no new posts

hi all,
im sorry for not posting but i just had root canal and im not feeling so hot. i will post something new with pics tommarrow- please check back latter
thanks

A story of survival

This story does not have the recovery/ tow truck theme that the rest of my web site dos, but it does involve a tow truck and it is a cool story-
The story has been copied from the original article.
This is from: the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska.
The link is:
http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/052905/news_0529new002001.shtml

Reason to celebrate Car crash victim heals, graduates from high school
By LAYTON EHMKE Peninsula Clarion

Nicole Harmon received her diploma from Kenai Alternative School earlier this month. She returned to school after a serious car accident that occurred in 2003.
Photo by M. Scott Moon

Graduation speeches are typically saturated with comments about new beginnings and transitional phases. For one 2005 graduate, the notion of starting over couldn't be more true.
Two days before Christmas 2003, Nicole Harmon was broadsided by a tow truck after she lost control of her car on the ice-covered Kenai Spur Highway. It was an accident that nearly killed her. She suffered traumatic brain damage and for all intents and purposes, life as she knew it was over.
Nicole's father, Phil Harmon, recalled the day of the accident.
"It was scary. They revived her three different times and were telling her that she was not done living her life. Her little body was pretty well broken," he said.
A priest had already given her last rights. Few expected her to survive.
She suffered fractures in her pelvis, left knee and neck. Marylou Harmon said her granddaughter's face was torn from mouth to ear. For the next 40 days she lay in a coma while Marylou and Phil held steadfast alongside, waiting and praying. Members of the Kenaitze tribe drummed and sang for her. Prayer chains circulated the news about her. Marylou said that all made the difference.

Investigators work at the scene of Harmon's accident in December 2003.
Clarion file photo by M. Scott M

"I saw my mother as an angel — she was holding me and telling me it wasn't time yet," Nicole said of her time in the hospital. "It was freaky."
Then it happened — the arduous test of how people deal with the cards they are dealt: Nicole awoke. It happened slowly at first. She was cognizant long enough to say "Hi."
"We all jumped up and ran in her room. It was fantastic," Marylou said.
Still, doctors had grim forecasts of her recovery and rehabilitation. They obviously didn't know much about Nicole.
"Coming out of the coma, she was tough. There are three stages of coma recovery — swearing, fighting and spitting," Marylou said. "The doctors were scared of her."
"She had this blood-curdling scream because it hurt when nurses touched her. Her whole body was sore — it's not like you heal in two days," Phil said.
It's possible she was frustrated. It's possible she was scared or confused. Nobody really knows. What is evident, however, is that somewhere in her mind, she found a force of fortitude.
"You have to have the will to keep going," she said.
Four months of hospitalization passed and her condition steadily improved — with limitations.
Nicole has no memory of the accident. In fact, the traumatic brain injury eliminated her short-term memory for some time. Through therapy and her own fortitude, it is gradually returning as she makes her recovery.
"It has taken a lot of love to get to where we are today. None of the doctors expected her to heal as well as she has," Marylou said. "When we brought her home, she could not read, write, do math, art, or even feed herself and speak. It was like raising a baby — everything was a lot of work. We had to go all the way back to the beginning — she needed constant care. She couldn't remember what she had done two minutes before."
Nicole marched on and by August 2004 she enrolled in Kenai Alternative High, a place Marylou felt Nicole would be treated with more respect in her challenging situation.
"The kids have been good to her and the teachers helped her and gave her hints about things every day. They had never worked with a student with traumatic brain injury before," Marylou said. "She's progressing more than anyone expected. Her short-term memory is coming back."
Every day was a new program at school because of her memory loss. Teachers at the school were faced with the challenge and gave Nicole their patience.
"Sometimes I needed just a little hint to get it," Nicole said. "I love to learn and the kids have been good to me."
That good feeling is reciprocated.
Kenai Alternative High School Principal Gregg Wilbanks noted how motivating Nicole has been to teachers and classmates alike.
"Her outlook is refreshing. To be going through total reconstruction and to be smiling, all the time uplifting," Wilbanks said. "I remember there was a cold and rainy day this year, just ugly outside. I was talking about how ugly it was and she said, 'No, this is a great day.' She puts things into perspective.
"A lot of students here have seen some real challenges. When they see how Nicole never breaks down, it makes their situations seem very doable."
Her situation is getting better each day. Nicole is a perpetual optimist. The family makes a point to laugh, as they believe it has much to do with accelerating the healing process.
"Laughing is a stimulant for the body and the brain. It takes a lot of good, loving hugs, too," Marylou said. "We laugh at it all."
Nicole agreed.
"It's not too hard to laugh."
She graduated May 19 and received a multitude of wild cheers from the audience as she accepted her diploma. Marylou was crying between snapping photos. Phil was beaming.
"This is beautiful — all the family and friends here. It makes me proud," he said.

