old iron here.
You saved the day, Jas.
It looks like it.
Whoo-hoo!
Holy...
...but with the trailer upright...
Look at the axles.
...Andy spots trouble.
I don't think this thing can go down the road.
No, those are broken.
The trailer's in pretty rough shape.
I don't know if it's gonna hold together
if we have to try to pull it up the bank.
Where is the adjuster guy?
Andy brings in Wayne Dubeau...
Yep.
Look at the axles.
...to assess the valuable load.
Wayne is the insurance adjuster for this.
He is in charge of how we do things.
We can't get it out
because the trailer is compromised.
The wheels will not turn
to get it back up onto the road.
What if we just transfer it?
A 200-tonne crane, you're only gonna need one.
Okay.
I can find someone right now.
Jas makes the call to delay the recovery
and save the load.
Gonna call my buddy up down the coast.
He has a bunch of cranes.
Our plan is to lift the container out
with the 250-tonne crane
that's gonna be here in the morning.
Once it's on the Landoll,
we'll come back and pull the chassis out.
Sounds like a plan.
Jas made a decision
to let the crane finish it tomorrow,
and that's a lot easier on us,
so he did pretty good.
And we'll see how it goes.
Three hours southwest,
on the Fraser River...
All right, I'll move my truck, buddy.
Okay.
...Aggressive is in a race
against the falling tide.
We're gonna connect to this boat,
we're gonna try to hold it upright
so that it's sitting level under the water.
We got it rigged.
Once we get 'im hooked up,
if everything goes as planned,
we'll pull it and right it.
Okay.
Rotten and old derelict boats,
they don't like being pulled on real hard,
that's for sure.
Hopefully what we can hook up to on it
is willing to hold up to the forces
we're gonna apply.
With a strap already rigged
to a cleat on the stern,
and a new strap shackled to the bow,
Merv will upright the boat
for Jeremy to pump out the water
and float it off-site.
Okay.
Okay, Merv?
I'll feed you some cable here, Jeremy.
Um, so let's just put some tension on,
and see what it does. - Okay.
Okay.
- You got 'er? - Yep.
We're moving!
- Keep going? - Yep.
You know, I'm a land tow truck,
and he's a marine tow truck,
so it works.
Keep 'er coming.
Keep going!
We got the bow of the boat
almost out of the water here.
and the stern's coming up now, so...
The tide's working with us.
Everything's working out.
Boats are kind of finicky.
It's very hard to know
exactly what you're playing with,
or if you're gonna break a piece off the boat.
- Whoa. - Argh.
On the Fraser River's
Annacis Island...
Whoa. Too much.
...Merv loses his grip
on a riverbank recovery.
The whole cleat let go.
Something's gonna let go.
Something always lets go of salvage.
We were only hooked up to a cleat...
and it's into a rotten boat, so...
The cleats are attached through fiberglass, generally,
into a little piece of wood,
much different
than us grabbing a diff or a frame rail,
trying to pull a semi out.
With the cleats ruled out...
We've gotta re-rig the stern.
...Jeremy looks for something stronger.
Okay, come up alongside here.
Don't lose that strap.
It's a pretty beat-up boat,
pretty rotten.
They're never nice to work on,
particularly when they're half sunk.
Okay, now send me, send me it.
Beauty.
We're just trying to add an extra point,
wrapping around the cabin there,
and see if we could share enough of the load
and the force
to try to... finish getting this boat upright.
With Bertha rigged to the cabin...
Okay, just take the weight, Merv.
...Merv can pull harder
and make up for lost time...
Okay!
...and right on schedule...
It's sitting perfect.
...the boat uprights.
We got a huge dropping tide tonight,
so right now, Mother Nature's assisting us.
We'll get pumping, get it floating.
Oh, it's moving out
quicker than it's going in, for sure.
It's floating.
We'll have a look, have a listen
where the water's coming in.
We'll patch it, float it, and tow it out of here.
That's a nice boat, Rob.
Yep.
This boat wasn't in very good shape when it sank,
and it was in worse shape when it came up.
With the water pumped out of the interior...
Yeah, there she is, right there.
...Jeremy locates the source of the leak.
That is why the boat sunk.
That hose blew out.
So we're gonna patch it with trusty spray foam,
and, uh, then we'll cover that foam with plywood,
and screw it in.
We're outta here.
Thank you, men!
