Highway Thru Hell S12E05
Highway Thru Hell S12E05
Transcript
00:00 [music]
00:02 This is a redneck kind of job.
00:04 This season on Highway Through Hell.
00:07 Ouch!
00:08 [music]
00:10 Whoa!
00:11 Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
00:12 [music]
00:14 Oh my God. Everybody get away!
00:16 [music]
00:17 Out of the way, out of the way!
00:18 [music]
00:20 Oh, that's not good.
00:21 [music]
00:22 Wow.
00:23 [music]
00:24 Holy crap!
00:26 Carnage.
00:27 [music]
00:29 Coming down!
00:30 [music]
00:34 Biggest fear, not making it home.
00:37 [music]
00:41 On the Highway Through Hell,
00:43 [music]
00:45 the last line of defense
00:47 is a heavy rescue team
00:49 ready to tackle any disaster.
00:52 Because closure is not an option.
00:56 [music]
01:24 Welcome to BC.
01:26 [music]
01:29 We got a mess here.
01:30 [music]
01:32 Oh, they're going to get pounded tonight.
01:35 On BC's Coquihalla Highway,
01:37 mandatory tire chain-up went into effect an hour ago.
01:41 Look at what you're causing down here.
01:43 Look at that.
01:44 That's your fault.
01:46 Oh my gosh, this is insane.
01:48 Hey, see the plows?
01:49 See all three plows?
01:50 They cannot get through because you are here.
01:53 Stop traffic can cost the economy
01:56 tens of thousands of dollars a minute.
01:59 Acquiring towings, Gord Boyd
02:02 is trying to keep traffic moving.
02:04 You get the guys who are running that road every single day,
02:06 you never worry about them.
02:07 You never see them because they know what to do.
02:09 Now get your chains on.
02:11 Hey, no time for arguing while you're blocking the highway.
02:15 Get your chains on.
02:17 Got him, Jim.
02:18 Get your chains on.
02:20 But not everybody is that experienced.
02:22 And those are the guys who run into problems.
02:24 Yeah, it's not normally this cold this time of year.
02:27 You have some of the worst weather conditions
02:29 to deal with here--
02:30 wet snow and ice.
02:32 It's a brutal, brutal environment.
02:34 It's going to be a tough, tough winter for these guys.
02:37 I got all excited because the cove was open and damn it.
02:44 Keeping the hill clear of spun-out semis
02:47 is acquiring towing specialty.
02:50 It's up to us to get down there and get that bottleneck open.
02:53 This guy doesn't have any chains on.
02:57 I don't know why he tried to come up this hill without chains,
03:00 but that was kind of foolish.
03:02 Conditions are getting worse.
03:09 Good ice over on everybody.
03:11 Everybody's sliding all over the place here.
03:13 As darkness falls,
03:17 Big Al Quiring works a stretch of road
03:20 known as the Smasher.
03:22 Now we're cooking with some gasoline.
03:30 It's fun for about the first three hours,
03:32 and then you realize that you've got six more months of it.
03:35 As Al backs down the highway's steepest hill
03:38 to retrieve another truck...
03:40 Throw that car off the road!
03:42 You're in a bad spot! You're going to get it!
03:45 He spots a car smashed into the median.
03:48 It's occupants trapped...
03:50 on the most dangerous part of the hill.
03:55 You've got to take responsibility for bystanders,
04:04 make sure they're well out of the way.
04:07 The important thing is we're not right here,
04:09 because this is where all the trucks line up
04:11 and they pile into you, right here.
04:13 Al knows if they leave the car where it is,
04:16 it will get hit.
04:18 You never know what the situation is going to be.
04:39 It can be a really tough, tough neighborhood to operate in.
04:43 Howie to Coldwater.
04:45 At 11.35 p.m.
04:47 Howie, buddy, how's it going?
04:49 Great.
04:51 With no sign of a break in the weather...
04:53 Turning into a gong show here real fast.
04:56 Howie Irwin heads up to join the battle.
04:59 It's an adventure thing for me.
05:01 There's adrenaline junkies, they get it from sport,
05:03 and I get it from work.
05:06 It sounds to me like it's blocked all the way up the hill here.
05:09 Oh, [bleep]
05:11 I want to get to the off ramp.
05:13 There's about a kilometer and a half back up.
