The operators prepare to rehook the garbage truck to bring it alongside the retaining wall and back up onto

the driveway.

es the winch lin its wheels, t. e photo on ov ab ck e ba Th ck rbage tru up the embankmen re the truck first ck oto,with the ga le, is whe bring the truce Upper left ph to d ge nter of the ho rig e e ar th ns in ai g wall. g ch in in in d nd an erator is sta g over the driveway reta where the op in go r te af n touched dow

Stephen House brought his 1060S Century Rotator to the scene.

by Jim Buck Sorrenti as told by Randy Olson

Trashed
ou could say Stephen House got his love of the towing industry early. As a young lad his dad, who worked as a towing operator, would take him out on calls to hold the brake on the tow truck, a Holmes 440. For the past 21 years, even before Stephen acquired his drivers license to operate an automobile, he was working with a local North Georgia tower where he earned a true desire to handle the heavy-duty calls. About five years ago, after much research, Stephen stepped out and

Mountain recovery proves to be challenging in North Georgia.

bought a Kenworth with a Century 1060S rotator. Although it seemed like a monumental decision, Stephen was confident in his recovery skills. He now looks back at it as one of the best investments he made for his future and says he wouldnt change a thing. He started out as an owner operator for his old boss but then broke away to create HeavyTow in Gainesville, Georgia. Stephen specializes in heavy duty rotator work and has built a reputation for both his own abilities, as well as the capability of his Century

1060S to get the job done. One of the other towers who HeavyTow has worked closely with is Smokie Ingrams Towing out of nearby Cummins, Georgia. Smokie called him as he needed his assistance to recover a loaded single axle garbage truck in the gated mountain resort community, Big Canoe. Narrow winding roads lined with million dollar homes built on the mountain side can create quite a challenge even for experienced recovery operators such as Stephen, Smokie and Smokies cousin, Bear, who also used to run his own company. The loaded garbage truck weighed approximately 44,000-pounds and lost its brakes coming down the steep mountainside. The driver went off of a curve and rolled the truck through the front yard and driveway, just narrowly missing the house, before going off a retaining wall and landing on its side about

the positioned on tury 612 was en . C ch a in ith w w ed 060S drag s Mack equipp line from the 1 ch in w e Smokie Ingram th r a deadman fo road to use as

300 feet off of the road. Due to the treacherous conditions, it was decided to begin the recovery the next morning but then had to be postponed until 1:00pm due to tornado like winds that came through the area knocking over several trees on the road leading into the area. Due to the narrowness of the road, the community security officers had to escort the Cen-

tury rotator to the scene since there wasnt enough room for on coming vehicles to pass which might meet the rotator in the curves. Arriving at the scene, the homeowner, who was a retired professional ball player, was more than gracious about accommodating the recovery team for the extraction. The rotator was

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TOWMAN.COM - November 2009 23

parked in the driveway with the front end of the truck under the carport. Extensive cribbing had to be done due to the steep slope of the driveway. The narrow conditions made it extremely limited as to the positioning of the rotator. The additional challenges that the trio of experienced operators faced were that the homeowners did not want any additional trees damaged or removed. Next to the driveways retaining wall was a partially exposed propane tank and gas lines. The total time to recover the packer back on the road was about 5 hours. All but one tire on the garbage truck was blown out so the unit was loaded on one of Randy Olson is ViceIngrams tandem President of Marindustrial carriers keting for Miller for the journey Industries and the home. editor of Millers in
With the one winch line hooked through a snatchblock and chain at the front of the garbage truck and the other winch line run through a snatch block and hooked to a chain bridle around the rear of the packer, the boom was extended out and the truck lifted and set down on the driveway. house publication 24/7 On Call.

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