Emergency Calls at All Hours

Truck Shop

Truck Shop

Well-known member
Years ago in the 80's I operated all classes of tow trucks at all hours and all weather conditions. During the winter It seemed like I lived on I-90 especially on
the Rye Grass grade, the top was mile post 125 the bottom was at Vantage Wa- mile post 136, 5 to 6% grade the whole way. I spent more time on that
stretch of road than any where else. And I still remember 90% of the wreck scenes I worked. This was one of them.


I was called at 6:45 PM on a Sunday to run to MP 134.5 I-90 east bound to clear logs or lumber I was told from the freeway. So I took a 4x4 chevy with a
Holmes 500 unit, I figured I would just drop the sling and push it off the road. Well when I got to the scene it was much more than lumber to clear.
A young man driving a International COE with a 6V92 and no jakes got in trouble descending the east side- it got away from him- he kicked it in neutral
and tried to out run the grade. Washington State patrol estimated the speed when it layed over on its side going through the last corner at 110 MPH.

Sheared off 68 guard rail posts and tore up more rail. It ended up in the median and shot milled 4x10's across the west bound lanes. Two witnesses told the
WSP that they were sure the trailer a 45' flat, cart wheeled end for end 5 or 6 times. The poor young driver of the truck did survive for 15 days. He was
from the midwest and it was his first trip west past the Rockies. I discovered at the scene the slacks hadn't been adjusted for some time. The maxies were
set but I could still spin the tires. A case where auto slacks would have saved his life.


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R

rzucker

Well-known member
JasonG said:
Wow, those grades are not to be messed with.
Click to expand...
I used to run 2 trips a day through there, luckily I was empty going eastbound but it's a very deceptive grade. It has it's flatter spots and then drops quickly about a mile before the last turn, and that last turn is tighter than it looks.
In the late 80's I (stupidly)flat towed 2 trucks home from Ellensburg down that grade with a 427 powered C70 chevy service truck using a tow bar and another driver, I supplied air from my truck and told him to stay off his brakes unless I told him to stop us. I used 3rd gear all the way down and we did fine. Things can go bad in a hurry though.
 
Truck Shop

Truck Shop

Well-known member
Because of talk about rendering trucks under the Members thread in Shop Talk, here are some wonderful stories.

In 1989 I picked up a rendering truck that went on it's side at MP 96 I-90. It was August and 95*. This one was full up with dead animals, stiff cats, dogs, bloated pigs and such.
It was a ripe one indeed. The real problem came when trying to reload the horse and three cows. Had a guy come out with a track loader for those.:p

The other one was quite macabre.-------------A Batesville casket truck pulling a set of wiggle wagons lost control on ice NB. MP. 4.5 I-82 and rolled over in to the median.
Tore the walls up on both trailers real bad. Batesville wanted the trailers off loaded before righting them so as not to cause any more damage to the boxes inside.
So we laid those caskets out in the median side by side till a van showed up to haul them off. People driving by probably thought wow there must have bee a massacre.:D

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Truck Shop

Truck Shop

Well-known member
Here's another one.

I was out on a tow headed east on I-90 nearing mp 115 at Kittitas when I noticed these very odd tire marks in my lane. A very squiggly rapid back and forth motion
that was slightly wider than a normal axle width. Then a set of truck skid marks blended with them. When I got back to the shop I asked Kevin the boss If he had
seen them, he started laughing and said he forgot to tell me about it.

He got a call for a tow at 1:00 am that morning, when he got there he saw a woman in tears and the front of her pants were soaked. The driver of the semi told
Kevin he moved into the left lane to go around what was her car. He suddenly noticed her headlights weren't in his right mirror and felt a tugging motion. Then he
looked in his left mirror and could see the headlights pointing straight out from under his trailer. She was side ways. He was alert and grabbed the hand valve
locking the trailer brakes, the trailer was trying to climb over her car. For falling asleep at the wheel it cost her eight 22.5's, her car, a pair of underwear and slacks,
embarrassment, and damn near her life. She was driving a Mazda Miata.--People people people.

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R

rzucker

Well-known member
I think I remember hearing this story from a hay hauler once. At least it was something about a small car that was stuck under a trailer by E-Burg.
 
J

JasonG

Well-known member
Had a similar situation when I was a teenager.
Driver signaled right and moved into the left lane to make a tight corner in town.
4 wheeler figured he'd go right.
Wedged himself up under the trailer.
Car was half crushed against the phone pole the driver was swinging out to avoid.
 
Truck Shop

Truck Shop

Well-known member
We had a call at 3:00 am about a two semi rear end wreck on I-90 between Kittitas and the Renslow trestle. A semi hauling sewage waste from Seattle to
the top of Rye Grass was rear ended by a empty COE Freightliner hay shaker. The impact broke the tail gate on the crap wagon and created a surge wave
that finished knocking out the windshield of the Freightliner that hit it. The driver of that truck instantly found he was setting up to his chest in human crap.
Which also filled the sleeper where his hay buck was knapping:bouncegrin. The driver was not hurt other than his pride.

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