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The I-95 Bridge Pileup Recovery · Towing News Now

• 0:26
  SPEAKER_09: The other is charming wife of many years, who also is the general manager of product supply.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_09: No other than West and April Wilburn.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_09: West and April, I turn it over to you.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_12: DJ, as always, I appreciate your kind words.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um looking forward to a great podcast today.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_12: We got a lot of stuff going on.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_04: Um we have a uh team that works together at three different companies on a major incident of 995.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_12: That'll be a great interview today.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_12: But before we get to that, DJ, how are you doing?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_08: I'm doing excellent.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_08: Uh for the listeners knowing, I'm trying to get braces for my legs.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_08: And next week I will know more, and maybe I can maybe I can announce that I got the braces on my legs next week.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_08: We'll see what happens.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_08: But I'm doing good, Wes, and I'm looking forward to this episode because there's a lot of people that could learn as these guys tell their story.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_08: We can all learn from what's going on.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_12: Guys and gals, we have a Oh yes.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_12: April, speaking of gals.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_12: April, how are you doing?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'm doing pretty good.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'm pretty good.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: This uh weather's going a little bit um schizophrenic one is we've had a couple cold days and plenty of warm winds, so I'm blessed for the warm ones and get ready for the winter.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: And just going back a little bit to this interview that we did with the three companies, it is guys and gals, and if you listen to this interview there's not one dominant person in this.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: There it's just like it was the most equal interview.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: I it's the most equal interview as far as everybody had their part to play in that bridge cleanup and they all were able to explain it to you in in a way that just when you listen to it, you're there on the bridge with them as we're going through their their their retelling of it.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: We're very, very fortunate and blessed to have them one.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: Also, it's a good indication of what it what it might look like to work together in the towing industry, and that doesn't always happen.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: So maybe that inspires inspires somebody to reach out to somebody in their area.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_03: But as DJ always says, it's gonna be a good one.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Together, we all make a difference.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_10: Today we got a great interview for you, listeners.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_10: Uh you may have heard about the incident that happened October 1st this year on I-95, you know, Main Street for the east coast of the United States.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_12: 69 vehicle pilots happened on the Lake Marion Bridge about the middle of the state.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_12: The incident involved 15 tractor trailers and 54 passenger vehicles.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_12: Today we have with us Coleman Bales with Princess Toeing, Ricky Baker, Baker Brothers Towing, Lauren Coleman with Caroline Towing.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_12: And all three of them are gonna were there on the scene working working the incident.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_12: And uh they're gonna tell us about their experiences.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: After we listen to this news class part.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_12: Not only the people involved in the accident, but all the emergency workers that work the scene.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_12: Today we have three uh towing operators that work the scene with us.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_10: Coleman from Princess Towing.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_10: Coleman, would you introduce yourself to the workers?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_11: Yeah, been working for Princess Towing for the last 15 years.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_11: Um, the last five being full-time and been in heavy hauling and heavy recovery, I'd say the last eight, nine years.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_10: Okay.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_10: Ricky, uh would you mind introducing yourself, please?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_12: Yeah, I'm Rick Baker, I'm owner of Baker Brothers Towing.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_12: Um we run several divisions on on heavy-duty towing and heavy hauling.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_12: Uh I've been in the business for about 27 years.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_12: Um, I've owned my business the entire time.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: And Lauren Yes, I'm Lauren Coleman with Carolina Towing.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: I grew up in the industry.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: My dad actually started this uh 30 some odd years ago, and I took everything over majority in 2015.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_12: Okay, great.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_12: So it looks like we got a lot of a good deal of experience between y'all.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_12: Um, Coleman, go ahead and tell us about your experience with um getting the call, getting on the scene, uh, networking with the others.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_11: So uh Ms.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_11: Lauren with Carolina Cilling reached out to us about assisting them with this uh massive wreck on the bridge.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_11: Um Mr.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_11: Ricky Baker, Baker Brothers, we worked real close with them as well.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_11: So when I heard what was going on, I started assembling crews to head that way between um environmental response as well as heavy duty recovery as and also just additional equipment for cleanup, skid steers, mini excavators and attachments and dump trailers.