05:19 There's probably a good 50 or 60 trucks in the lineup.
05:22 For a decade from his base in nearby Hope...
05:27 Jamie Davis to en route.
05:28 That's the big one.
05:30 Jamie Davis has been battling wrecks on the code.
05:33 Whoa!
05:35 But last season, Jamie's expansion...
05:38 Like the fist of God came down on it.
05:40 Forced him to make Howie lead driver in B.C.
05:44 He was the golden gloves champ.
05:46 He was my hero, working with one truck, one guy, you know.
05:49 But this winter, Jamie's champ...
05:55 I'll be out for half a second, just going to check on my chains.
05:58 Has changed teams.
06:00 He's working out of a city tow yard to be closer to family.
06:04 We beg him to come back to work this season,
06:06 but he wanted to be close to his horses and his farm.
06:10 It was hard on my wife,
06:14 with me being that far away from home all the time.
06:16 Sad that I left.
06:19 I didn't want to leave, but other opportunities pop up.
06:23 But the first storm of the season is hard to resist.
06:28 And after a two-hour drive into the mountains,
06:31 there's more than enough work for everybody.
06:34 We're going up to the next U-turn past it,
06:36 back down to it, and start pulling them up the hill.
06:39 Here we go.
06:41 Howie's first stranded trucker of the night
06:46 has been stuck for half an hour.
06:48 Contestant number one.
06:50 Don't worry about it, I'll get you out of here.
06:56 What's your name?
06:59 Shannon.
07:00 Howie.
07:01 Alright, climb in.
07:02 Release your brakes, just cover them with your foot.
07:04 It'll be a one big wheelie right to the level spot at the top,
07:07 and then I'll let you go.
07:08 Alright.
07:09 Okay.
07:10 There's a long night ahead,
07:15 but Howie is just happy to be back,
07:18 even for only a few hours.
07:20 I'd rather be where the action is all the time.
07:23 Yeah, no problem.
07:24 Enter it.
07:25 Yeah, I'll miss it.
07:27 It's the biggest hill around.
07:30 It's the wild, wild west.
07:32 Twelve hundred kilometers north of the Coquihalla,
07:50 snow arrived more than two weeks ago.
07:52 There's more work in Alberta.
07:54 You could use ten trucks, or a hundred trucks.
07:57 You know, it's so busy.
07:59 Welcome to Siberia, boys.
08:01 Just over a year ago,
08:03 heavy rescue split the fleet,
08:05 sending half of the trucks to the Alberta oil patch.
08:08 And Jamie found more work than he could have imagined.
08:13 Nice, decent, Jimmy.
08:17 Decent.
08:18 We're back.
08:20 Jamie's gamble paid off so well,
08:24 that this year, he expanded south of the oil fields.
08:28 Edmonton's a million plus people,
08:31 and it's also the gateway to the north.
08:33 He's built a new yard and dispatch center.
08:37 Jamie's betting big on Alberta.
08:40 I think the biggest challenge has been change.
08:44 We've changed a lot of staff.
08:47 Some people left on good terms, some people didn't.
08:50 After leading the charge into Alberta,
08:53 Jamie's friend and lead driver, Adam Gazzola,
08:57 is no longer part of the family.
08:59 I think it finally got to the point where he just
09:02 either couldn't do it anymore, or didn't want to do it.
09:05 And that drove Adam back to BC to work for a competitor.
09:10 You know what?
09:14 His dream was in Alberta.
09:17 My dream was in Hope.
09:21 It's strange to look in your mirror and see that
09:23 different name on the door.
09:24 It's definitely a weird feeling.
09:28 With Adam gone, last year's rookie, Colin,
09:33 Let's go wreck Jamie's rotator.
09:35 has just been told that this season,
09:38 he's running the big show.
09:40 With him jumping into the rotator and trying to fill those boots,
09:47 I need him to step up his game,
09:49 I need him to be the guy he can be.
09:51 It's Monday morning,
09:54 when Colin heads out to his first call of the season.
09:59 We're headed to the tractor, van, trailer that's
10:03 rolled over in the ditch,
10:05 on Highway 831.
10:08 Highway 831 feeds into the main highways to the oil field.
10:17 I'm definitely having to step into the shoes of
10:20 the senior operator.
