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Life on the Hook, Bridge Recovery from Suburban Towing · Towing News Now

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the American Tone Recovery Institute podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Remember this is your podcast to promote safety, education, positive public relations and networking within the professional and business minded towing and recovery industry.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I'm your co-host, dj Harrington, better known as the toe doctor, and my other host is Wes Wilbur, over 40 year towing industry veteran, the founder of American Tone Recovery Institute of Fayetteville, north Carolina.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: He has produced and conducted training and certification programs for leading towing companies, equipment distributors, towing associations, dot, fire departments, rescue, as well as military installations across the United States.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Wes has been published over a hundred times in major towing publications.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Wes has developed many courses, including the most recent awareness level course for all responders that specialize in electric vehicles as well as hybrid, natural gas and hydrogen vehicles.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Wes has provided insight as the main speaker for over 30 years at more than 900 training classes and has been recognized as one of America's greatest towing trainers.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: He is well known for his straightforward but down-to-earth teaching styles.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Wes Wilbur and his American Tone Recovery staff has developed an electric vehicle phone app, wwwevdesclevercom, with over 700 passenger vehicles and over 100 heavy duty vehicles, bringing you a new level of convenience for information at your fingertips for all responders and their groups Without further ado.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Here's my dear friend and a great back for our industry Wes Wilbur.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: DJ, as always, I thank you for those kind words.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Happy to be here today.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: We've got a great episode, Really excited about it.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Some of you some of you, our listeners might have been aware of the big recovery that happened last week with the tractor trailer dangling off the bridge.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: I'm proud to say we have the three Kentucky gentlemen who were the operators on the scene that day.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: We've got a great interview planned with them.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Kind of exciting, ain't it?
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Dj.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: It sure is these are wonderful guys that everyone in our country soared the bridge, the Cisco vehicle over the side, and this is wonderful.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: I can't wait to hear the whole episode here.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, me neither.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: That being said, I'll make short work of our announcements.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: We still have room in the Charlotte heavy duty tone of recovery with rotator class that's hosted by Hunter Wrecker and that's March 23 and 24.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Also on March 22nd in Charlotte, the Friday night we're going to have a free electric vehicle class geared for tele-operators and firefighters.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: For more information go to our website wwwamtowriorg.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: And we just did our March free webinar, first Wednesday of every month.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: We've got these webinars coming out with tele-operator information et cetera.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Give you just a couple more dates.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: We're going to be in Chicago May 3rd for that EV class 69, that's hosted by Lynch Truck, and the 4th and 5th will be there for a two-day heavy duty tolling and rotator class DJ.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I've got to tell you.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: I'm amazed We've got 26 people signed up for this class in May in Chicago.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: It's coming on, buddy, I'm telling you, numbers of classes have been perking up this year, so it's great to see our industry being involved in tele-operator training.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Speaking of being involved in the industry, I hope everybody listening to this podcast is making themselves aware of what's going on, with the letter from the Federal Trade Commission being included in the junk fee bill.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Did I say that?
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: right DJ.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Yes, it is the junk fee bill.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Now bye, bye Yep.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: By being included in that, and then also what the different organizations in the towing industry are doing about it.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: Our last couple podcasts.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: We heard two distinct, different sides on the subject.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: One of them was the Towing Recovery Association of America and what they're doing about it.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: The other one is a new organization that's coming up Open Roads Coalition.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: We have both sides of the coin on that podcast and I currently encourage our listeners to go and listen to those and make yourself aware of what's going on in the towing industry on a nationwide level.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Also, we should say there's other podcasts out there with different viewpoints and on this subject it's a big enough subject and it really matters whether you're a small town telling an operation or a big city.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: You need to pay attention and see what's going on and educate yourself.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: I can't stress that enough.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: I don't think I have anything else major.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: I do want people to start marking their calendars for the Estra Toe Show Empire State Toe and Recovery, june 6th to the night On the.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Friday night up there, dj, we're going to you need to askclevercom is going to sponsor a huge auction of old Toe Memorial, raising money for the association.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: I guess who's going to be the auctioneer.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: You.
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: You're surely I'm really excited to let me do it again.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: We had a great time doing it last year, eric from Big Wheel was in the audience, stood up and donated a seat to the class.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: We had a great auction at all the folks from Heinz Alert, Devin and Tom were there.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: They did the same thing.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, we're looking forward to it this year, and that upstate New York is so beautiful and cute.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: You know it's up there in the what is it?