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_11: Um also uh organized the boat response too.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_11: Yeah, we also had a uh workboat sent up there to put into the lake to check for uh any release into the into water since it was on top of the bridge.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: So that's something I never um that's something I never I don't know why you were over a bridge in this water.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: It didn't even occur to me that that would be something that would be necessary, but obviously it would.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_11: Yes, ma'am.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_11: That's actually on the bridge it appeared to every about every twenty foot, every twenty feet it seemed like there's a straight runoff that goes stormwater runoff straight off into the into the lake.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_11: So um the the potential for it getting in the water.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_11: I mean, there was some stuff that did obviously get into the water, but they definitely the fire department and everybody on scene was able to limit that and then focus on make sure we didn't have any um secondary spills, I guess you would say, during the recovery efforts.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_11: So we had environmental standby on the bridge as well as different containments set up.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_10: How many vehicles did you all tow in total?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_12: Uh I would that's Rick Baker.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_12: I would um I would say we probably pretty much almost touched every vehicle that was on the bridge, I would say that we either with Princess's truck, Lauren's truck, with Carolina Towing, or one of our trucks with the Baker brothers, um, and then there were several smaller companies that were running light duty, but um, but everything that we pretty much were on top of the bridge, except for probably the first initial four or five vehicles uh we laid our hands on, helped hook up, helped get it out of there.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_12: Um as far as as many that we got towed out of there, Lauren would have that number on the actual ones that actually come back to um you know from the scene to our yards.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_12: Um Lauren has those numbers.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think we ended up with three five six tractor trailers, one being a car hauler with a vehicle on it, and then ended up with only six or seven actual light duty vehicles.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: So something else to consider when you guys are doing that type of a recovery, you tow first and figure out how to bill later.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: I I'm assuming, is that correct?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_12: Uh that's usually what the plan is.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_12: Yeah.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think anybody prepared for this kind of cleanup.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_02: And they had us basically towing everything to the rest area, and they were trying to still do rotations, and so the billing aspect on this is a little bit unclear.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: I imagine.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_10: Um, yeah, and that you know, it's a complicated situation.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_12: You know, I've seen many times like this in a in a emergency response, snowstorm, something something to that effect.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_12: They towed the vehicles to rest area, scalehouse or something, they sort it all out in there.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_12: How long did it take to to get the highway open?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_12: Uh so Lauren first got her first phone call early that morning.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_12: I think she reached out to me about 1030 um that morning, as far as what we could help and supply to her and assist, you know, with with trying to do recoveries.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_12: At the time that I think she was called and I was called, we really didn't know what our role was gonna be in helping with the recovery of the bridge and and getting that bridge back open.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_12: Um so at that point, but you know, once we get out there, you know, of course, you know, I'm there from probably eleven o'clock until three thirty in the morning, I would say.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean we I I left there at six the following morning, but we were still towing light duty vehicles then from the rest area.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_10: When when did you all get your first call?
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: We were gonna stand by what nine forty-five, ten o'clock, something like that.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_04: In the morning, AM.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_10: Um and w is the state police called?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_10: Yes.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_12: Was it a standard request or did they let you know they had something a little different?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: No, uh I don't think anybody had really gotten a handle at this point on exactly what was going on because I don't I'm sure y'all know they had to evacuate the bridge.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't think they knew the extent of it.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: When they called, they said they had a very bad wreck on the bridge at the lake, and we needed to go ahead and be put on standby and to start getting all of our equipment together and deployed.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: So I did know a few firefighters on scene and they were sending me a few pictures, but like I said, no one actually knew the extent of it because the bridge was being evacuated.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_12: So what do they request?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_10: Uh one uh heavy racker and a light video.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: They just said to get all of our equipment together.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: It was a very it was a very detailed phone call.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_12: Well, that's a that's that far for the course with the St.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_12: Luce Rasination.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_12: Now we're not too far away from, you know, we happen to be in Stanville, North Carolina, but we have listeners all over the country and all over the world, really.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_12: Paint a little picture.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_12: How many miles long is this bridge across that lake?
