No Easy Task

By George L. Nitti 

The January rains in California make for slick road way conditions, causing driver casualties and giving plenty of work for tow ops responding in every which direction. In San Diego County, around the city of Escondido, In San Diego County, around the city of Escondido, a particularly bad rainy season during 2023 caused a car carrier semi-truck trailer traveling Highway 15 during those torrential rains to lose control, hitting a slick of standing water and hydroplaning up an embankment, causing the trailer with seven-cars to JACK-KNIFE.  a particularly bad rainy season during 2023 caused a car carrier semi-truck trailer traveling Highway 15 during those torrential rains to lose control, hitting a slick of standing water and hydroplaning up an embankment, causing the trailer with seven-cars to JACK-KNIFE.  

TIW's Operation's Editor Randall Resch, who mentored both of the owners and lead operators mentioned in this story, reported, “The semi skidded and rolled onto its side and up ended under a giant overpass where the tractor hit the underside of the bridge and became stuck."

Subsequently, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) dispatched Roadway Towing of Escondido, who in-turn called Cortes Towing of San Diego to bring their 1140 Century Rotator to scene. Roadway brought 7 tow operators, their Century 70/35 on a 2020 389 Peterbuilt, a medium duty 16 ton on a 2020 Peterbuilt and seven flatbeds. 

Upon arriving, owner and lead operator Frank Khati of Roadway Towing contemplated the situation and decided that it was best not to do this complicated recovery from underneath the bridge. Instead, his decision was to reposition the carrier and pull it back 100 hundred feet. 

“I wasn’t going to take a chance that it would hit the top of the bridge.” 

Working closely with Cortes tow owner Johnny Cortes, who gave invaluable input on the job, the team centered the tractor trailer in front of the block lanes and brought it away from the walls, using lines from all three recovery trucks to pull it back and employ some nifty metal bracket-plates to help with the slide. 

“It was a slow, tedious process,” said Khati. “It took about an hour and a half to two hours to get it out from the bridge.” 

The rotator, along with the other two heavy duties, were then positioned to help with the up righting of the tractor trailer, no easy maneuver considering the massive weight of the cargo.  

Once the tractor trailer was carefully overturned and the scissored tractor straightened out, however, the job would become more labor-intensive. 

“Then we got our asses kicked,” said Khati. “We had to cage the brakes, cutting all of the hydraulic lines and capping them. We had to fix the air lines. And the fifth wheel on the tractor didn’t want to come out. It was a NIGHTMARE!” 

Meanwhile all seven cars on the carrier were on their sides, with chains stuck and wrapped around the vehicles. Using a saw cutter, Khati said, “I had to deal with one chain at a time. I lost a lot of weight on this job.” 

Then each car had to be dragged away from the trailer, up righted and put on the flatbeds for transport back to Roadway’s facility, five miles away.  

Khati noted that at the request of CHP, the crew was also kept busy cleaning up diesel fuel with 50 bags of kitty litter, in what he described as an act of futility, the rain washing away whatever absorbent that was put down on the ground. “It was like a river coming through,” he said. “I don’t think the litter did much good.” 

Eventually the team pulled the carrier to the side of the road, so that traffic could flow. 

“All of the cars were totaled,” said Khati. “The driver demolished the cargo and truck. He is lucky to be alive.” 

Although a gargantuan job, the recovery was a success for all concerned, including the motorists. 

Show Yours @ TIW

Do you have a recovery to share with TIW readers? Send some pics and info to our Field Editor George L. Nitti at georgenitti@gmail.com; your story may even be selected for print in American Towman Magazine!