December 27, 2023
Approximate time: 2354
Weather Conditions: Rain

Contacted to respond to Route 41 and Ridgeview Dr for a commercial motor vehicle accident. Initial reports indicated that a tractor trailer was involved in an accident and that it spilled a load of potatoes, we were advised that the trailer was severely damaged. At this point, we dispatched a recovery supervisor, two of our sliding rotator recovery units, and our wheel loader to the scene. We also contacted Null’s Recovery & Site Restoration to respond for traffic control and fluid control.

Additional information advised that the tractor trailer was hauling 48,000 pounds of potatoes and that the roadway was covered with potatoes. There was also a report stating that the tractor trailer was overturned.

Upon arrival of our first arriving unit, a Peterbilt tractor pulling a reefer style van trailer was found to have been traveling southbound on Route 41 when it left the right side of the roadway. The truck and trailer went down an embankment and struck several trees. The unit came to rest with two trees holding it upright. The truck and trailer were both destroyed. The reefer unit and fifth wheel plate of the trailer were separated from the trailer but still attached to the tractor.

The trailer’s load of potatoes came out through the front of the trailer and had spilled all over the roadway and down over the embankment. The truck’s oil pan was busted and the truck was leaking fluids.

Based upon the findings, the recovery superior requested that one of our dollies and one of our lowbed trailers be dispatched to the scene.

The recovery supervisor met with police and fire personnel onscene and advised them that we would be able to allow northbound traffic to flow though the accident scene and that we could be closing southbound traffic at Highland Road, setting up a detour via Fallowfield Rd.

This would give our crews working onscene adequate space to safely perform the recovery.

NR&SR set up the traffic control. Our wheel loader was used to scrape the potatoes off of the roadway and load them into a NR&SR’s dumpster.

Two of our portable light towers were set-up. Our team began working to rig the trailer to lift it clear of the trees it was leaning against and set it back onto the roadway. The two rotators worked together to lift the trailer, and set it onto the roadway. Once on the roadway, one of our dollies was placed under the trailer’s dolly legs. The trailer and the dolly were secured to each other. One of the heavy duty sliding rotators hooked the trailer and prepared to tow it from the scene. NR&SR utilized a cut off saw to remove the loose parts from the trailer and make it safe for transport.

One of the rotators rigged to the severely damaged tractor and prepared to lift it. The tractor was pulled from the trees, lifted, rotated, and set onto our low bed trailer for transport from the scene. Once back at our facility, the damaged tractor was lifted off and set into our storage yard. The trailer was placed in the storage yard, the trailer was lifted and the dolly removed from underneath of it.

All of the equipment that was utilized during the recovery was inspected, cleaned, and returned to it’s respective location.