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_12: That bridge is one mile long.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_12: It's uh 4,000, almost 5,000 feet long.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_12: Yes, almost 5,000 feet long.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: I think emergency services told me from the Somerton side to the bottom of the R side was one mile long.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_12: All right, just to paint a picture for our listeners, and this is part of I-95, which like I said is Main Street, east on the east coast.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: And also to paint a picture, there's no emergency lanes on that bridge from everything that I read.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_03: So there's no getting over there's there's no grace on that bridge, from what I understand.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_12: No, the the only way they were able to get um some of the tow trucks and wreckers from the um north side of that bridge to the south side to help access it from the uh front side of the vehicles, they literally shut down the northbound lanes um with the help of uh DNR, uh, which is our depat department of natural resources.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_12: Um so they actually got them to shut the lanes down so they can come the opposing direction on the opposite side of the bridge.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_12: So this accident happened in the southbound travel lane?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_12: That's correct.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_12: And if that is its own bridge structure that's separate from the north northbound?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_12: It is.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_12: There's there's probably fifty, seventy-five feet of clear span in between the two directions.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_12: Uh you know, and it's just straight open water underneath of you.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_12: So it's not like you can go from one bridge to the other.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_12: They literally would have to go from one end down and come back from the opposite end to access um the vehicles and the people.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: They're actually in the process of building a new bridge beside it to tear these down.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: So they will be yeah, I had read that and also they would have those emergency lanes on those bridges too.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_03: It doesn't help you now, but it'll be good when it happens.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_12: That's correct.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_12: It's uh it's definitely well needed uh uh in that in that particular area.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_12: So So we did some research and we we're not we we we don't know this for certain, but it appears that this is probably one of the largest vehicular wrecks in the South Carolina interstate system.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_12: Did do any of y'all know ever know of a larger incident that was happening?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_12: So I I believe this is probably one of the largest wrecks um that I have known about.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_12: I know there was back in the 80s was a pretty large wreck down around um the Columbia area, somewhere around the 120 mile marker on 26.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_12: That now that was a pretty bad one and it had a bunch of fatalities on it.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_12: But I want to say that was a 40 or 50 car wreck then, uh but that was in the late 80s, and there's actually some news articles on that one.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um no, when we had our post-meeting, Billy with emergency services said that this was the largest in South Carolina history.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_11: And actually, Ms.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: Lawrence had some updated uh vehicle information amount to just some late some late breaking news.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: And so you guys are up to date on this.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I when I talked to you last week, Holman, you guys were doing an after action report.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like I talked to you on a Tuesday and one of you guys were doing the after action report, um, which I think is a phenomenal thing.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_11: Absolutely.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_11: Yeah, there was there was everybody in there from the hospital, emergency room, emergency management, highway patrol, dispatch, fire, and fire police chair, both both counties.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_12: S C D O T was there, the emergency management for the state was there.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_12: Well that's those after incident uh meetings are always excellent to help uh you know with uh taking anything learned and actually putting it into your procedures and whatnot.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_12: I can't imagine there was a lot to learn.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_12: Um so I I do have several questions for y'all.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_12: Just to so we paint a s paint in a listener's mind a scene.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_12: When each one of you arrived I w we'll just do uh Coleman Ricky Lauren.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_12: Same question.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_12: When you first arrived and got out of your vehicle, what was the first thing you thought when you saw everything in front of you?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_11: Coleman?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_11: Oh yeah.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_11: First thing I thought was whenever I finally got to the bridge and got up there to see it, it was uh you could only see the very front side direct.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_11: So when I first saw it, I mean it just looked like a few vehicles, tractor trailers all collided together.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_11: Obviously, I knew there was more behind it.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_11: So the initial thought was we need to get a bunch of equipment up here and start picking this stuff apart and assist Highway Patrol.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_11: They were calling, they were calling in a light duty or a heavy record to start moving stuff, but wasn't really a clear plan of who was doing what.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_11: So between the three companies here, we got up on the bridge and started working and assisting Highway Patrol with coming up with a recovery plan of what equipment was needed next and just taking action.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_11: But the initial thought was we got to get to work, and but as you in between where you would do a lift and get things recovered, we would walk back to keep getting a further and further game plan.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_11: It just felt like it would never end.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_11: I mean, you'd you'd walk back and there'd be four or five torque cars all in a row, and then a semi that's pushed the back seat of a car to stuff in the the back of the front seats, and then you go a little bit further back, and there's a a chip trailer, an empty chip trailer that you could walk completely underneath without ducking.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_11: Without ducking, because it was bowed up, looked like a horseshoe almost.