10:21 I mean, that makes me nervous.
10:23 Last season,
10:26 Chad, here he is through the foot, your other line,
10:29 to that chain, thank you.
10:30 Colin had Adam to keep him out of trouble.
10:33 But guys like him,
10:34 they're looking for somebody to tell them what to do.
10:36 Today, Colin is on his own.
10:40 Well, look what we got there, eh?
10:45 Now let's get it in position here.
10:47 The semi, hauling a load of pipeline parts,
10:53 lost control, slid sideways.
10:56 And when the rear wheels caught the ditch,
10:59 it flipped.
11:03 For the sake of a quick recovery,
11:06 Colin wants to flip the truck and trailer at the same time.
11:10 If they were attached, it'd be nice,
11:12 because then I could bring the whole unit up together.
11:14 But the odds of a quick clean-up are against him.
11:17 This is the fifth wheel plate.
11:20 This piece here, all of it is normally attached to the tractor unit.
11:24 With the tractor and trailer ripped apart,
11:27 Colin will need to tow each piece separately.
11:30 Send McEtherin, top, top, top, please.
11:32 In Edmonton, Jamie dispatches rookie driver Jason with a second record.
11:39 Head out and make some money, buddy. Let's go.
11:41 Love it, love it.
11:43 [Engine revving]
11:45 With backup on the way, Colin races to have the tractor ready for the tow.
11:51 It should be a routine job, but...
11:54 The rotator's a little bit of a tricky piece of equipment.
11:56 By no means am I an expert at operating the rotator.
12:00 Unlike Jamie's other records,
12:03 the rotator has a revolving boom, making it a crane on wheels.
12:11 Versatile, but more complicated to operate.
12:14 Yeah, we're good. We're good there.
12:39 Colin chalks up his first win.
12:41 But he can't go any further without his backup.
12:46 The second record finally arrives.
13:07 Colin's backup is broken.
13:09 What's frozen? Like, what do I get?
13:11 Son of a bitch.
13:19 Coming up...
13:24 Is it moving?
13:27 With a mighty rotator in Alberta...
13:29 I'm moving.
13:30 The heavy rescue team in Holt is outgunned...
13:33 This is where it's gonna get hard.
13:35 As they battle a rollover.
13:37 Hold it, hold it, hold it.
13:38 There it is!
13:41 On Alberta's Highway 831.
13:44 So, if you want to back up to it...
13:47 My hair's on it.
13:48 F***.
13:49 Why?
13:50 It's frozen.
13:51 Colin's just hit a big delay in his first recovery as lead driver.
13:56 Son of a bitch.
13:57 What happens when guys don't drain their air tanks?
14:02 All the water and moisture that sits in the tank freezes...
14:05 Causes f***ing chaos.
14:06 He needs his backup driver to release the wreck tractor's air brakes...
14:12 And tow it off the highway.
14:14 If you don't have air, brakes are locked up.
14:17 It's a pain in the ass.
14:18 Without a way to release the brakes...
14:21 The wrecker needs to tow from the other end.
14:24 To hook up and tow from this position...
14:30 Requires a complete shutdown of the highway.
14:33 I was a little pissed off.
14:36 But, whatever, you gotta deal with it.
14:39 I'm gonna get my plan into play and shut it down...
14:42 And do what I have to do and then get it reopened as fast as I can.
14:45 Yeah, I can see the breaker up there with the Tundra.
14:48 Shut right down.
14:50 Okay, when you pull forward...
14:52 I'm just gonna straighten out the steering wheel a little bit.
14:55 Okay.
14:56 [Tractor engine]
15:01 Once Jason's moved the tractor to a pullout...
15:04 He and Colin can turn to the trailer.
15:08 Jake, can you go grab the sledgehammer from the toolbox?
15:11 F***, holy s***.
15:19 To finish the job before sundown...
15:22 Okay, good.
15:24 Colin can't afford any more delays.
15:27 A year ago, I'd be getting screamed at by Adam.
15:32 Today, I am running the Mighty Rotator.
15:38 All by my lonesome.
15:40 With the help of my new trainee.
15:44 Okay, that'll be good.
15:46 Just go to the back end.
15:47 Just go put it by the rear drive tires right now.
15:50 Please.