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: The end of the round-deck mountains?
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: I believe it is.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: I don't know what range that is, but it sounds good.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's up there there, it's Lake Georgia, new York, and it's just below where Tommy Lucenna lives and it's about, I think, 50 miles from the Canadian border, something to that effect so, but it's a great show DJ.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: I think we need to take a break and get on to the real entertainment of the day.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: What do you think?
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, let's take a real fast break and we'll come back with the key people from Suburban Toe and Kai.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: The EV Clever app is an app created for all responders and emergency service personnel.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: The EV Clever app is the only app containing easy-to-navigate quick links to access manufacturers' suggested instructions for emergency situations dealing with electric and alternative fuel vehicles.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: While on the side of the road, that includes hybrid, fully electric fuel cell, compressed natural gas and hydrogen buses and heavy trucks.
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: These quick links are a convenient way to access information quickly.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: To date, we have a total of 784 passenger vehicles and a total of 167 heavy-duty vehicles.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: This number is growing daily.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: We have a dedicated research team that is constantly adding more vehicles to the app.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: The information is accessed from available manufacturer-provided emergency response guides.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: We access this information and process it into an easily accessible app that you are able to conveniently access on the side of the road.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: And that, my friend, is how you put all the information you need at your fingertips with the EV Clever app.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: Go to ev-clevercom and download yours today.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: You have been listening to the American Toe and Recovery Institute podcast with Wes Wilbur and DJ Harrigan Every week.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: We try to do our very best, like the one we're going to do right now with suburban toes.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Please remember we are available on Spotify, itunes, bandora, stitcher, iheart Media, amazon or wherever you get your podcast.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Without further ado, wes, we got them primed.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: I'll turn it back over to you.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Thank you, dj.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Our in-studio producer, april Wilbur, informed me that the website for the New York Toe Show is Estra ESTRA, which stands for the Empire State Toeing and Recovery Association, so the website is EstraToeShowcom.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: So, and there's only a couple of our siteers, it will be if there is one.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: Very excited and proud of this interview.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: I know all three of these gentlemen, I think they represented our industry very well, last week this incident that happened.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: I believe truly in my heart that that accident happened for a specific reason to draw national attention to the importance of having professional toeing and recovery hereby when incidents like this happen.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: And I'll talk more about that, but I'm going to stop clapping my jaws because I'm very proud to introduce these three gentlemen from suburban Toeing.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure what the ranking officer situation is here so I don't know who goes first.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Jeff Justin Stan, I'm not sure what is who goes first, it don't matter.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Well, let me get each one of you guys to introduce yourself, and you would please.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Jeff Edwards, 29 and a half years in the Toeing industry.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: And Jeff, how long have you been at Suburban?
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: I've been there working on three years.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Gotcha, me and Jeff go way back the last rec master week long that I was at working.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: When I worked with rec master, jeff was a student and that school had a lot of outstanding character students and I say character with a smile and there was a group of us that congregated and club two, six, six and he was one of them and we really had a time to know each other.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: That we.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: And then the other thing, jeff, I want to bring up is you were very helpful to me when I was starting my career out on my own, and some of the schools you attended you were very helpful to me and I'll never forget that.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you, and blow the way, well you know if you think about things and whatnot, the that's.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: that's when I thought come for you so sincerely.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: So we're doing alphabetically just in your next.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Okay, I'm just in shape for with suburban doing.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: I've been in the Toeing industry for 35 years roughly and how long have you been with Suburban?
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: I've been with Suburban just about two years and stand up last but not least, and staying sailing, I've been with Suburban since about 96, started grabbing an evil call and worked my way up to 50 gun rotator.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: That's very impressive, that many years of service to the great company.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: So you a lot of experience on that bridge at night, oh yes.
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: And I say I say that night.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: It started in the day, but why don't you all start telling me the story?
