In the rugged mountains of British Columbia in Canada, there's a highway like no other. An unforgiving, white-knuckle ride that thousands of truckers must run every day. Keeping the Coquihalla Highway open takes an army of men and machines and the last line of defense is the fleet of Jamie Davis Heavy Rescue. Jamie's team is willing to tackle any disaster the mountain throws at them. They have been entrusted to keep some of the most economically important and inhospitable roads in Canada open and safe during the winter season.
The stakes are high – lives, the economy and thousands of jobs depend on the highways staying clear, but the extreme mountain roads are fraught with steep, icy terrain where Mother Nature reigns supreme. During winter storms truckers crash and close the road every twelve hours on average and when they do, the call goes out to the team of heavy rescue tow truck drivers who are on call 24/7. Even the toughest men in the towing business are pushed to breaking point; they have witnessed some horrific scenes. The drivers must brave the extreme temperatures and seemingly impossible conditions to remove often dangerous cargo, clean up the carnage and get the truck traffic rolling again.
Highway Thru Hell focuses on a team of drivers who work for Jamie Davis, along with several other heavy recovery operations fighting to keep the roads open in some of the most dangerous working conditions ever seen on TV. The Coquihalla and nearby highways through BC's Cascade Mountains have some of the most difficult and fast changing road conditions anywhere. When it's snowing hard up top on the summit of 'The Coq', 1200 metres below its pounding rain in The Fraser Valley. Add to that, Canada's busiest trucking route to the West Coast, Highway 1 , and you have the 'Bermuda Triangle' of trucking.
Police and highway maintenance crews depend on Highway Thru Hell's heavy rescue operators to respond at a moment's notice in the worst conditions. In between the winter storms, the teams 'off road' skills are put to the test. The rugged terrain near Hope, British Columbia dishes out some of the most unique and challenging recovery jobs over steep cliffs, down deep ravines and even in bodies of water.
Highway Thru Hell is ultimately a series about man versus Mother Nature and the toughest men in the towing business being pushed to their breaking point. The stakes are high - lives, the economy and thousands of jobs depend on the highways staying open, and the last line of defense is Heavy Rescue. HIGHWAY THRU HELL focuses on a team of drivers who work for Jamie Davis, along with several other heavy recovery operations fighting to keep the roads open in some of the most dangerous working conditions ever seen on TV.
The Coquihalla and nearby highways through BC's Cascade Mountains have some of the most difficult and fast changing road conditions anywhere. When it's snowing hard up top on the summit of 'The Coq', 1200 metres below its pounding rain in The Fraser Valley. Add to that, Canada's busiest trucking route to the West Coast, Highway 1 , and you have the 'Bermuda Triangle' of trucking. Police and highway maintenance crews depend on Highway Thru Hell's heavy rescue operators to respond at a moment's notice in the worst conditions. In between the winter storms, the teams 'off road' skills are put to the test. The stakes are high - lives, the economy and thousands of jobs depend on the highways staying open, and the last line of defense… is Heavy Rescue.
In the mountains that surround Merritt, Princeton, Lytton and Hope, B.C., the highways are steep and icy terrain where Mother Nature reigns supreme. Beautiful but dangerous, these vital arteries form a nerve-wracking gauntlet that truckers must conquor in all weather conditions. An original eight-part Canadian series,Highway Thru Hellfollows the team of heavy rescue tow truck drivers who work for Jamie Davis Heavy Rescue.
Trying to climb a long and gruelling 8% grade during winter storms, truckers spin out and smash up. During the worst storms, the big wrecks can comes as often as every 12 hours. And when these wrecks close the road and choke traffic, the call goes out to Jamie Davis. Dropping everything to respond, it's is their job to remove the often-dangerous cargo, clean up the twisted metal, clear the road and get traffic rolling again for hundreds of drivers.
This season, Jamie Davis continues to lean on his classic collection of "old iron" to tackle some of the toughest recoveries, but his crew is buzzing with excitement at the prospect of something shiny and new coming to the yard. Change is also in the air for lead-operator Colin Mclean, when developments in his personal life lead him to question his future in the tow business. Then, 100 kilometres north of Hope, B.C., Reliable Towing's resilience is tested like never before when one of their own is caught up in a terrifying event on the highway. Just down the road, 63-year-old heavy rescue legend Ken Duperon continues to lead Mission Towing, but when he's struck down by an urgent medical crisis, his son-in-law and lead-driver Dylan Greenwood must step up. HIGHWAY THRU HELL marks its milestone 100th episode this season, before just-announced Season 9 begins production.