Oversized rollover with Steal Bridge rails

My buddy Jack sent me these:

Recently, Jack from Automotive support towing and recovery in Montgomery county MD, got a call for a rollover semi carrying an oversized load- 70ft steel beams- the kind used on bridges. The crew used the NRC rotator to upright it and reset the beams. After the truck and trailer were upright, they towed the tractor. Because of the oversized load they did not have another trailer that could accommodate the 70ft rails. They hooked up their tractor and restacked the load on the original trailer

I hesitate to make any criticisms because I was not there but I can�t find much in these pics to criticize. They used safety vests on everyone (except 1 person (but he used reflective gloves))- this is awesome and though it seems like a small detail, it seems rare to see it unfortunately. The use of the manpower to hold the chains that hold the rails strait- that�s very good. They also practiced traffic incident management and kept traffic flowing, the use of the rotator is awesome and is exactly what rotators are designed for. This is a great recovery and a perfect recovery to use as a learning tool.

not for kids- EXTREEMLY funny jimmy kimmel

this is helarious but it is a bit on edge
check this out: http://www.jimmykimmel.net/JimmyKimmelLive/Best%20Unecessary%20Censorship%20Jimmy%20Kimmel%20Live.mov
this may take a few seconds to play so if nothing happens right away, chill- it will

posting delay and star wars orchestra

i want to appoligize to you all for not posting. i will keep todays short because i just had a root canal and i am in pain. i promice that i will post pics tommarrow. i did however post 2 links today and one is very cool and the other is.... well..... the only thing i can say is WTF?
the first:
this has to be one of the coolest videos i have ever seen- very cool: chesk out: http://www.treehouseanimation.com/rotb/movies/sso.mov

abusive bus driver

check out this Bull S*** :
im sorry i can play videos on here but there is a link on the linked page. im sure all of you have seen this and i have been living in a cave but i just saw this today for the first time.
talk about overreaction.
im glad there was a video camera!
and thoes charges agenst the boys and the bus driver- WTF is that bull? it should be the other way around if the boys should be charged at all.
i just don't know..........
what is it comming too?

firehouse was on fire

check this out: http://members.busynet.net/SLFD/Pictures.htm
i don't know anything about this but, damn, this was bad!

my shameless product promotion

i recently had to by a microwave, about 4-5 months ago. this is a very cool microwave (who would have thought a microwave could be cool?) this has all sorts of features that i never thought were avalable.
but by far the coolest feature is that you can put a bag of popcorn in there and press 1 button and it will cook it and stop cooking when the bag is done!! and it works great!!! it has sensors that detect humidity or something like that. it also is supose to be able to cook a baked potato like that too!
the microwave is a and it retails for over 150.00 and i got it for less than $99.00 brend new. i went to best buy and found a damaged opened box item. all that is wrong with it is that it had a dent on the back other than that- its in perfect shape and works great!!!
it is a GE
it is very similar to this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6786891&type=product&productCategoryId=cat05018&id=1091099099087

suv hit by train

a few months ago my friends at LIN-MAR Motors got a call for a SUV hit by a Train. Tony and Ron S.R. preformed the recovery. this driver apparently decided that he was just going to drive up the hill and across the tracks, instead of driving the 1 1/2 blocks in either direction to a proper traffic-train crossing. his exploror got stuck. no one was hurt.

oversized nut in downtown at rushhour

i chased this guy around downtown at around 6pm. no advanced truck, 1 rear follow truck with no lights or signs. no lights or signs on or around the truck. 3 lanes, over hight, over with, over length and i will bet over weight. a reall bright bunch of guys, and if anyone has ever been in chicago durring ruishhour, you know exactly what i mean

TowTruck hit the bridge

check this out- he hit hard too

i found this at: http://www.woking.co.uk/news/article/article_id=14293.html

this is the full story from the web site:

TOW TRUCK WEDGED UNDER MAYBURY ARCH
26/05/2005

MAYBURY Hill was closed for several hours on Tuesday after a rescue vehicle hit the Maybury Arch railway bridge and became wedged beneath it.