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Oh, and here's one thing that I just found out Apparently, the original investigation for this accident was a stalled electric vehicle in the lane, and then I heard, also heard something about it.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: A grassland pickup driver, but you know for a fact or had you heard, it wasn't a stalled electric vehicle.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: There was a news article that was just out the other day that spelled out everything about it.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: I had heard that story, but I didn't want to harp on it until it actually came out.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Yes, it is a story.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: Well, electric vehicles take up a lot of time here at our organization.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: So it did it like that Again.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: I almost think this was a message from guy trying to get some folks in America to wake up and see what's going on around.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: But anyway I digress.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: So who was first on the scene?
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: How was the call dispatch?
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: We want everybody who wants to know everything.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: I was first on the scene.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: I was, uh, I was called by dispatch, so I was in motion and I arrived there.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: The fire department wanted somebody on scene in case the tractor trailer started to slip and Justin arrives.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was second on scene and then we wound up calling in the third unit after we got the vehicles and stuff out of the way.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: There were three vehicles that were involved in that previous accident that you were talking about, or initial accident, I should say, because I think the pickup truck actually hit the commercial motor vehicle at the same time.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Okay, and I'm assuming that's what caused her to be off to the left.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: That lady, she took one heck of a ride there.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: She had definitely had somebody working out for her.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: The good Lord was looking out for her, as well as everybody else on the scene that day I was just going to say the good Lord was looking out for all of us that day.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Amen To make a perfect rescue by the local fire department for her to get her out of that truck.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: The placement of the bridge itself was an obstacle.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: All the metal work around the bridge, the steel structure around it, the cage around it, made it a major obstacle for us to work around.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: But at the same time, there being a pillar section underneath the bridge where the two bridges combined really worked out in our favor too.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: That way you're not putting all your weight right in the center of a bridge section but nothing's standing underneath of you.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: That column that was under us really helped us in our favor and it had a really nice platform on the bottom.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: That was a good help for rigging out on for helping us rig it's a way to allow you there.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, it would have made it easier for Justin.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: I was okay with it.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah if I was on that deck.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: I would want to be one going down to hook onto that platform.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: And I want to come right back to that platform.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: before we do that, Let me ask you that you made mention of the being under this bridge.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Support Was there.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: Was it DOT there quizzing things or you all just taking about your footprint?
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: and the ground pressure.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: They had their fair share of questions towards you and the DOT.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: That's where our industry really shines as far as this kind of recovery goes.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Those people they immediately think we're going to call crane in.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: And then they don't think about the fact that they're going to call a crane in.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: They're going to put this huge crane on that small of a footprint on a bridge that probably shouldn't have the crane alone on it, plus the truck that weighs 65,000 and hanging off the side.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: And that's where our industry really shines at today.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: 30 years ago we couldn't have done this kind of job.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: Today we can.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: We have the best equipment that money can buy.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: Urban Agena Johns.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: They spend all their resources that they can spend on the greatest equipment for us to use and I've watched that from afar it seems like they've attracted a lot of talent not just you guys, but seems like a lot of quality operators at that operation.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: We do have a very good crew.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: I gotta say that it's not a good crew.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: We like to keep it to All right, so let's go back to the exact details of the recovery.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: So, stan, you're first on the scene.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: What's the first thing you do when you say it, did you hook onto it before Justin got there?
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: No well, the part of our request is a record in case they were slipping.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: It didn't never slip after while they were doing the extraction from.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: From the driver.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: So when Justin pulled up, we were still on hook promise.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: So when Justin walked around, got a game plan to secure it.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: While we waited on Jeff to show up, justin hooked to the rear of it with his boom and cables.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: And we wound up lifting the.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: What we wound up doing was we we put the two rotators in place on the front side that were reaching out, the two rotators where you had your binoms going out over the sides to basically do a slingshot where we lifted it straight up in the front.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: But at the same time, the only thing holding that truck and trailer in place was the rear corner of the doorframe assembly, the header assembly for the doorframe.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: When that raised up and that trailer was approximately about 30 feet straight up in the air from the, from the ICC bar down to the ground.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: So essentially, what we wound up doing was the rotator was in the rear of it, lifting on the back of the trailer and also using the drag winch to winch the whole trailer and truck back up onto the bridge deck once the front end started coming up high enough.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: Okay, and we got, once we've got our initial lift.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: So you have two, you got hooked, you're hooked to the back.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: You got both of you on either side rotated out towards the cab through the girders right.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm, great, just trying to describe it the best I can for a listen.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: I don't want to circle back to hooking it up in the platform too, but go ahead Go ahead.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: The third rotator, the one on the rear of the truck, was 90 degrees.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: It was in lane working 90 degrees off the side, you know and the other two rotators were extended out over the sides of the bridge, probably at like a 45, coming off of the corners of the trucks, more or less, and you guys absolutely had it.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Thread the needle on the iron truck of the bridge.
