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n the early morning hours of November 7, 2020, B&W Towing LLC was called to recover a vehicle that went over a bridge. B&W owner Kristen Klemenz went out with the crew. “This incident happened on River Road in the town of Corning, NY at approximately 1:30 am very early Saturday morning.,” said Kristen. “It was a few miles from our shop. We were dispatched by the Steuben County 911.” Shop manager and rotator operator Blaine Westervelt responded with their Kenworth T800 with a 2019 Century 1150 50ton rotator and operator Leroy Vannatta went out in their 2018 Kenworth with a Jerr-Dan bed. Kristen said, “Leroy, one of our rollback operators, is an amazing guy. He has been with us for over four years. I went out to help and take pictures.” When they arrived the NY State troopers were on scene. It seems the car left the roadway hit a utility pole and launched across a creek bed in to the riff raff rocks on the other side. There was so much force that it literally shot the car completely under the bridge. The car had severe damage with every air bag blown out. According to Kristen, the recovery had to negotiate gas and power lines. “We had to use the Century 50-ton rotator to recover the vehicle from under the bridge, between a live gas line that ran along side of the bridge and navigate it between the broken and low hanging utility lines.” Work the non-traffic side - Stay Safe!
Top: Casualty rigged with an endless loop and two D-rings on the rotator ready for the lift. Bottom: B&W operator climbed down to the casualty to see how to rig for the lift.
AmericanTowman.com | February 2021 • 31