An On Time Rescue Scania tow truck had been towing a lorry when its winch hit the bridge at around 2.30pm.
Rod Maynard, manager of nearby shop AJ Akehurst and Son, said: �I just heard an almighty bang and there she was stuck under the railway bridge.�
The truck became wedged under the bridge at a 30-degrees angle with its rear tow bar digging into the tarmac on the road. The impact lifted the cab truck into the air so that it touched the under-side of the bridge.
The cab�s windscreen was cracked, the steel cables of the winch had snapped and hydraulic fluid was leaking from the vehicle. Police said  the driver had got out of the cab uninjured.
The bridge carries railway lines from Woking to London, and has a clearance height of 4.1 metres.
Police were on the scene quickly as a police community support officer had been on the beat nearby.
PCSO Sultan Khan told the News and Mail: �As soon as I got to the scene, my priority was to stop the traffic and people from going underneath the bridge.�
Police cordoned off the road while dealing with the situation.
Initially trains were stopped from using the bridge but as soon as a team from Network Rail confirmed it was safe, trains were allowed across at 20mph.
While a crew from On Time Rescue worked to free the truck, the railway line near the point of impact was closed as a precaution in case the winch was the only thing supporting that section of the bridge.
The recovery crew had to  remove the  lorry that the On Time truck had been towing before a crew member could climb into the cab to lower the winch. This operation righted the truck.
The truck could then be moved, allowing a highways maintenance team from Surrey County Council to repair the hole in the road left by the truck�s tow bar.
After the bridge had been checked and the truck towed away, police reopened the road at 6.19pm

police car crash

yesterday there was a crash in Harwood Hights Ill. long story short, it was a 4 car crash with injurys. the offender that started thid whole mess ran on foot and hid in the pro shop of the local golf corse.

these pics are from me and the full story can be read at:

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/052505_ns_chase.html

the story from ABC news Chicago:

______________________________________________________________________________

By John Garcia

May 25, 2005 � Four cars were involved in a police chase and crash in the suburbs Wednesday night. The suspect took off on foot and was finally caught while hiding at a nearby golf course. One police officer was hurt in the accident. It happened near the intersection of Natoma and Gunnison in northwest suburban Harwood Heights.

 ABC7 Video

The suspect is being held at the Harwood Heights police station. Apparently, it is a place he is familiar with. Even though he is from Crete, police say his girlfriend lives in town, and they arrested him several months ago on drug-related charges. Wednesday's charge, though, they say will be more serious.

Police surrounded the suspect in the pro shop at the Ridgemore Country Club. He had been hiding under a rack of golf shirts when an assistant pro, Jason Lee, found him.

"Jokingly I said, 'Wouldn't it be funny if he was in the shop?' I kind of knelt down and looked under a shirt rack that we have. I didn't really notice anything strange, but I walked over and -- I never would have done this had I known he was there -- spread the shirts apart about eight inches, wide enough to see a tattoo and a guy on the floor with his head between his knees," said Jason Lee, Ridgemoore Country Club.

Police had swarmed the Ridgemore Country Club, taking over golf carts and bringing in dogs. The suspect caused a four-car crash, sending a Harwood Heights officer who was pursuing him careening into a fence. He was seriously injured.

Investigators say the chase started when they were responding to a domestic dispute involving the suspect in the 4600 block of Oak Park. They then discovered his car was stolen and followed him all the way to the Ridgemore Country Club.

"The offender then left the blue Honda, which is the stolen car behind us, ran into the golf course. With the help of Chicago and other suburban units, we did search the golf course. He was found hiding in the pro shop in a storage room," said Lieutenant Mario Ricchio, Harwood Heights Police Department.

Police say the suspect is a 21-year-old man from Crete.

Jason Lee, the golf pro, says police were trying to herd everyone on the golf course inside, believing the suspect could be armed and dangerous. No one expected him to be hiding inside.

"I was a little startled and I made a dash for it. I would like to say I wrestled him to the ground," said Lee.

Police are waiting for the state's attorney to approve what they expect will be several felony counts against the suspect. The officer who was hurt is at Lutheran General Hospital, apparently suffering from some serious back injuries

_______________________________________________________________________________

rollover by WAFFCO towing

i want to anounce a new recuring segment. i love to surf the web and look for accidents and recoverys. from time to time i will post my findings.

today is Waffco's turn. this is a Wreckmaster company from indiana. i like the use of the rotator in this one and the bags. you can find these pics at: http://www.towinglinks.com/wreckofthemonth/archives/waffco-rollover/index.htm and you can find waffco at www.waffco.net

JOKE_ the nurse

A male patient is lying in bed in the hospital, wearing an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, still heavily sedated from a difficult, four hour, surgical procedure. A young, student nurse appears to give him a partial sponge bath. "Nurse", he mumbles, from behind the mask. "Are my testicles black?" Embarrassed, the young nurse replies, "I don't know, Sir. I'm only here to wash your upper body and feet." He struggles to ask again, "Nurse, are my testicles black?" Concerned that he may elevate his vitals from worry about his testicles, she overcomes her embarrassment and sheepishly pulls back the covers. She raises his gown, holds his penis in one hand and his testicles in the other. Then, she takes a close look and says, "There's nothing wrong with them, Sir." The man pulls off his oxygen mask, smiles at her and says very slowly, "Thank you very much. That was wonderful, but, listen very closely...ARE MY TEST RESULTS BACK?"

just some pics...

i found these pics of a rotator, i don't know whos it is but it looks like its at a tow show and its new

ahhh, my buddys at IDOT Emergency Traffic Patrol. older truck but thats a big beast!