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: Oh, that's a good one that would be, an accurate description?
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I'm glad that you tried them too?
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I know.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: Yes, I can imagine that's correct.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Go ahead, though.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry, I interrupted.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: I just want to paint a vivid picture of the cab for our listeners.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: You know the communication that we had that day between the three of us operators.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: And also I want to mention we had another gentleman there that was there or he's our operations manager.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: He was Jim Knight.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, his name is Jim Knight.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: He was our scene safety supervisor on the scene that day and you know he's also got 20 something plus years, and so we had over 100 years of experience with the four of us on that bridge that night.
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: But when we initially got our first lift, you know we were.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: You're basically lifting that whole 65 straight up in here Because trailer is.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: It's all standard vertical.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the trailer and truck are almost facing straight down towards the river.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: If you look at a couple of those pictures, there's a really good picture of the left side of the tractor and you can really see how that was just facing straight towards that river and you're 70 something plus feet above that river too.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: One false move, one little lapse and the outcome could have been so much different.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Right, Absolutely, and I thank God it turned out the way it did.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Wes.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: I will attribute everything to teamwork and Justin alluded to it our connection, our headset, the Sometics phenomenal.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what a different job that have been without headset.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, oh yeah, screaming back and forth to each other.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: I remember that days.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: I don't want to go back.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Me neither Me neither you can talk to each other and you can hear what's going on around you.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: We gotta take a quick break, but when we come back.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: I got questions.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: I want to get into the nitty-gritty.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: I know there's people listening in the industry.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: I want to talk about how we're hooked where we're hooked, the whole thing.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: And also remind me when we come back.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: I want you to describe the truck and trailer was uploaded, et cetera.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: Just so, the crowd was stretched.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Okay, Sure, so listeners hang around, you guys hang around, we'll be right back.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: Information in this podcast is made possible by generous sponsorship from Henry's Rekker.
• 22:10
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• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome back listeners.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Of course you're listening to a special edition of the American Towing Recovery Institute podcast.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: We are privileged to have from suburban towing Stan Stanley, jeff Edwards, justin Shaper and of course I am so glad they remembered to mention Jim Knight who was the C safety supervisor.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: But we have over 100 years of experience and I want you listeners to remember they thank the owners, heroin and Gina Johns, because it's those people that own suburban that make sure they have the best of the best for these very experienced people.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: So we're proud and I know our listeners are proud of all of you.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: We saw it on television, we saw it on YouTube and that's a privilege to have you on our podcast.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: So, wes, I'll turn it back over to you for more detail.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: Privilege is the right word, DJ so for our listeners that haven't seen the pictures.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: Can we start out with just a description of the unit that we're working with?
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: I understand it was local food delivery.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: Yes, it was Cisco Foods and the A-Cab Signal Axle.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: Volvo Tuxer trailer reefer liftgate.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: Probably a good thing.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: It was a reefer unit.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: Yes, I think if it had been just a regular box it would have ripped the box and fell down.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: I gotta believe that would have been so.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: So I'm not sure which one you'd call on, but talk to listeners through a little bit of the rigging and anything you can share like that from the technical side of this job.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: That will be, justin.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: Okay, the rigging part of it you know, just like Jeff alluded to when we were on break there.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: It's not how you hook to it, it's a matter of where you hook to, where you can hook to, exactly because the places that you would like to hook to are hanging out there 30 blocks feet away that you can't reach to them.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: So the truck is hanging on the fifth wheel of the truck, with the rear of the frame embedded into the fifth wheel plate, with another simple fact that really kept that thing there together was the fact that that fifth wheel was a rigid mount fifth wheel and not a slider had it been a slider fifth wheel.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: We have seen so many sliding fifth wheels break under very minor accidents in jackknights lately.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: The slider assembly just don't take any kind of pressure, not like this fifth wheel, rigid mount on the sides, and that was really a game changer in keeping the truck and the trailer together.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: So, that being said, the only thing we could really do is, once we got our recovery bin stretched out where we needed them to stretch out to, the only option that we had was going to the corner pockets on the front of the trailer plate with a foundry hook, and the only way to do that was just to get it, get it everything out there, and then those guys Thread it there wide down to me where.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: I was on the platform on Observation there.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: I don't even know if you want to call it an option, but it's like a catwalk underneath of the One with the bridge level down at the bridge, yes, like on top of the pillars, like on top of the bridge pillar itself.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Service platforms is what I've heard of referred to.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure that's a great name or not, probably is.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: And the only way to you know what we did was we have those long reach hook tool.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: You know hook.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: You know adjustable sliding poles and we took Stanley's pole and my pole when we stuck them Next, you know, right next to each other, and I sat there and I taped them with with a roll of black tape To get them, you know, wind up to where.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: I could have enough to, where I could have enough reach to reach out there and just guide the, the foundry hook, into that pocket.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: And that's actually eventually how we did them on both sides.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: The right side was a lot easier than the left side, but the left side was I mean, it was, like I said, 30 something feet away From from anything.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: It took all three of us to get it hooked.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, it did, and this is a hit, that talking, because we're getting to see each other right.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: So foundry hook for the win.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Again, that's what those things are handy, aren't they?
