Several local companies worked together Tuesday and Wednesday to haul a Canada Cartage semitrailer out of a ditch just north of Williams Lake.
The truck, contracted to transport mail for Canada Post, went off the road left travelling north on Highway 97 around 3 a.m. Tuesday, March 26, landing down in a ditch behind a home on Commodore Crescent, said Williams Lake RCMP Staff Sgt. Del Byron, adding the driver suffered minor injuries.
Byron confirmed the road conditions were not icy at the time of the crash.
Caribou Interior Crane Services Ltd. co-owner Pat Blackwood said he and his son Tyler Blackwood brought in one of their folding boom winch tractors for the job.
“My son did the job, I just supervised for awhile and then left and went to another job,” Pat said.
Tyler said they rigged up to get the crashed semitrailer out of the creek and used Brian Bettles of Cariboo Towing’s truck to hold it so it wouldn’t tip over.
“Once we got it up onto dry land we moved ahead, hooked our winch up, moved the trailer and started towing,” Tyler said. “We took everything out in one shot.”
Pat estimated the semitrailer weighed about 30,000 kilograms.
“Those units are legal for 40,000 kilograms, and he was only partially loaded with mail,” he said. “We are set up for those types of incidents. We have two of those types of crane trucks.”
Cariboo Towing owner Brian Bettles said the recovery operation lasted about seven hours.
“It was not a quick process,” he told the Tribune Thursday. “It was a pretty difficult and tough recovery. We had to deal with a lot of mud.”
Bettles brought in two trucks — one small and one bigger one in case they had to pull out the larger crane truck.
“We had another crane truck on standby. There is nothing worse than getting into a job and not having enough winch power.”
Bettles said he first received a call at 3 a.m. Tuesday and when he arrived, he saw the driver walking and talking.
“He went to the hospital to get checked out, but he was OK.”
The fact the truck was upright after plunging down about 60 feet below the highway, Bettles said was “impossible.”
“It is amazing that truck never ended up on its side,” he added.
Skywest Environmental, was contacted Tuesday afternoon by Caribou Interior Crane Services Ltd. to assist.
Owner Jay Camille said they brought in 40 swamp access mats with a skid steer to create a path so heavy equipment could get into the area.
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The Williams Lake Fire Department also attended the scene, said Chief Erick Peterson.
“After confirming there were no injuries we proceeded to boom the creek to catch any potential fuel leaks.”
Bettles said Canada Post had security there at all times and some of the mail was off-loaded at Canada Post in Williams Lake.
Pat said the trailer was hooked up to another truck and hauled to Quesnel later Wednesday.
“We do lots of recovery like that for different companies and we work with other towing outfits,” he said, noting if the telephone lines had not been there on the side of the highway, they would have used a bigger crane and picked the trailer out and onto the road.
“But you don’t want to play with fibre optics. It’s very expensive. One of the biggest issues on that job was environmental.”
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