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_11: Right.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_11: So I mean it was definitely definitely a lot of uh torped stuff on that bridge, and it it just it was hard to take in because you could only see it, we couldn't see it broadside, you know.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_11: You were just taking it straight on from the front, and you just have to slowly keep working your way back, and then so I think if we were able to see it from the side and saw how torpedo everything was, it would definitely be a little bit more significant, but it just felt like it was never ending.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_12: Ricky, your first thoughts when you got out of the truck on the scene.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_12: Uh so I got up there, it's kind of the same way, you know, Coleman.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_12: You just kind of look at it and you you don't really get to process the entire wreck as seeing it from the front side of a vehicle, and just some of the vehicles that we did see right there, you know, your first instinct is, man, you know, what these people must have gone through.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_12: And the thoughts that went through their head when these things, you know, these vehicles kept piling up and and they're probably hearing the wreck behind the wreck behind the wreck.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_12: And yeah.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_12: Yeah, for those you bring up a great point for those first people.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_12: involved in that accident.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_12: It probably went on for three, four, five minutes before, you know, the another one hit running in the back of the next one.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_12: I mean it must have been horrifying.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_12: Almost like a battlefield.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_12: Warren, your first thoughts when you got out out of the vehicle on the scene.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um the first thing I said was, oh wow, this is this is not good.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um I when I got up on the bridge, I actually went ahead and started videoing and I walked the entire bridge and there were spots that were hard to get through and you know to figure out but I wanted to go ahead and and look ahead to see what we were dealing with, make sure we had everything that we needed just to kind of look into the future but when I got to the end I knew that we were going to be there for a very long time and just kind of checking over everything to get a game plan together.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: And but like they said we saw the front of it and we knew we just had to start working and clearing everything out the best that we could but I wanted to make sure we weren't going to get you know three quarters of the way through it and run into something and need something else and be that far along and not have what we needed.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I went ahead and started planning down towards the rest of the rec.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_12: It sounds like three different companies work well together.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_12: Is this a situation that you all work together on a regular basis?
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_12: Uh it it is um I met Coleman and them I I I do a lot of pickup stuff for a company called Transit Pro.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_12: So my network of people is far extended beyond just my area of where we respond for highway patrol or dot um and wound up meeting Princess and them and Coleman through their yard picking some stuff up and uh it become a good friendship along with a great network between them and then of course the same way with me and Lauren and me and Lauren run almost the same zone so I've known Lauren and her dad um for a very I would say very long time probably 10-15 years.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_12: So we've back and forth over you know 10-15 years but as as the industry has changed and the demanding is much in you know much more and has increased you've got to learn how to network with other service providers they may have something you don't you may have something they don't uh you may somebody one of them may have manpower versus you know um someone you know like we use Coleman and them for you know rotator work when we definitely need rotator work or extra heavy duties.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_12: So it it's kind of one of the things if you're not networking I think you're falling behind in today's industry.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_12: A thousand percent we agree with that.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: Speaking of networking I want to run way too long we've got to take a quick break and you all hang around because we got some more questions for you also offer the vertical operator testing program covering light duty heavy duty electric and alternative fuel vehicles and we're back here with uh Lauren Coleman Whitney Baker and Coleman Boyle about this uh incident that happened in South Carolina October the 1st thank you glad to be here so I understand there were uh some updated numbers yes um when I left that following morning at 6 a.m I was talking to somebody from emergency management and I think we had had a total count of 91 cars well then at our our meeting last week after this whole thing it was in fact 91 vehicles total with 70 of those vehicles damaged.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_10: How many of those were the tractor trailers I think that twenty twenty or twenty two very good percentage so um what was the big w I wanna do the same question each one of you again.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_10: What was the biggest thing you learned out of this uh situation?
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_12: Uh I'll go first.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_12: Uh I think the biggest thing was make sure you eat your breakfast because uh that was a long that was a long day and um my I my I got family in in my business too my son and my daughter in law and all in and they actually were there helping um they actually brought me a Snickers bar but uh one of Coleman's guys was over there chomping at the bed a little bit so I I actually give it to him and uh let him eat at my Snickers bar.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_12: But it uh it definitely um makes you uh cherish the moments that you're at home because I can tell you probably about 10 hours into that thing I sure wish I was back at the house.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_10: Oh yeah.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_10: Yeah I can only imagine.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Lauren following up what Ricky said um make sure you pack a cooler um I think a lot of this is what we do a lot it just was very overwhelming with it all being together and like I said we knew we were going to be there for a long time um but I wouldn't say that really I don't think we've said we would do anything differently on how we recovered it.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know in our meeting we did discuss with High Patrol maybe how we would have handled, you know, how they had set up with some of the other light duty records coming up and just how the whole thing was set up.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: But I don't think anybody was I don't know if you would ever prepare honestly for something this massive that's probably true.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_12: And uh getting a p public private partnership as they talk about actually working out in the road sometimes can be challenging, I've noticed How how long were were y'all on scene for?