Team Aggressive did awesome.
Merv always pulls through.
He's gonna tie it up to his other boat
and take it up river, and get it hauled out.
Marine salvage is fun.
It's like keeping a highway open.
You want to keep the rivers open and free-flowing.
All right, Robbie, river's open.
Let's get outta here, buddy.
That means we're on our way home.
Yee yee!
On the north side of the Coquihalla pass...
...a 200-tonne crane has arrived
to finish the seacan recovery.
It looks like they got the weights all good to go.
Jas is responsible
for the quarter-million dollar lift,
under Wayne's watchful eye.
Should be an easy lift now.
Hopefully.
Last night,
the driver went off the highway,
sending his lucrative load of meat into the ditch.
Now Jas is on a deadline...
We're ready to go.
...to keep the cargo enroute
to its overseas destination.
This load has got to be inspected
and shipped out,
so we are on a tight timeline.
We're all rigged up, looks like.
Yeah.
The moment of truth, eh?
The pressure's on.
The crane crew has rigged straps
to all four corners...
Up, up and away.
Yeah, she's starting to come now.
...but with the Seacan over 30 feet away...
It's kind of leaning over.
Oh yeah.
Oh!
...at a weight of 70,000 pounds...
He's gotta boom in a little?
Yeah.
...it's just within the load limits
of the crane's 200-foot boom.
It's swinging out.
You can't have that swing.
Gets the heart pumping!
On Highway 5...
Oh.
...three hours from the coast...
You can't have that swing, right?
...Jas has enlisted a crane...
There he goes, he's getting 'er up now.
the 70,000-pound seacan...[t
Stay clear.
...back on its way to port.
It's nice being back in the daylight,
but there's much more traffic as well.
Briefly holding traffic...
Good!
...the quarter- million dollar container...
is swung safely on deck.
Yee-haw! Finally!
Yeah!
Finally, man.
Let's get that delivered.
The load's safe, the seal's still intact,
and it's gonna make it on time to the shipyard.
Let's get 'er rigged up.
...but Jas still needs to recover
the tractor and trailer.
We have this big crane here.
We're like, why not just lift it up
and put it onto the road, right?
Crane's way better than a wrecker here
just 'cause we don't have to move any barriers,
and we can just pick it up, put it on the side.
With traffic still flowing...
the crane swings the trailer...
up onto the road...
There you go.
...but the empty trailer chassis...
Yeah, that's good right there.
...is the easy part.
Give it a whirl,
and see if we can lift that truck up here.
It'll save a lot of, uh, time and effort.
The mangled truck is much riskier.
It would be better if we could get something in,
like a frame rail or something.
Your call on this one.
What, do you wanna try lifting it out,
or you wanna just pull your cables
and suck it out?
If we rip the tractor open right now
while pulling it up,
all the liability would be on us.
Yeah, I can rig it up for you guys.
It'll be fine?
Placing his trust in the crane crew...
Yeah.
...everything rides on Jas's rigging.
So we gotta be really careful what we do,
and what our next steps are.
We want it hooked up right here.
Jas sets up a web of chains
hooked to the axles and front tow pin...
Okay.
...but even if his chains hold...
Coming up.
There you go.
...the busted-up tractor
may not.
The structural integrity is not really there.
Moment of truth.
I'm just visualizing the tractor
ready to break loose at any moment here.
To Jas's relief...
You're good.
...the tractor touches down in one piece.
I wouldn't have done it any other way.
Working together,
it's a win for everyone.
Hey, buddy.
Missed all the fun.
These guys know what they're doing.
Yeah. I would've done the same thing.
Good plan.
Me making the call to get that crane out here
was great,
and it built up our confidence as well.
We're just ready for the next, uh, wreck,
so we can tackle it down.
It makes our life easier.
Hook it up and tow it back when these guys are done.
Jas did really good.
He was able to get it over,
and he did pretty good
at leading the charge.
He's figuring it out pretty good.
That's pretty much it.
It's a wrap!
Okay, buddy,
we'll see you at the yard!
All right.
One of my goals
is to bring the industry together,
and that's the theme that I preach with my team,
but the only way it works is if they work together.
500 kilometres north,
treacherous conditions on Quesnel's Highway 97...
...have drivers on edge.
It's pretty wet and dirty.
A 50-tonne Autow wrecker
takes a priority call...
It's a pellet plant just outside town.