15:52 [Tractor engine]
15:54 What we're gonna do is, just the way that it's sitting...
15:56 Draw your little map.
15:57 We have the road.
15:58 We have the trailer unit sitting here on its side.
16:01 I'm already positioned here to run the two big lines to flip it over.
16:05 We'll put you up in this area here.
16:07 Run your two lines down to it to pull it up the mountain.
16:11 Okay.
16:12 Okay?
16:13 We're gonna need that.
16:17 I'll grab that.
16:19 This is where things are gonna get a little technical and interesting for us.
16:23 Back in BC, Jamie's dispatched his newest hire to a job east of home.
16:40 I just like the tow.
16:42 I just like to help out people when they're in trouble.
16:47 John has a heavy rescue resume 20 years long.
16:50 And he's promised he's the guy to keep the BC highways open.
16:54 I need John to develop and become a Howie.
16:58 Hopefully he can fill those boots.
17:00 But unlike Howie, John has spent most of his career in the city.
17:05 Jamie's business manager, Hendrick, hired John just a week ago.
17:12 Good morning, everybody.
17:13 We've called the first meeting of our new team in Hope.
17:16 First, we've got John.
17:17 John, welcome.
17:18 Thank you, Hendrick.
17:19 John will be the heavy-duty driver, Class 1.
17:21 And he will be taking the lead on all the major accident scenes.
17:25 None of the other guys have worked with John.
17:28 And I think that he's gonna have to work with those guys and gain their trust.
17:32 Five-0 is gonna be assigned to John versus Old Truck.
17:35 I would be plural to drive versus Old Truck.
17:37 I've got some big shoes to fill.
17:39 You're fine.
17:43 Today, John's on Highway 3 with Bruce's legendary Blue 5-0
17:49 to rescue a wrecked snowplow from the Skagit River.
17:52 This is my first week here.
17:54 It's a big pride position for myself to prove that I can do the job.
17:58 Prove to Jamie Davis that he's made the right decision in hiring me.
18:02 His number two today is Wayne Sahata.
18:07 Oh, f---, he's lucky, eh?
18:12 Must have been a hell of a ride.
18:13 Lucky he didn't land upside down in that water.
18:16 Hypothermia.
18:17 The plow lost control on the icy curve,
18:23 crossed the eastbound lanes,
18:26 and rolled down into the river.
18:29 It did roll over, so you gotta worry about hydraulic fluid.
18:35 So we'll just keep an eye on it as we're pulling it out
18:38 and make sure that nothing ruptures.
18:39 Hopefully it doesn't.
18:40 The path that we had to bring it back up,
18:42 it was full of boulders and jagged rocks
18:45 and maybe punctured the fuel tanks,
18:47 which would then leak into the river.
18:49 To avoid doing more damage,
18:52 John needs to reach out and lift the plow vertically.
18:55 5-0, it doesn't have an extendable boom.
18:57 It can't boom out and lift at the same time.
19:00 So we need a bigger truck to do this.
19:03 Last spring, Jamie ordered a brand new truck
19:09 with a 50-ton tandem axle, HR-160.
19:13 It's lightweight, it does its job.
19:16 It's got the brute strength, it's a machine.
19:19 It's due to arrive any day,
19:22 but not soon enough
19:24 for this job.
19:27 So, one hour west of the wreck site,
19:31 Jamie's brother Jason, from Aggressive Towing,
19:35 heads out with his rotator.
19:38 I always have this comfort zone in the back of my mind
19:40 where I can rely on my brother to come and give us a hand.
19:43 Last season, Jason stepped in to take on a difficult recovery,
19:49 while Jamie was away.
19:52 Jason's on his way,
19:58 and with a wreck in the river,
20:00 there's still a risk of contamination.
20:02 So, John and Wayne decide to drag it a few feet onto the bank.
20:08 [Music]
20:10 Hold it, hold it, hold it. Stop pulling.
20:18 It's not on top of it.
20:20 They're not even biting.
20:21 They're not even touching the ground.
20:22 See what I mean?
20:24 The tire's got to be right at the top.
20:26 I've been through this with this truck, man.
20:28 Yeah, no, that's good to know.
20:29 I'm a bit cocky.
20:31 I don't want to drive the big truck,
20:32 but you will learn stuff from me.