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: For about what, eleven that morning?
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah oh so seventeen, eighteen hours I was there from eleven eleven, eleven thirty until six o'clock the following morning however many hours that is quite quite uh eighteen years we were there almost twenty hours total so many same questions.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_11: Definitely piggybacking off of both of them is just ready to be done with it and get back to the house and rehydrate and get some fuel back in the tank.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_11: So but also what I learned especially by having the the meeting afterwards with everyone involved is we have a major incident like this to be able to come together, you know, just because we've the state of South Carolina or whoever's done it always done it this way I believe there's a lot of improvements that can be made in response to something like this and you know we're definitely going to see it through and assist and work with the state to try to come up with a better plan for a situation like this.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: Basically having like a command post of how to handle record services not so much of how we recovered things but just it was it it got to be a little bit chaotic at one point with trying to get instead of everything being towed to the rest area at first it was they were letting rollbacks as well come up on the bridge to grab cars as we needed it and it there was just a little bit of lack of communication in some areas.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: I can see that I can see that and like just for an example of what good good communication might be is where you Lauren when you came in you walked that bridge basically you assessed the situation and that gave you a very good perspective on how to move forward.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_03: And I think if maybe each person in each department of you know first responders could have maybe could have done that and then did a meeting with each other that may have made it go a little bit smoother but this is is it maybe a once in a lifetime hopefully event though with just much of a uh an accident happening.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_12: Yeah I would say I would say so.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_12: Um you know it it when when you network with a lot of people that you're used to being around and and then that same area you and the people you network with kind of have your back on making sure that some of the stuff that was done whatever else um like we did we did 100% of the cleanup from the start of the bridge to the back of the bridge.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_12: Now when you say cleanup what what are you talking uh petrochemical cleanup?
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_12: We we talking full cleanup rec debris tires chemicals um you know anything oil dry anything that was either used or come off of a vehicle on that bridge um we cleaned it up um as far as for instance telling me with Baker brothers in Long the Carolina um and it was a a a process that just you know when you're trying to you know for some people not wanting to sweep a shop can you imagine get out there trying to sweep a mile of bridge the whole bridge.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_12: So um so that's that's what we're talking about um you know just working with the other people and and so in this incidence they actually brought some people from several different county areas around um as we're on these different rotation lists and different zones we kind of know everybody in that zone and we work you know try to work well with them.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_03: So when you you go into another zone and you're working with them you kind of don't know them but I think in in the back of my mind I would if they were doing a lot of the work on the cleanup and everything else I think I might would have tried to reach out and try to work with that company and say hey listen I know y'all did you know all the cleanup is there anything I can do to help absorb this bill because obviously you know we can't charge yeah you know ninety something car cleanups on you know let's just say eleven vehicles um so it it was very uh exhausting to do that so that's a point I wanted to bring up is that when you guys when you guys are caught up for anything it it it let's it's a tire change or a jump start, which I don't know if you guys respond to that kind of stuff or not, but you don't really know how long it's gonna take you from beginning to end to get done.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_03: That's n not always factored into what is charged.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_03: But in something like this where it's hours and hours and hours later how many miles of backup did your one mile bridge cause when that accident happened?
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know if you know that or not but that's but but the point of that is is no car can go down that over that bridge until you guys get in there and clean do your cleanup.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: Getting the cars off, getting the trucks off and cleaning and cleaning up the bridge.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_03: And you guys always get paid for that.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_12: So that's all so we we we got a um a Tim's class and a Tim's guy that goes around all over the state putting on and it's a traffic incident management system.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_12: And so they go over some of those numbers for every minute that the interstate is shut down how many miles it backs up um and supposedly it's for every I think it's for every 10 minutes traffic will back up four miles.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_02: So they said in our meeting um because you know like we said you're over a lake here and the only detours that we have around that lake probably about an hour fifteen hour and a half around the lake um and in our meeting they said that it affected around forty thousand people no pressure on getting over forty thousand people for the deck for the whole day that's what they said I I would I I would say was probably more than forty thousand I would agree.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_12: I'm not I'm not a question but I agree as well.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_12: So those were those are some of the official numbers that we got so um and that was a roundabout what they had.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_12: Sure.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_12: Yeah there's there's Tim classes I've been to them there's their classes and they do have a lot of those facts and figures of of how much the interstate costs and how b things can back up and you know the other part of that of course y'all already addressed and the the severity of the secondary accidents that occur when the interstate stopped so so again each one of you same question.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_12: Did you interact with uh fire emergency rescue personnel at all during this incident?