...with owner Rob Barber.
I'm heading out to a chip truck
that's fallen over in the ditch
and lost its load.
Following in a 25-tonne heavy...
We'll see what we can do.
...Rob's nephew
and second-in-command,
Kyle Langlois.
Being a connector highway up to Alaska,
this highway can get busy.
Highway 97 is the most important route.
It's the essential route to get anywhere up north,
and you gotta keep that traffic flowing.
Trailer slid over
and toppled the truck onto its side.
Well... let's go see what we get to do.
There's a mirror.
The semi was carrying wood chips
into the pellet plant
when it misjudged the turn.
I mean, it's super light, eh?
It's sawdust.
These walking-floor chip trailers
are super expensive,
and there's probably a waiting list to get one,
so we'll try to make sure we don't hurt it,
so it can go back into use.
You want me up front, or..?
Yeah, I'll go on the trailer,
because I can put my boom up high.
Okay.
Let's do a quick closure.
With just one lane in each direction...
they'll have to close down the critical highway.
We don't wanna close it,
so we try to keep it as short as we can.
Pre-rigging high lines from the 50-tonne
to the top of the trailer...
the 25-tonne will hook to the tractor...
Just trying to get set up before we go on the road
so there's less time buggering up the traffic.
See what happens.
We're going to close it for a couple minutes, if that's okay.
Keeping the closure to a minimum...
Kyle and Rob
waste no time getting started.
Other people have places to go.
A lot of the times, it's essential for them.
If it's essential for them,
it makes it essential for us.
That's it.
...but rushing the flip
could damage the specialized trailer...
Pull more in the front.
Wood chip trailers are not meant
to be pulled on on the side.
Not having a roof, they're kind of flimsy.
Uh-huh...
You can pull through a wall pretty easily
if you don't pull on it just quite right.
Whoa, whoa.
North of Quesnel
on Highway 97...
Whoa, whoa.
...Autow's specialized chip trailer
is upright...
Little more weight in the corner than we hoped.
...but wrenching it onto the road is risky.
These walking-floor chip trailers,
it's all aluminum,
so that you can't pull on 'em with any weight.
Get off the road for a bit?
- Yeah. - Okay.
With traffic building,
they pause to recalibrate the plan.
When we have to shut the highway down,
that's a lot on an operator's mind.
We don't want to be there too long.
Yeah, let things flow for a few minutes,
and then we'll put the--
the trailer up on the road
and separate it.
The damaged tractor is likely a write-off...
Once that north goes by, I'll do another quick closure.
...but Rob
wants to keep the trailer as close to working condition
as possible.
Okay.
Rehooking to the rear...
Let's hope it moves.
...Rob avoids tugging on the fragile wall.
She's coming.
You just want the trailer
to come straight up the banks
so you're not pulling unnecessarily hard on something.
That's good.
With the trailer back on level ground...
It's good for single lane now.
...traffic is moving again
on the critical route...
So now that we got it up on the road,
we're, uh, separating the tractor from the trailer.
Keep going, keep going.
You've succeeded,
the public can keep rolling,
and they can keep going to where they need to go.
...and the specialized chip trailer
can soon get back to work.
It's been a good day.
We didn't do any damage,
and, um, we were able to kind of clean things up
as quick as we could,
and keep things moving along.
500 kilometres south in Hope, BC...
...a Jamie Davis 30-tonne heavy
rolls out on Highway 1...
I take pride in my ride.
...with operator Quen Wyllie.
I've been towing for about 13 years now.
This year, Jamie put me in a 2020 Peterbilt HR-130.
So, this is your first wreck using a big truck?
Yeah, it is.
Jamie's newest recruit,
Maxime Chamberlain Normand,
will be assisting on his first heavy recovery.
I'm gonna show you, teach you,
how to hook up, how to recover, how to do all these things,
the same way I was taught.
Perfect.
Quen, he's kind of the go-to guy in Hope
for anything heavy.
For Max on his first job here,
he couldn't ask for a better place to land
to actually get some training.
80 kilometres up the Fraser Canyon,
they pull over just past Boston Bar.
Oh, that's a long ways down.
This wreck is steeper than what I was told,
and from the looks of it,
there's a lot of parts not attached anymore.
Wowee.
Looks like he rode the rail for a bit, eh?
I think so.
On scene
to help fish out the battered SUV
is long-haul driver Mark Richards.