20:35 If you've got too much pride to say, "F*** that, I've done it,
20:38 I've been there, done it," then that's fine.
20:39 I don't have that much pride.
20:40 No, no, no.
20:41 I know he was hired to be the lead heavy driver,
20:44 but that doesn't mean I can't do it.
20:46 There might be a little bit of alpha male stuff going on.
20:50 I mean, he's been here longer, I'm the new guy.
20:52 I've kind of put myself in a higher role than he is.
20:55 What the f***?
21:05 Is it moving?
21:06 I'm moving.
21:09 Just driving him back.
21:10 1,200 kilometers northeast on Alberta's 831.
21:20 Ready, lock.
21:22 Colin is rigging up for a big pull.
21:25 Do the back end first.
21:27 This goes up to that tire.
21:32 Colin and his rookie...
21:33 That goes to there.
21:35 ...have to wrap straps around both ends of the 20,000-pound trailer,
21:39 loaded with pipeline valves.
21:41 You got that?
21:43 Get her up on top of the trailer.
21:44 That's all you've got to do for now.
21:46 Good.
21:50 Okay.
21:51 And now that you're the rookie, up you go, bud.
21:54 Hey.
22:00 Jake, right here.
22:02 Just get that into that gray strap.
22:09 Yeah, hooked in.
22:11 So right now what we're doing is we're just testing our lines,
22:16 looking for any kind of pinch points or anything.
22:19 If the strap catches on the sharp edge of the trailer, it could snap.
22:23 Put that f***ing thing out from under there.
22:26 So Colin uses some scrap wood as a buffer.
22:30 What line are we on here?
22:32 No.
22:34 This is the one f***ing thing I don't like exactly.
22:37 The trailer is so far off-road, Colin has had to max out his boom.
22:43 You have to make sure you have the right guy on that rig.
22:46 What do we got? Blue and white.
22:50 Because the consequences to not having a good guy on that truck can be disastrous.
22:55 F***.
22:58 So this sort of has me a little bit intimidated, but whatever.
23:03 What could go wrong?
23:05 He's reaching way far out.
23:07 The further you've got that boom out, the more you have a chance of flipping the big record.
23:11 Why don't you just go over and watch that back corner, eh?
23:17 Come on!
23:22 Watch yourself. Watch yourself.
23:28 F***.
23:29 In northern Alberta, Colin has his boom maxed out.
23:34 Come on!
23:35 He's gambled on an awkward angle to speed up the job.
23:39 Oh, look at you. Nice and sweet.
23:45 Doesn't get any sweeter than that.
23:56 Okay. Get the hooks off.
23:59 Flip it. Flip it. Give it a whip.
24:04 There you go. See how that all came down?
24:08 Good boy.
24:12 Colin must now get the trailer back on the road.
24:16 What we'll get you to do is we'll get you to winch it up.
24:22 You can see how the trailer is. So sort of get your truck in on the same angle.
24:27 Jason gets HR66 into position.
24:31 Okay, let's grab some line here.
24:34 A bit more. Okay, good.
24:40 Okay, give me lots of height.
24:43 But he needs to lift it high enough so the landing gear doesn't dig into the ground.
24:51 Did you get any more height?
24:53 F***ing lean on that thing.
24:56 There's a problem with the hydraulics in Jason's boom.
25:01 Come on, Howie made that truck sink.
25:04 Don't make me call Howie.
25:06 That's it. F*** it.
25:11 Just get this connected.
25:13 Winch that up.
25:16 And then just get it up into the space.
25:21 I was going to get him to pull the front end and I would pull the back end and we'd have it done and he could hook up and away he'd go.
25:26 But I basically had to pull the front end up myself.
25:30 Just kind of pull it ahead enough and just keep in this lane because when I pull it out I'm going to pull out of the way so that you can load it.
25:39 I'm going to pull this out with that.
25:43 Or that out with this.
25:46 Colin moves the rotator down the highway.
25:49 [Music]
25:54 Good?
25:56 Yeah.
25:57 Thank you.
25:58 [Music]
26:12 Colin quickly runs out of room.
26:15 I'm just going to have to get over.
26:18 He'll need the whole road.
26:20 I'm just going to have to.
26:22 You definitely want to keep traffic flowing. You don't want to have to shut the highway down at all for any length of time.
