'They have to be prepared at a moment's notice': Tow truck driver course offered in Canada for 1st time
It might be one of the most dangerous jobs on the road. Tow truck drivers enter the scene of a crash or weather event, and are needed to work their magic to pull vehicles out of precarious positions.
“They have to be prepared at a moment’s notice,” said Bruce Campbell, lead instructor for Wreckmaster. “For every hour of the highway being blocked because of an incident, it costs the commerce world about $3 million.”
Wreckmaster is running a five-day course that's being offered in Canada for the first time, and the 23 drivers enrolled are from across the country.
The team invited CTV News cameras to watch a demonstration of how they might lift a vehicle over an embankment or a body of water, by suspending it between two tow trucks some six metres in the air.
“It’s calculating all the working load limits, it’s calculating forces,” said Jeffrey Martin, another one of the course instructors.
“We have to understand about the working load limits of the rigging, the wire load, the chains, the shackles, and what the trucks can handle,” said Campbell.
And communication is key. The entire time the vehicle is being hoisted into the air, the team is talking, shouting weight numbers and making sure they are lifting in sync.
Martin experienced first hand what can happen if those communication lines break down.
“In 2017 I was on a job where the communication wasn’t as good and somebody pulled a winch when they shouldn’t have and I got hit by a trailer loaded,” he told CTV News. “Broke four vertebrae, 19 ribs, both my scapula, rotator cuff. (I had a) punctured lung, torn esophagus, spent six weeks in a coma while they rebuilt me. And that was from lack of communication.”
Wreckmasters offers training for rigging, recovery and incident management that’s used by not only the towing recovery industry but entities such as fire departments, the government, and the Canadian military.
“This is the highest level (of training) that we offer at the moment,” said Campbell.
He explained it’s an 8/9R (which stands for rotators) and it’s used in incident management for quick clearance of highways so the entire road isn’t blocked for long periods of time during a recovery.
“When you live in the city, it looks like 'Where would you ever use that?' But probably 80 per cent of our roads are not city roads,” said Adrian Scovell, president and CEO of Automotive Retailers Association.
“A lot of the work is semi trailers an they’re fully loaded an they’re tipping them over and lifting them back up.”
On the last day of the course, those enrolled must complete and pass an exam.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spring allergy season has begun. Where is it worse in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Record-breaking N.B. lottery winner kept winning ticket on dresser for nearly a year
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
Fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison
Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud that unravelled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world's most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.
A dog and a bird formed an unlikely friendship. Their separation has infuriated followers
Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. But in an emotional video posted online, Peggy’s owners announced that the animals had been separated.
Tipping is off the table at this Toronto restaurant
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.