There's no such thing as a little job.
A small job, a big job can cause you pain
if you don't pay attention.
And you gonna pull it up from the back?
No, we're gonna...
think our best bet's gonna be grab it by the front
and pull it up,
then we got that rock to worry about.
Between them and the wreck...
there's a minefield of boulders.
There's some rocks, and there's no wheels,
so you have to know, before to pull,
where it's gonna go.
Have you pulled the drive shafts?
Yup, yup.
It is my first big wreck.
It is been, uh, maybe at least 10 years
that I'm waiting for what I'm doing right now,
so, like, I like that,
and, you know, I'll get better and better.
Sometimes you can tie it up...
With a strap?
...but in this case...
Years ago, I was Max.
I was going down the hill, up and down...
learning different ways to hook onto things.
Max!
Make the chain tighter!
There you go!
Perfect.
He's done one or two smaller recoveries
that aren't this major,
so it's a good learning experience for him.
Mark? Max?
Make sure you guys are outta the way!
Scrambling to a safe spot...
I want to be here so I can see the truck.
...Max's lesson gets off...
to a rocky start.
Nope.
That was definitely not a moment I wanted.
North of Hope
on Highway 1 in the Fraser Canyon...
That rock is gonna be a giant pain.
...Quen walks Maxime
through his first heavy recovery,
a wrecked SUV,
down 60 feet of rough terrain.
There's rock, and it's everywhere,
and you can't blow the oil pan,
or you can't blow the fuel tank.
Nope.
That was definitely not a moment I wanted.
...but confident in his rigging...
Hope for the best, expect the worst.
...Quen keeps pulling.
Holy.
That should get us over the rock.
Come on, girl.
She's going.
She is.
The SUV clears the rocks...
Keep going.
...but other obstacles
will be less forgiving.
Actually... Mark!
Grab your truck and run the winch line,
'cause it's getting too close to those trees.
It's not wanting to go where I want it to go,
so I need to come up with a better plan.
So, now we're just gonna run a winch line out,
hook it on.
Okay, you got the cable?
Yeah.
Adding a line to the front,
Quen can steer the wreck...
Should help reduce that risk of it going into the tree stump.
It's going.
That'll do it.
...but at the top of the hill,
a concrete no-post remains a barrier.
To get this SUV over the no-post,
it's gonna take a bit of finessing.
Quen must carefully coordinate the two wreckers
to clear the two-foot wall.
Now that we're right up close,
now we're gonna start pulling away from each other,
so what I'm gonna do
is I'm getting him to move up,
and then I'm gonna slowly pull as he's turning.
That should... - On that here?
Yeah.
That way, it should...
it should come right over gently,
'cause we don't wanna be rough with the vehicle.
Perfect.
I'm not a teacher in a training school
by no means,
but for Max to be on his first time swamping,
and going down the bank,
and coming back up again...
A little looser.
Little more. There you go.
...there's lots of opportunity for him to learn here.
Quen uses a re-rigged line
to swing the rear over.
There. Okay.
...but as the back wheels
come over the edge...
It's a bit risky,
but as long as you're paying attention,
you should be fine.
...the wreck...
...nearly collides...
Ah-ha...
...with the boss's property.
Heart attack moment!
That was close from the truck!
We are a couple inches away.
That's a phone call
I really don't wanna make to Jamie.
Okay, pull.
At last...
...the SUV is out.
Get the car ready for transport,
and then we're outta here.
Everything went really well.
We got the truck outta the ditch.
I didn't hit my truck.
It's a successful end
to Maxime's first big wreck.
Max did really well.
He'll be one of the guys I call when I get a wreck
and need... need a second guy.
Working with a big wrecker today,
it's a dream, and it came true,
so now it's not a dream no more.
You're good to go.
Old guys rule, but we still need some young talent.
- Okay, let's get outta here. - Let's get out of here.
That's kind of a new, evolving thing at our place,
you know, re-energize ourselves...
and... I hate to say it, but, you know, we need that.
Next time on Highway Thru Hell...
a split semi...
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
...has Reliable
in a trailer slam-down.
Whoa, hang on.
Team Aggressive stands back...
Don't go under that pipe.
...under a touchy load.
Oh, oh, oh, oh...
...and a perilous storm...
...has Al...
How are you doing tonight?
...sending off an old friend.
He is off into the sunset.