26:27 No more traffic northbound please. I need an off stop.
26:31 [Music]
26:47 Is it moving?
26:48 I'm moving.
26:50 On an icy stretch of BC's Highway 3.
26:54 I'm not pulling that. It's just too big for this truck.
26:58 A sanding truck has smashed down into the Skagit River.
27:03 [Music]
27:09 Like Colin, John's trying to prove himself. But he's struggling.
27:16 This is a job either for a rotator or for a heavier truck.
27:18 I'm hearing there's a new record coming in from the manufacturer.
27:22 It'll be nice to see a brand new record and see what that looks like.
27:25 But for today, instead of a personal victory, John's been waiting for backup.
27:32 Jason, you on here?
27:34 He can pull in right behind me.
27:37 Jamie's youngest brother, Jason, and his rotator.
27:41 Still blocking the ditch I guess.
27:46 The rotator will pull the nose of the snow plow out of the river while John's truck pulls from the side.
27:51 Then a second line from the rotator will help lift the plow up the slope.
27:57 [Music]
28:03 On these particular plow trucks you can have two plows. There's one underneath and they can attach one to the front.
28:07 What we do is we hook the chain up to the front plow pin.
28:10 [Music]
28:12 Are we ready?
28:14 Just bring it tight.
28:15 But the plow truck weighs 26 tons and the front end has sustained major damage.
28:23 The cab's twisted, it's bent. You can't predict that it's actually going to work.
28:29 Is that a rock?
28:32 That is, yeah.
28:34 The vehicle was parallel to the road. I wanted to turn it 90 degrees and take it straight back up.
28:43 We have a long way to go.
28:45 Want to bring your other line to here?
28:48 [Music]
28:54 Now you've got two winch lines hooking onto this truck. You're double your lifting capability and your power.
29:00 Right now we're going to stand her up really high and drag her up the bank.
29:04 The good news is the truck has spilled its heavy load of sand.
29:08 Brakes rolling?
29:10 Brakes are off.
29:12 The bad news, the plow blade was lowered when the truck crashed.
29:16 Watch out, Murph.
29:18 That belly plow's going to hit the edge.
29:21 We know that this particular plow truck was plowing the road when he went in the ditch, so that plow underneath the belly is going to be down.
29:31 They need to pull from a higher angle to clear the edge of the highway. For that, they need more room.
29:39 I've got the flag here to stop people. Tell them to hold all traffic for a second. We're going to pull this truck right across the road.
29:46 Hold your traffic.
29:48 Are we ready?
29:50 Yep.
29:52 Reposition the rotator to give us a little bit more lift, more angle. Lift it straight up over the bank.
29:57 Okay, well I'm going to keep going.
30:03 They have to hope the damaged sand truck's tow pin still has the strength to withstand the 26-ton pull.
30:10 There's no way I would have done that.
30:15 He pretty much dangled that truck away from the rocks. And up, up, up, up, up.
30:20 This is where it's going to get hard.
30:25 On Alberta's 831, trucks are backed up for miles, while Colin McLean wrangles a trailer onto the road.
30:44 Jason, do you want to lower the landing gear, please?
30:52 Okay, good. Good, good, good, good, good. Dave, can you unhook that chain?
30:57 It wasn't on the pavement. He was still in the ditch. And the trailer's still pretty heavy, hanging over the end of the bank.
31:04 With a trailer teetering, he needs to unhook and move to pull the back in.
31:11 As soon as I get out of the way, you can send traffic.
31:14 One last pull.
31:17 And hold free.
31:20 And hold free. That should be good.
31:21 Come on, princess!
31:27 Okay, we're good. Back up to this thing. Let's get this trailer out of here.
31:42 I feel really good. You know, that first winter job, that first rollover, maybe it took an hour longer than I would have liked.
31:49 Hold free!
31:50 But nobody's getting hurt. And nothing's getting wrecked.
31:54 Okay, in. Good. You got tires rolling?
31:58 What I see of Colin, I think he's come a long way. He makes the decisions, he's got a great work ethic, and he gets the job done.
32:07 Winter is here in northern Alberta. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and it's going to get worse from here on out.
32:17 So...
32:18 Back in BC, traffic is backing up in both lanes of Highway 3.
32:37 This is where it's going to get hard.