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_11: Was there any definitely assisted us with fire personnel and emergency management assisted with you know make sure we had some some snacks to the bridge.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_11: I mean they definitely there's a bunch of people out there they were trying to keep said and as well as the people that were involved in the accident on the bridge.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_11: So I mean it was just um you know between them providing some uh a light tower for once we got into the night cleanup and you know pretty much they supported us however which way they could um and guess what they had.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_12: That's nice to hear did did you all help them at all with any tow trucks with people trapped or anything?
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_12: No, they um by the time we got out there they pretty much had everybody out of the vehicles and any extrication that had to be done which you know there were several vehicles that you could tell they had some pretty extensive extrication on.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_12: I can imagine how exhausting the extrication is but then you put in a half a mile height just let's just say just to the center of the bridge if one fire company comes one way and one fire company they still had to you know carry their extrication equipment all that stuff.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_12: Like Lauren said earlier some of them places was not very easy to get between the cars and get to the other side of it without you know sliding under something or or climbing over something or or hanging on to something.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_02: I mean we were right there on top of the water so so I it this bridge does not have much room for air at all.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_10: Yeah yeah it's an old bridge isn't it?
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_11: Yep.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_11: And I'll bring up another fact I mean it's October 1st but the high temperature for that day was ninety-three degrees.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_03: For an October for an October morning in South Carolina that's probably about average that's that's high.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_11: It was ninety three degrees out there on that concrete and yeah.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_11: Um that definitely played a major factor in emergency services as well as you know our cleaning up as well.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_11: So it's uh I would have took a a sixty five degree day any um a few times over but it was a hot out it felt good by the time we got about two o'clock in the morning.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_12: So what about interaction with the state DOT?
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_12: Did did any any of you three have any interaction good or bad with state DOT?
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: No they were on the bridge with us.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_02: I mean they pretty much as we cleared and went down, you know, they were right there with us.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think they did have a few people um helping sweep and stuff like that.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean they were just kind of going down with us we got through it.
• 40:17
  unknown: Yeah.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_11: They're still processing so as far as like the state police and DOT they're still processing for rec reports or toe slips and I mean it was definitely everybody out there stayed listening.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_11: And uh yeah I think at first at first they're kind of hesitant as far as the state police as far as allowing us to kind of get in there and help with the process um with coming up with the plan for the recovery.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_11: And uh after they saw you know that we're all there just to help them out and get the ball rolling and they started seeing progress it definitely definitely changed the atmosphere on the bridge sort of positive.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_11: You could tell that they could probably see the light at the end of the tunnel at that point.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_02: Well I think what they originally worried about is I'm sure you know where y'all are from you have we have rotation lists and you don't want anybody upset about rotations or anything like that.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_02: But when you get into this it's kind of hard to call in a different rotation for each thing.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know you have a record we had Prince's rotator on there and we were just kind of kept backing up and and clearing out as we could and once they realized that we were all working together that they just kind of let us take over and do what we needed to do.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_12: Boy that's good to hear is that is the way that that should be run is the local folks that know what's going on should take care of it and interact with people.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_12: And you are you are right it's a natural tendency with rotation lists and hey someone's getting more than me and in this situation it ain't about who's getting what it's about getting the road open for the public and it's good that y'all it sounds like you all approached it from that angle.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_12: Well it it kind of was I mean it was um I think at once we kind of got knee deep into the situation and was so far into it I mean at that point it's just kind of like okay at some point we're just gotta do it for the nature of the beast, the good for the wheel you know let's just get it done.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_12: Let's just, you know, we gotta get it done.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_12: I'm just you know I'm not one for just walking away in the middle of the job because I don't know if I'm gonna get paid or not get paid.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_12: So uh at that point, you know I just you know I and we in the mix of when we had a little break here and there which we're not viewing for but you know they were they were just it it was not much at all but I I think at one point we just all kind of was standing beside the skid steer and we're just like you know at this point I don't believe we're gonna get paid for everything we do.