 

these two pics are from our friends at www.priceless420.com

my life.. so far..

Here we are, another day done, well, almost. Lot of news- some good and some bad. I went to the dentist yesterday and he told me I need a root canal. I’m still unsure what that is, what the purpose is and if pain is involved. The appointment is next Tuesday. I had gone to the dentist b4 the bells palsy but the doctor told me not to go back till it was gone. I did not understand that because if my face was already numb, it would just save the dentist from having to use Novocain. So the bells palsy is gone and now I have to deal with the dentist.
At work, for the past 2 ½ weeks, I have been assigned with this one guy Tim, who has a bad reputation. We were doing landscaping and cutting trees. Actually I don’t mind this guy too much; he talks a lot and does tons of work that is not assigned to us. But I have had it pretty decent, I still work at my own pace and he is not in a hurry. Well, I had been asking, in fact begging, since the day I started, to be trained on some bigger equipment- the tractors, loaders, bobcats, message boards, street sweeper, ect.. finally, because of the new Forman, he told Timmy to train me on the tractor mower. He le me use it for all of about 20 min yesterday and he would not give me any more training on what each lever does. The Forman told him they want me trained today, and I wasn’t on the tractor once, Tim did it all. I had a chat with the Forman after we got back, and I tried not to say anything specifically about Tim b=and I just bitched that I was not getting any training at all on anything. He saw threw that and realized Tim was behind me talking to them and so they yelled at Tim again. Now he is pissed at me. So we will see what happens tomorrow.
Let’s see, what else…..
The IRS screwed up my refund and it should be sent out on Friday- actually it wasn’t their fault it was my tax guys and mine because we gave them the wrong bank account number, so they could not deposit it in the right account.

I think that’s it for now, I will keep you all posted as soon as something happens…
Oh, also I borrowed my dad’s digital camera so I can use that until I buy a new one!!

awsome box truck recovery

On a nice Sunday afternoon, there was a family moving some antic furniture to and from storage. The people had rented a small box truck from public storage. They took a ramp too fast and- BOOM- rollover on its side.

What makes this recovery very interesting is the style of truck involved. This is one of those small box trucks that have the removable sides with the straps and ratchets that close the canvas tarp sides. The back of the box is solid and there are no doors. Unloading is not an option, at least not with out being a huge pain in the ass.

This was a big concern, because it is unknown how strong those canvas trap sides are and, even if they are designed to hold a large load, where they damaged in the initial rollover and how much ware and tear have they sustained over their life.

 

The truck was lifted, ever so slightly, in the rear and the front enough to get the brand new straps in place. During the rear lift however, the gas tank started to leak and stopped when the truck was set back down.  

The straps were close enough to each other over the side of the box to provide good support to the load within the canvas.  

 

I have to say, I think this is a great recovery and they did an unbelievably excellent job.

I want to point out some details that make this recovery great, because details really make the difference between a great recovery and a good recovery.

.

 

In this pic you will notice the crew is dawning reflective clothing. Notice that they removed the drive shaft and they used wood to chock the wheels when it comes over.

 

They used shackles between the straps and the winch lines- this is great to see; it seems rare to see this.

This is really the only confusing point and the only thing I can say, they did not use the shackles between the straps and the chains. Maybe they only had 2 shackles, I don’t

 

The point of the shackles is to keep condition of the strap ends in good condition. If you only have 2 shackles, use them on the strap – chain connection. the strap that connects to the winch line side is sitting in a smooth grove in the hook. On the other end, the chain tends to crimp and tighten as the line load increases. This damages the end of the strap, lessening the life of the strap.

 

 This recover was done by O’Hare towing out of Northlake Ill. I have to say, I have more and more respect for these guys every time I see them. They have a regular, very intensive, training program. Safety is of the utmost importance to them. I think the main problem I have with is O’Hare is that I am very jealous. They have so many trucks, I lost count. They have several locations. And one of my good friends, Mike Trikowski, is a senior trainer, manager, and operator. They have some awesome accounts and do some awesome recoveries. They just bought another towing company from a retiring towing veteran. I will take these guys any day over 95% of the towing companies in Chicago. Keep up the good work!