The winter season is already off to a hellish start when a major blizzard slams the Coquihalla Highway. Jamie Davis Heavy Rescue's "A" team, Adam Gazzola and Kevin Ritchie, spends a busy morning clearing spun-out semis off the road when word comes that a multi vehicle pile-up has closed down both northbound lanes. While Gazzola scrambles to get the highway open, Davis tries to free a semi from a steep, icy off-ramp. By sundown the crew is exhausted, but the Coq isn't done with them yet. At 3 a.m., a five-semi wreck at the top of the mountain sends Davis and his 16-year-old son Brandon fighting their way through the traffic back-up.
This is Brandon's first night wreck – and the hard reality of heavy rescue towing is driven home when he discovers a driver under one of the trucks, dead. Join the team once more as they fight to keep some of the most economically important, travelled, and inhospitable trucking routes in North America open during Season 5 of Highway Thru Hell. After expanding his tow business into Alberta's frozen north two seasons ago, a new reality has set in. Heavy Rescue owner Jamie Davis has been forced to simplify his operation and shift his attention back to his mountain base – where it all began. As 'the boss' focuses on rebuilding a leaner heavy rescue business, driver Colin McLean continues to anchor the team in Northern Alberta. Keep on trucking with the heroes of North America's busiest highway The treacherous Coquihalla Highway in British Columbia, Canada, is one of the most economically important, most travelled trucking routes in North America.
It's also one of the most hazardous, as truckers face steep hills, lethal drop-offs, and major rockslides, not to mention winter snowstorms. Thousands of trucks travel this gauntlet of brutal weather every day, and many don't make it. During the worst days, wrecks close the highway, on average, every 12 hours. Ride-alongs take in everything from a big truck recovery near a thousand-foot drop-off, known as 'Dead Man's Curve', to fully loaded articulated lorries impaled by trees.
This non-stop onslaught of tangled trucks and trailers and blistering weather would push anyone else to breaking point. Winter is back in full force on the Coquihalla Highway and Jamie Davis has bulked up with his biggest heavy rescue crew ever. The first big wreck of the season brings the crew out to a crashed truck with a double load of lumber that Jamie needs to recover without damaging its fragile roof. As the job drags on into the night the road freezes over leaving the team to juggle passing traffic and an awkward recovery.
Highway Thru Hell was created by Mark A. Miller, Kevin Mills, and Neil Thomas. Thomas met one of the heavy rescue operators for Jamie Davis Motor Truck & Auto after Thomas' moving truck broke down on Highway 5 in the summer of 2010. In the early winter of 2011, cameraman Mills and executive producer Miller dropped in on Davis' company while passing through Hope. The winter of 2010–2011 had been a record-setting season for Davis' business, and he expressed a desire to change the public's perceptions about his industry.
A double-trailer load of lumber had flipped and spilled across a half-kilometre of highway. Even with three heavy rescue trucks, Davis' crew doesn't have enough equipment to do the job right. Gazolla is angry about the lack of equipment and the poor condition of his truck.
Last year, Davis ordered a state-of-the-art heavy rescue truck called a Rotator. But the busy winter season is here and the custom-built wrecker still hasn't been delivered. Just days before Christmas, Davis heads to the factory in Tennessee to bring it home himself. While he's gone, Gazolla has his hands full with the "B' team when a semi filled with expensive wine goes off a cliff. The Coquihalla is one of the most treacherous highways in the world. Rising through the steep mountain passes in British Columbia, it is a gauntlet of brutal weather and white-knuckle driving.
The "Coq" is also the main artery between east and west, with thousands of semi-trailer trucks crossing every day. During the winter storms major wrecks close the highway, on average, every twelve hours. Jamie Davis Heavy Rescue has the daunting job of clearing these major wrecks to keep the highway open; closure is not an option.
For Jamie and his colourful crew, winter is a non-stop onslaught of tangled semis, blistering weather and stressful conditions that would push any man to the breaking point. The hit reality show filmed on the highways surrounding Hope and the tow truck drivers who brave treacherous conditions on these roads is back for a ninth season. Follow the operations of Jamie Davis Motor Truck, a heavy vehicle rescue and recovery towing company based in Hope, British Columbia focusing on the hardships. Highway Thru Hell certainly lives up to its name, especially when the episodes feature large amounts of fire and flames.
That's right, in one episode, the team was called to deal with a fiery wreck on Highway 881 in Alberta. The crash included a tanker loaded with gasoline as well as a humungous truck carrying logs. As expected, the collision turned into a large barrel of flames, which Jamie Davis and company had to somehow deal with. Thankfully, both drivers survived and were later airlifted from the scene. However, another driver that piled into the back of the logging truck sadly later perished.
Crewmember Colin Mclean called it, "One of the worst wrecks I've worked on in 15 years of towing." Highway Thru Hell is about man versus Mother Nature and the toughest men in the towing business being pushed to their limits. Jamie Davis is tackling new highways and facing bigger wrecks than ever before. Last series he took the risky gamble to expand his Heavy Recovery operation from the British Colombia mountains into the frozen Alberta north. But the strain of building a new team, while taking on the most challenging recoveries in Heavy Rescue's history, pushes Jamie to his breaking point.