32:40 As Jamie's brother Jason, from Aggressive Towing, lifts a mangled sand truck.
32:46 But the truck's belly plow is digging into the edge of the road.
32:50 Okay, start tightening up your lines for me.
32:57 Tighten up the lines on HR50 to hold the vehicle in place, just in case something were to happen, and maybe it were to roll over on us.
33:06 It's coming in!
33:12 It's coming in!
33:13 Sure we're okay?
33:24 It ain't going to go backwards.
33:26 Anytime they come out, you're happy.
33:28 When the going gets tough, the tough keep pulling.
33:32 If we didn't have Aggressive there to back us up, I don't know if we could have got that plow up.
33:40 Okay, Johnny, I'm pulling ahead.
33:41 Back up to the front, we're going to hook it up, and we'll be on our way.
33:46 Road's open!
33:58 Looks like traffic's moving ahead.
34:02 I think so, because I see lots of trucks and cars going by me.
34:06 I see a lot of trucks and cars going by me.
34:07 The next morning, just east of Hope, BC.
34:17 It's a long day. It's a ten hour day to drive there.
34:21 Jamie is on his way home from his new base in Edmonton, but it's not a happy homecoming.
34:28 I'm heading back to Hope for an important mission that I can't miss, and that's to bury an old friend.
34:35 After a tough fight, veteran driver Bruce Hardy lost his battle with cancer.
34:44 Bruce had been sick for quite some time.
34:49 It's a really tough day that it's actually come and it's happened.
35:00 In the heart of town, towers from all over have gathered for a procession to pay their respects.
35:07 Bruce spent the war for me, really. He was just a good old soul.
35:16 I miss him every day, but he was a great guy and I looked up to him.
35:28 He was a legend. The last of that era, you know.
35:32 He was really the spirit of what this industry is really about.
35:40 These guys will leave their homes at any time, any holiday, and go do that job.
35:46 Bruce represented the rough around the edges, toughest as nails kind of guy to go out and do that work and help people.
35:57 Rest in peace, Bruce.
35:59 We gave him the best send-off I think any guy's ever got in this industry. I hope we did that.
36:19 [Music]
36:27 [Music]
36:32 What are we looking at on the Cope this morning?
36:35 A sudden warm front hits BC's coastal mountains.
36:40 We need to get home. We've got things to do tomorrow.
36:45 On the Coquihalla Highway, the snow from last week's storm melts into a thick layer of slush.
36:51 Drivers struggle through the slippery conditions.
36:56 And at 9.05am, just north of the summit, the highway claims its first victim.
37:04 We took the driver to the hospital just because he's got high blood pressure and he was complaining of some chest pains.
37:12 Just as a precaution, we want to make sure he's okay.
37:15 A pickup truck towing an industrial compressor lost control on the slick hill.
37:21 It ricocheted off the center post, then tore through the barriers along the side and down the bank.
37:28 It's a F-350 and a little utility trailer.
37:37 With Jamie in town, his new lead driver John wants to put on a good show.
37:42 Both tires on the truck are done. Back tires are shot. Didn't really see the front.
37:47 It'll be an interesting job.
37:50 It's a little slick, a little icy up top here.
37:55 It's a pretty bad corner here. It's a blind corner.
37:59 Everybody's got their foot into the gas as they're climbing up this hill.
38:02 You don't know who's going to do something stupid like actually hammer the brakes.
38:06 And then the guy behind him doesn't see, doesn't have time to react. Boom, now we've got another collision.
38:10 Look at this guy. Look out.
38:12 It's exactly what happened to Heavy Rescue last year.
38:15 Uh-oh. Look out! Look out!
38:17 On a similar stretch of road.
38:19 Today, John won't need to call Jamie's brother for help.
38:25 The newest weapon in Heavy Rescue's arsenal, HR-116, was dispatched an hour ago.
38:35 I had to bring 116 here in order to keep care of my claim.
38:38 It kind of sent a message out that, "Hey, we're here and we're not going anywhere."
38:42 There's the big truck!
38:44 The new 50-ton tandem wrecker has a long-reach boom that should help get the job done fast.
38:51 Buried in the trees, in the big rock. It's up against the big rock here.
39:04 Just going to try and find a good spot to, I guess, hook up.