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir, we find so many things that you know, just in every day and you're in your lifting and your recovery work, that that's they really.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: And they really came along, you know, for us at a great time, and Now we've been, we've been using them for 15 or plus years, but they're really starting to pick up a lot more, making fit in places who paint?
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: Yes, right, hearing that one more.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: So that you say you hook to the back of the trailer, the front of the trailer for the first live.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: I took it up a little bit.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: That's where y'all basically had all the weight spent it between you and if someone's gone wrong, I think Would have gone south.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: That's what you talked about earlier.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: Right, that's that point.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: Well, at that point, honestly, we were still, we hadn't moved it.
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: But it's like Justin stated, once it moved that first half foot, we knew we had it Right.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: Right, because because Justin was hooked with his bone in his drag, picked up and pulled down To keep it from sliding farther as long as the deck didn't keep breaking.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: But with me, and, but with me and Stanley picking up on the front of the trailer.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: There is a.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: There's a I want to mention.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: There's a sidewalk on the side of that bridge with and DJ that it's about a six foot wide, so section of sidewalk which is not it's part of the bridge but it's.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: You know, it's not like a drive, like a like and that two inches of concrete.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: Exactly, it might have been three inches, four inches there, I don't know, but it was it was.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: It was then because the truck that's what the dolly legs of the tractor, of the trailer Actually poked through that bridge deck, folded up and caught on right they were there both for that.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: Under bad river tank?
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: Yes, but the river stayed running the whole time.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: Yep, yeah, boy, that's the first class service there, dj.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: So you got you all made that, got a moving six inches and then how far did you move before you re-hooked?
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: We got the.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: We got the tractor tires up to the sidewalk before we re-hooked.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: Yes, that, that way we could get to the tractor frame itself.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: And you know, we just kept bringing it back.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: We, I brought it all the way back where we were, where I was bringing it to me with the drag winch.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: I Brought it all the way back, I mean literally like five inches from my truck.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: And then Once that, once we got it to that point and I released everything off of it, moves my truck to where we could bring it all the way 90 degrees onto the bridge completely.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: And once Justin re-hooked, I released, brought my boom in and came around on the other side of a garter, then re-hooked.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: And then that family, that family was right, yeah, right behind us with the same kind of movement.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: Once we got, once we got that all done, then we brought his boom around in back and you know, that way we're back and we're Working directly off the rear of our trucks at that point, or those two guys are working off their rear of their trucks, so you've got the thing entirely on the road At this point.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: Is that correct?
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah so what?
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: Happened next was there.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: We didn't lose a single piece.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: We didn't lose a single piece of any debris off of that truck.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: It everything came back up with it, and when I say everything, I'm talking about the hood that was dangling, hanging by a finger, essentially on a bumper bracket or something to that effect, and when the boat won't hold my hood on it.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: And I and I was amazed that it actually came up with it.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: I fully anticipated that hood by the initial looking at it.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: I Anticipated that hood just dropping and dropping straight into the river, even bumping the sidewalk three times.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they still came up.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: Yep, and was there a presence in the river keeping people away?
