Muck, Manure in Maine Recovery

Beaulieu’s Auto Inc in Caribou, Maine, also does business as Beaulieu’s Garage & Body Shop. It is a family owned and operated company that has been repairing vehicles for Aroostook County residents and businesses since 1941. Dan and Sam Robertson now run the company that was No. 74 on the original Towman 500 list.

They handle everything including local and long-distance towing, vehicle jumps and flat-tire repair, towing f§or AAA and Cross Country, mobile home moving and heavy recovery.One heavy recovery occurred just last month for a dump truck hauling manure that had rolled over.“We were called by Pineland Farms. They are an organic ranch and have 2,000 head of cattle, all naturally fed. They move a lot of manure,” Dan said. “This dump is roughly 400 yards by four-feet-deep of muck and manure. Their tractor and dump trailer loaded with manure slipped in the mess and rolled.“We had done tows for them before, so they knew we had the knowledge to do this recovery.”Dan drove out in their 1986 Western Star with a 750 Holmes, the company’s “off-road rig … it’s not too heavy and has plenty of winching capacity.” Dan’s brother Sam and operator Andy Dodd drove out in a 2006 Chevy 6500 with a 2008 B&B 14-ton integrated wrecker.“It was a really weird scenario,” Dan said. “Everything was a slippery mess. They had a bulldozer on-scene and we had to use it to move manure to get our equipment in.“We had gone to the WreckMaster weeklong in April and used some of the techniques we learned in doing this recovery. We never moved either truck during the rollover, just like WreckMaster teaches.”There was no purchase in the muck and the stiff legs just wouldn’t work. Everything was sliding around. There was a farm road close to the field, so they staged one of their wreckers there.“We rigged the casualty once and flipped it up. Then we checked the oil in it and the driver was able to start it up and drive it out. It took two-and-a-half hours to do and about the same time to clean up,” Dan said. “There was a lot of cleaning after this job. We had to pressure wash the trucks, chains, snatch blocks, wire rope; everything was covered in muck and manure.“Besides WreckMaster, our crew has learned so much attending the AT Expo and its seminars every year. It is the place to be for education and camaraderie. The best show in the industry. Thanks to our continuing education this was a good cooperative job done by all of our guys.”