39:08 This thing's punched right into the ground.
39:10 And I can't even get at the front end.
39:13 You're not getting through there.
39:16 So together we figure, "Okay, let's pull the trailer out first, and then we can worry about the truck after."
39:23 John chains up to the compressor to pull it clear, so he can get at the trailer.
39:30 Okay.
39:31 Check it off.
39:37 Just pulling the pipe out.
39:39 Oh, it is hammered on. Hang on, hang on, hang on.
39:42 It's attached to the trailer. It's actually bolted to the trailer.
39:47 Well, now it becomes another problem.
39:49 It's a big, heavy, heavy thing.
39:51 It's a big, heavy, heavy thing.
39:54 It's attached to the trailer. It's actually bolted to the trailer.
39:57 Well, now it becomes another problem we have to figure out.
40:00 Got a chop saw?
40:02 I don't know if we have any gas for it. I haven't checked to see how much gas is in it.
40:08 Gotta love it.
40:22 If it's not going by now, there's no gas, John.
40:24 Come on.
40:26 Well, yeah, it's got some gas in it.
40:37 Or not.
40:39 Just.
40:51 With the components separated, Heavy Rescue will have to haul the wreck out piece by piece.
40:59 There's a couple hooks right here on the corners.
41:01 It's adding time to the job.
41:08 Pull up.
41:10 A job John wanted done by now.
41:14 Can you pull him out anymore?
41:21 I have to prove myself to Jamie. He's the boss.
41:23 Cable down.
41:25 If you can't prove yourself to him, just move on somewhere else.
41:27 I was hoping it would have flipped, but it won't.
41:29 With the trailer out, they turn to the heaviest piece.
41:33 Now we gotta concentrate on the truck.
41:35 Whoa, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't do that to me. Don't do that.
41:41 Sorry.
41:43 Just a show.
41:49 Jamie Davis's new BC lead, John, and driver Phil are racing to finish a recovery on a blind corner.
41:57 We're gonna pull the truck out now.
41:59 Whoa, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't do that to me. Don't do that.
42:03 Sorry.
42:05 I didn't have tension just to keep me slow.
42:07 Sorry, John. I was trying to help you.
42:09 We're good. We're hooked.
42:18 Oh, okay.
42:19 Okay, pull.
42:24 Move all the way up.
42:32 All the way up?
42:34 Yep.
42:35 Keep going. Keep going.
42:41 Keep going.
42:42 Pull.
42:55 Slow down.
42:57 There you go.
42:59 Great.
43:06 Jamie shows up to see how his new senior driver is handling the job.
43:10 I wanted this out before Jamie got here.
43:13 I don't know what's taking so long in this job, but I gotta go up there and find out why.
43:17 That thing was down there. You needed a big truck.
43:21 You know, John, we'll see.
43:23 I'd put that chain right around the other side of the bumper like he's got it.
43:26 Over time, if he rises to the top or sinks to the bottom.
43:30 Hold it.
43:35 Okay.
43:36 Let your white one down and bring in your blue.
43:43 Down on your way.
43:47 Okay, so you can just drive ahead now.
43:51 Yep.
43:52 The past week has not been easy for Heavy Rescue.
44:01 Jamie now has a crew full of newcomers.
44:05 Everyone knows there are big boots to fill.
44:09 With all the expansions and the growth and new people, new teams.
44:13 Big mess, eh?
44:15 Yeah.
44:16 You're bound to have some kind of rough road to travel on.
44:20 Suck that bait and be right on the top and chain it.
44:23 Really the biggest challenge for me this whole year is to find the guys that I can put out in these trucks
44:31 If we tilt that deck down, we might be able to suck that right on the back end somehow, eh?
44:35 Yeah.
44:36 And they can get the job done.
44:38 Hey guys, cleared that wreck out of there.
44:41 Jamie Davis leads the day again.
44:45 Next time on Highway Through Hell.
44:52 A new highway presents a chance.
44:57 The road's calling.
44:58 And a challenge.
44:59 Overhead tire line's a pretty bad curtain operator.
45:02 Jamie's newest hire.
45:05 The wall's taken right out of the side of the trailer.
45:07 Fights a trailer split in two.
45:09 And Colin's mistake puts a rookie in charge of a major recovery.
45:19 free.
45:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]