Will he keep expanding his fleet or will he abandon the roads of Alberta and head back home? As his crew fights to keep the traffic moving on six different highways, Jamie has to decide how much fight he has left. As they gear up for another winter, this series kicks off with a rare chance for the heavy rescue teams to get together and talk about the highs and lows of one of the world's toughest jobs.
After years of keeping the highways open with some of the most modern heavy wreckers, Jamie Davis is staking his future on 'old iron'. Under pressure to reduce costs and stay competitive, this winter he and his crew are hoping they can tackle some of the toughest jobs using an ageing, rebuilt fleet. From massive mudslides, to white-out snowstorms, monsoon rains to dangerous rockslides, the heavy rescue teams will be tested by brutal, relentless conditions and by some of the most spectacular wrecks. The Coquihalla and other highways carved through Canada's Cascade Mountains are notorious for some of the most punishing weather conditions anywhere.
But, when everyone else is turning back, heavy recovery operators, highway crews, and first responders answer the call of duty and charge straight into the storm. With bigger rigs and wilder wrecks, Jamie Davis Heavy Rescue is returning to the Coquihalla Highway and HIGHWAY THRU HELL for an all-new, expanded second season. Plagued by winter storms, truckers spin out and smash up, and during the worst conditions, the big wrecks can come as often as every 12 hours. And when this happens, the call goes out for heavy rescue to clear the highway carnage and get the road open again.
Building on last season's risky gamble to expand his Heavy Recovery operation from the BC mountains into the frozen Alberta north, Jamie Davis is tackling new highways and facing bigger wrecks than ever before. But at this pivotal moment for Heavy Rescue, there are big changes on Jamie's crew roster -- forcing him to trust his trucks, his reputation and the fate of the highways to new and untested drivers. As Jamie divides his focus between BC and Alberta, we see his brothers stepping up to help in both operations.
But the strain of building a new team -- while taking on the most challenging recoveries in Heavy Rescue's history -- pushes Jamie to his breaking point. Eyeing the small, simple operation of his competitor, Al Quiring, Jamie reaches a crossroads. Will he keep expanding his fleet and pushing to serve new territories -- or will he abandon the roads of Alberta and head back home?
As his crew fights to keep the traffic moving on six different highways, Jamie has to decide how much fight he has left… in himself. The Coquihalla is one of the most treacherous major highways in the world. Rising through the steep mountains passes in British Columbia, it is a gauntlet of brutal weather and white knuckle driving. The "Coq" is also the main artery between east and west, with thousands of semis crossing every day. Jamie Davis Heavy Rescue has the daunting job of clearing these major wrecks to keep the highway open. For Jamie and his colorful crew, winter is a non-stop onslaught of tangled semis, blistering weather and stressful conditions that would push any man to the breaking point.
At Davis' yard in Hope, classic Holmes tow trucks – some nearly half a century old – are replacing newer, costlier wreckers. For Davis, the vintage trucks are more than just a passion; they represent survival. Under pressure to reduce costs and stay competitive, Davis is confident he and his crew can tackle some of the toughest jobs – on and off the Coquihalla – using an older, rebuilt fleet. Colin McLean is back in Hope as lead driver, but since he has driven some top-of-the-line hydraulic trucks, Davis' "old iron" takes some getting used to. Reliable Towing, out of Merritt, makes its debut in the second half of Season 7, first responding to a small wreck of a truck and trailer with pigs inside, and then to a six-semitrailer crash on the Coquihalla, north of Merritt. Mudslides and rockslides contribute to a tough time for recovery crews all around.
The unforgiving terrain of North America is home to several economically important trucking routes. However, it is extremely challenging to run heavy vehicles on these roads, which are bifurcated by steep canyons, sharp curves, and narrow ridges. The condition worsens further during the freezing winter months.
'Highway Thru Hell' is a fact-based documentary that follows the operators of towing companies as they fight to keep these roads open all throughout the year — with the help of heavy rescue trucks and advanced lifting machinery. 'Highway Thru Hell' is narrated by Canadian actor and voice-over artist, Dave Pettitt. It features the crew of the Jamie Davis Motor Trucking company, located in Hope, British Colombia.
This group is a heavy vehicle rescue and recovery towing company. The series follows Jamie Davis Heavy Rescue, a towing company servicing the Coquihalla and the Fraser Canyon. It's the latest example of the current reality TV genre that includes Deadliest Catch and History Channel's Ice Pilots NWT -- men at work, dangerously. Ideally such shows come by their plot lines honestly, requiring less manipulated drama than shows about wealthy socialites or inspiring makeovers. There is almost always some element of manipulation in documentary TV -- events are compressed, timelines fudged.