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_12: Uh and you know we all just kind of looked at each other and agreed but we're here and we're here for the long run and to get this road open up and you know and that that alone um kind of gives you a little bit more than than what money could ever you know provide for you.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_12: So well I agree with all of that but also I uh I'm gonna strongly suggest that if you don't get paid especially one of these traffic trailers on if you don't get paid for it that definitely should be an article to the local newspaper about the fact that private industry was out there and helped clear that road and the insurance is not paying whatever the situation is unfortunately that's uh that's a pretty common occurrence around here.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_12: Yeah.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's all over the country unfortunately.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_12: Yeah the the the trucking industry and and we see it well I'm not gonna say we see it more with trucking, we just see bigger numbers with the trucking industry versus the automobiles but we I mean it's Almost like a fifty percent ratio of getting stuck with the vehicle and the tow bill uh or getting paid.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_02: So But we still have everything well, the only thing we've released is one box truck.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_12: Yeah.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that's paid.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_02: Everything else is still here.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_12: Well and the lobster tails.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_02: We we released the lobster tails too, so yeah, they pay for the transload on that and then but the truck and trailer's still here.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_12: Yeah, it's reality of the telling industry nowadays, unfortunately.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_12: We uh we need to revisit this in a little while.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_12: You know I I'm serious.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_12: We need to we'll we'll try to help write an article or something.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_12: People in South Carolina need to understand that.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_12: Uh you all have been very uh gracious as far as I'm concerned the whole time we're talking pre in pre this interview and whatnot, to mention a whole lot of other people got were involved helping.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_12: Uh who can we who can you give a shout out to that was there on the scene that was I'd I'd like to give a shout out to Bob's Body Shop out of Manning, South Carolina.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_12: Um I think they were probably one of the first ones that was out there and got called.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_12: And then also um maybe uh Easy Go Towing also out of Manning, South Carolina.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_12: They were a light duty tow uh provider that um sent some rollbacks out there.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and then we have uh greens, they they were light duty as well.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um you already say Sunk Director.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_02: No, all right, Sunk Director.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_02: They um well they have one one heavy out there.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_12: Sunker, they come in right at the tail end.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm pretty sure they it was one or two heavies, yeah.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um Elite Towing, they're based out of Mont Corner Charleston, and I think they got what one or two owner requests from that.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why they were out there, and then Carolina Fleet also um based out of Columbia.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_02: They got a couple owner owner requests as well.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_10: Anyone else deserve uh mess mention?
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_12: Uh you know, your local fire departments and you know, and and of course, you know, South County, I mean DNR, which is Department of Natural Resources, uh, you know, all your local fire and police and all them.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean Arnsburg County Emergency Services for sure.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_12: So there was uh there was I mean it it was quite a few acts and American Red Cross, um they actually set up uh place out there for the people in the rest area, I think getting them food and drinks and different things.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_12: So uh they did offer us some food, but we were so much tied up in what we were doing, you just really don't have time to stop and eat.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_12: So right.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_10: So you I want to revisit something we discussed earlier.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_10: You all discussed cleanup and you said you cleaned up truck parts and whatnot.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_10: Were you also doing like cleanup like uh hazmat responder network?
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_11: Yeah, so we actually called out uh ES integrated to assist with any potential secondary release as well as the um come out there and get with emergency management to make sure that the water the waterway below was good.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_11: Um they stayed on scene with us for the duration to assist with any you know we had oil dry, bunch of engine oil, coolant, some fuel.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_11: Um so but yeah, ES integrated come out and assisted us, and uh we all worked together to get get everything cleaned up off the bridge.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_12: I don't even know how many bags of oil dry we went through out there.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_12: It was I think it was two pallets, and there's usually uh almost a hundred bags on a pallet.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_12: About two hundred bags of oil dry, and that was that was provided through uh Princess Toe and I think ES integrated brought some, we brought some and and Lauren and then had so I I think we used up about 200 bags of oil dry, and I mean so it's very nice that y'all give uh shout out and and uh thanks to the others involved and recognize the others involved.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_12: Um what would y'all like to leave us with a closing thought about this this incident?
