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On Thursday night, i got called out to assist in the recovery of an overturned tractor-trailer. I do traffic control so i closed down a lane of traffic, on the interstate, so the wrecker crew has room to work. We we get called out, the wreck has already been handled by emergency crews. The tractor-trailer is off the road and is sometimes a few days old. I don't know the condition of the driver on this one.
I've been called out to assist with many of these. This one started off normally, just like the rest. My partner and I make the 100 mile trip to get out there. We set up the right lane closure on the interstate. It ended up being just over a mile long, which is about a half mile longer than the regulations call for but its in a curvy area so we had to extend it to where the road straightens to give drivers plenty of time to see it (we also have signs up to let them know the right lane is closed ahead.)
It's hard to see but is at about a 45 degree angle. The tractor is actually still connected but its facing downhill and backwards.
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There is a lot of equipment out here: 2 huge wrecker trucks, 1 large wrecker truck, a tool truck (a SWAT truck converted), a flat bed semi hauling a street sweeper and a skid steer, our truck and trailer, and a highway patrol car.
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The boom on these wrecker trucks have 4 independently controlled cables (only the 2 main cables were used). The boom can extend and retract, raise up and down, rotate and slide forward and back. The price take on one of these is around $600,000 (i asked). They are amazing machines.
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Oh yea, i forgot to mention......they are REMOTE CONTROLLED!
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They hook one wrecker to the front of the trailer and one to the back.
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They slowly and carefully work each cable. The front truck pulls it towards the road sideways (and keeps it from tipping over) and the back truck pulls it straight back. This is a very slow process and they constantly have to reposition the cables and, sometimes, the trucks. There are also obstacles like trees and the guard rail(whether is in the way or tangled in the trailer) that need to be cut.
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Slowly, they make progress.
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And finally, it's ready to be towed away.
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It took about 6 hours for them to complete the recovery.
** The Twist **
Remember the highway patrol car?
While all of this was going on, a driver cut into and was driving in the lane closure. I'm not sure how he didn't see all of the flashy lights but he ran into the patrol car. No injuries.
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I hope you found this interesting. Thanks for reading!
All photos taken by me.