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: Or there was?
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: yeah.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the Coast Guard, police and fire, I think all had boats in the real.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: Three of them were there, so once.
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: Got it up on the road?
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: was it hook right up to a total way?
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: And they want to.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: The authorities want to inspect that first.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: How did that play out?
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they did their.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: They did their initial Inspector, their initial.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: You know, they're their pictures and their Investigation part before we, before they, actually let us move in and start working.
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: But once we got it up on the deck we flipped it back into the trailer around and Rock brought the front end back up, you know.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: Then Stanley was able to lift on the front of the truck and swing it right on around, set it down in the lane and I Don't think they they they looked at the, they looked at it a little bit, but I don't think they did a whole lot of inspection.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: They waited till go after it was in New York, I don't have a drain the fuel out of the reefer than it finally died.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we, they pump.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: The reefer had a small tank, a small fracture in the fuel tank.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: So With they pumped the pump to fuel out Where's the unit.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: Go back to the old line.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: Yes, I, how long did it take?
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: What time we?
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: What time?
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: First time seen, and how did y'all clear the scene?
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: We were out there roughly 10 hours is what we were, you know, from call out to get in a, you know dropped in our, in our yard.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the time we got cleared?
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we were kind of watching, you know, making national news, and then it was going on and I was like wow, it's taking a lot of time and then I, you know, started filing the story, realize what was going on or whatnot, and the full details, and there's a person in it, et cetera.
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: I know it made it Puerto Rico there's.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: There's a lot more involved with and not with with your experience and your knowledge in this industry.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Yes, there was a lot of time involved, but this wasn't just a rollover or a crash.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: Oh my God, this is 60,000 pounds, a hundred vertical, hanging vertical, sorry, off of a bridge with you know, I believe we limited access.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: Well, in my 29 and a half years, I've done stuff hanging off of overpasses where, oh, if something went south, you learn from experience and you went down to the lower deck and you cleared it up, but this is hanging over a river, right, you got one shot.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: This is your, this is your one claim to fame.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: This is the one thing of lifetime Absolutely it is.
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: There's helicopters, drones, there's you.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: You've got so many cameras on me.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: You, just you have to make this work.
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: It has to work, yeah, you know we want the social media content makers that were hoping to bring y'all were going to fail Absolutely.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: Okay they were wanting to see the failure.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this, but I've categorized this as being our eight-ton of 500, our Super Bowl, our World Series, our Kentucky Derby all wrapped in one.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: As far as us and our in our towing industry, we will probably never see another job like this.
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: As long as we, as long as all of us live, all of us on the phone are listeners.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: Yes, correct, maybe, but maybe not, you never know you never know With this factor driving what it is today and EV the Equestralia out in.
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: Lanes with all that mix.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: Who knows?
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: Hopefully not.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: I hope not.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: Well, as I've always said never wish an accident on anybody, but let's face it, every day they happen.
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: Somebody with a skill and an interest needs to be there to clean it up.
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: That's definitely who you three gentlemen are.
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: You decade.
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: The dedication of the industry alone speaks for itself.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: Yes, the sad thing was Justin prompted me to say this the other day I know nobody in the towing industry not in the towing industry is not listening to this podcast or not going to listen to it.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: But folks slow down and move over.
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: Give us, give us a little bit of space, absolutely Yep, and the to our operators out there.
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: I hope everybody knows I believe in slow down, move over as much as possible.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: Also believe in being proactive and get yourself on that non-traffic side as much as possible.
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: But there's a time where you're just you're there because you have no other choice.
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: Oh, I know.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: I know and I'm sorry I got distracted from half a year in the studio.
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: You know that non-traffic side is much as possible, and when you're on that traffic side, have your head on this level, absolutely.
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: And I'm not picking on anybody when I look at any points, but I definitely see my fair share of situation.
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: There's no reason in the world, for them not to be out on the other side, correct?
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: So I just want to make sure that we're being as proactive and move over slow down I hope people, more people pay attention.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: We need to hear from you.
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: You all do, you do some more.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: No, don't.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you guys, and you know the thing of it is.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: I am.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: You know, collision is a three of you with all your experience.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: You remember gym night, which I thought was great, but the nice thing you said is, you know, suburban towing started back in 1969 and Ergen Johnson is like Gina, they're wonderful people, but they made sure you had the right material, they made sure you had the training.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: So I hope that a lot of owners that are listening to this podcast understand equip your team with right equipment and professional training, and that makes a difference.