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_12: Hey, uh I think on my closing thought on this thing, and and of course I probably two o'clock, three o'clock in the rest of the area standing there talking to Coleman um that night, and I just looked at him and I said, Coleman, you realize we've probably been a part of something that we in our lifetime may never see again.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_12: Um so if that doesn't tell you how big of an incident it was, that you know it's just it's something that people see on TV, they read about, they hear about, but I would say, you know, I bet you 50% of our industry have probably never seen uh accident to that magnitude, except for like up there towards you know the the Great Lakes or Canada or somewhere like that, you know, where they got these massive snowstorms and they're piling up like that, but that kind of wreck there just doesn't happen down here towards the south.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_12: Um so it it it definitely was an honor to even be called out there and be part of cleaning it up, but just something that you can remember as a lifetime, and you know, and I I actually got to do it with my son um that was there too.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_12: Now he may he may see it one day, you know, as because he's pretty young in the industry, so well I I hate to disagree with you, but the only thing I'll say is that wreck that size hardly ever happens anywhere.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_12: Yeah.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_12: And um again, not trying to be argumentative, but it's just it it just doesn't happen hardly anywhere.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe ten percent of the industry may have maybe encountered what you guys went through that day because not only was it the biggest one ever that you've seen, but uh the all the things that you went through together as a team to get that pulled off of something that unfortunately in our industry is not that commonplace, and that's people working together.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_03: I would love to see that a little bit more.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_12: Thank you, Ricky, for taking time out of your day.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_12: Coleman, your final thoughts?
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_11: My final thoughts is when we got done and got back to the rest here and got off that bridge was you know, I was just extremely thankful for the relationships that we built around us.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_11: Um, you know, and then obviously thoughts and prayers with everyone that was involved.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_11: So definitely um looking at the scene and recovering those vehicles, you can definitely tell you you just it's hard to believe that you know the initial report there's no fatality on the bridge.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_11: I mean, it was just hard to believe.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_11: And uh, you know, you had some people that were able to drive their vehicles away, they got brought back on the bridge and they didn't have a single scratch on their car.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_11: Meanwhile, there's you know, five or six total out vehicles literally surrounding it.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_11: And uh, you know, some like that one vehicle I'm talking about.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_11: I mean, I had two kids in the back seat of this Yukon and and the mom was driving, you know, and the car didn't get touched on one corner.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_11: And uh then you go, you know, twenty feet twenty feet, and then there's a completely burnt up pickup truck on you know, where there was people thinking about jumping off the bridge because of the heat and they couldn't get away.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_11: It's uh it just it just makes uh definitely humbles you and makes you thankful for everything and all your relationships and um you know it's an honor to be a part of it as well, as far as being out there to help clean it up and be a part of the community just like we all are.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_04: So that that's right.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_02: Basically following up the same thing that they folks said, um, I think when when I got there and when we finished, I realized that we were a part of something that made history and I'll probably never see again.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_02: And like y'all said, I mean, we this may never happen again ever, but I know I probably won't ever see it again in my lifetime.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I sat there and and was thinking on everything, just how thankful that I am to be able to to do this and for Ricky and Coleman and I my whole so I call it my circle, and I I couldn't do it without them.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_02: And they they helped me out tremendously all the time, not just not just on this particular wreck.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_02: And it just it makes you grateful.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_02: But like they also said, everybody that was involved, you think about what they went through in the start of this and how this was, you know, we we see it as we're cleaning it up, and I can only imagine what they went through as it was happening and right after it happened.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_02: So it made it makes you very thankful.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_12: One one other thing I'd like to leave this too is like Coleman said when we first got there, you really don't see the magnitude of how long this wreck was.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_12: So the following days after that, everybody that posted their videos from the northbound side that videoed the length of that wreck.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_12: I literally watched that and just was still in like shock and awe, just overseeing their videos and how big of a wreck this was.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_12: And I was there cleaning it up, and you don't realize it until you see something like that.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you were in the eye of the storm, so to speak, so it's it's kind of hard to see the immensity of what that might be, what that might look like outside of it.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_12: Well, it doesn't surprise me at all that all three of y'all took a very humble approach to your view because you're sharing your recollections with us, and we do appreciate y'all sharing your experience with us.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_10: And I'm serious, I want to be resonating with the music track trailer records.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_10: So on behalf of Telling Equipment Direct.com, we appreciate y'all coming in and doing the podcast with us.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_10: And all our listeners, I know it ran a little bit long, but we appreciate you staying with us.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_12: Hit that like, subscribe button.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_12: We appreciate y'all.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_12: The number one telling entry podcast with over 25,000 listeners, and I appreciate me and April appreciate everyone of y'all.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_12: Yeah, we appreciate that.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_12: April be uh