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: So when a chaos like this happens, you're there because you were trained.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: It helps.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: Hey, when you guys said, you know, while the police were there doing their thing in the fire department, it gave you time to put together a game plan.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: And that's the magic word West.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: It's the game plan that these pros put together.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: I'm so proud of each and every one of them.
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: Because one thing we failed to mention was this was teamwork, teamwork.
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: This was not an individual accomplishment.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: This was true, true teamwork.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: It was great teamwork and the team work made the dream work.
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: Let's give a shout out to some of the agencies involved.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: What was the police agency on scene?
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: The Louisville Metro police and Louisville fire.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: Yes, louisville UMS, hi and his state patrol participation, kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: We're doing everything we can to help the people in the city do all that, but we're so proud of that.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: That was it.
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: I was going to say the Coast Guard, which I think is a branch of the LMPD, local Metro Police Department.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: So they were River Patrol, yeah, that's.
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: River Patrol.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: And they were all professionals of the organization that you dealt with.
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: Yes absolutely.
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: They're all very professional.
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: That's good.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: That's good.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: We definitely appreciate the agencies working with Tell Recovery.
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: Some parts of the country you don't see that as much and some parts of the country as that had happened, that would have been a disaster because of the fact of the communication between organizations.
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: So good to see it happen in a part of the world without communication, and teamwork is key, absolutely so.
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: Each one of you give me your final thoughts about the experience.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: Anything we missed or how do you represent this to your mind as you go forward?
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: It's a once in a lifetime and there's definitely one from memory books.
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: I mean you dream about this, but here it is.
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely once in a career of recovery, a big learning experience for everybody.
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: You hope it don't happen again, but you still like to see it happen again.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: It's almost surreal.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: Now you think about it and you wonder if it even happened, because it's such a blur now.
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: Everything.
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: Just it went so fast.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: I shouldn't say it went fast, it just felt like it did A week and a half later.
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: It did go fast, but the four guys, the three guys and myself you couldn't have asked for a better team to do this job with, and I would do it again tomorrow with those same four guys.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: Likewise, everything matched.
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: We get along really, really good.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: As far as the group goes, it's all about teamwork.
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: That day everybody was different, a little bit sharper or more keen state of mind.
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: I guess you could say it was a focus.
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: We're focused on getting that up and you cannot.
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: Failure is not an option.
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: So, that's where it worked.
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: And the good Lord looked out for us that day.
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: He really did.
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: Amen to that.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: Amen to that, absolutely, DJ.
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: It's been a pleasure to have the Kentucky gentleman on here tonight, hasn't it?
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: It has been a real honor.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: A real honor I always tell you I'm honored to be your co-host.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: But I've known Justin a long time and this team that works at Suburban.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: They're wonderful human beings and everybody in the touring and recovery industry look up to him and it was teamwork done by them and Jim Knight just a wonderful group of people.
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: Absolutely Well, gentlemen, I certainly appreciate you taking time out of your schedule and doing this interview with us and the practice interview that we did, and everything.
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: I really appreciate it.
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: I also have an appreciation for it.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: Not only you shared with us very honestly your thoughts and shared your fears and concerns, but all of you seem to have remained very humble about it as well, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate that Sometimes in the touring industry, success and humbleness don't go hand in hand before they start to seem like it does with you, gentlemen.
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: So thank you, appreciate you taking time, dj, appreciate you.
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: As always, our listeners make sure they remember if they like what they hear, to like us, share us If you haven't subscribed please give me a click.
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: I really appreciate it, DJ.
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: You got any final thoughts for us?
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what Wes you could.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: If you want to hear another professional group like the ones from Suburban, dial our hotline number 706-409-5603,.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: And Wes Willburn.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: Dj Harrington, the co-doctor, will be proud to put him on the air, just like we did with Suburban and Wes.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: That's my final word, and I know you always want to thank our listeners.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: This is the fastest growing and the most listened to podcast in the touring and recovery industry.
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: I'm proud to be part of it.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: Thank everybody, be safe and God bless.
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: Thanks, gentlemen, thank you.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: Music plays.