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Sarnia towing company set to star in new TV series, Heavy Rescue: 401

Pam Wright The boys at Preferred Towing in Sarnia know how to do the heavy lifting. And that expertise has landed them a starring role in the Discovery Channel’s next Canadian reality TV series.
HeavyRescue
Dealing with highway collisions like this one is part of the job for workers at Sarnia’s Preferred Towing, who are set to star in a new reality TV series ‘Heavy Rescue: 401.’ Photo courtesy, Discover Networks

Pam Wright

The boys at Preferred Towing in Sarnia know how to do the heavy lifting.

And that expertise has landed them a starring role in the Discovery Channel’s next Canadian reality TV series.

Two years in the making, ‘Heavy Rescue: 401’ is set to premiere in January.

Patterned on the wildly successful ‘Highway Thru Hell,’ which features rescue efforts in the B.C mountains and northern Alberta, the new program showcases the perils faced by tow truck workers on Highway 401.

Together with its tributary Highway 402, the 401 is billed as one of the busiest and most dangerous in North America.

It certainly has its challenges, says Gary Vandenheuvel, owner of Preferred Towing.

“The big thing we have here is the volume of traffic,” he said. “It’s one of the busiest border crossings and it’s a big problem when that highway shuts down.”

Clearing carnage and unpredictable weather amid the relentless pounding onslaught of cars and trucks are a daily - and nightly - part of the job.

Word-of-mouth earned Preferred the gig and an audition of sorts secured it. A cameraman and producer arrived last year to film for two days and determine whether the company had “characters” suitable for the show. Apparently they did.

Vandenheuvel, son Colin and four other employees apparently will appear in the show. The situation is not unlike Highway Thru Hell star Jamie Davis and his son Jason, who work together in the business.

Starting with a single one-ton truck 24 years ago, Vandenheuvel today has a fleet of 14 trucks, including a 65-ton rotator capable of lifting 130,000 pounds.

The big beast is used to clear car wrecks, pull ailing tractor-trailers off the road and has been used to haul vessels built in Sarnia’s world-class fabricating shops. One weighed 245 tons and had to be cinched onto the rail system.

“We take calculated risks and get into some tight spots sometimes,’” Vandenheuvel said, adding operators often work very closely to fast-moving traffic.

Great Pacific Television is producing the show for the Discovery Channel. Episodes were shot such in such a way as to protect the identity of tow clients.

Beginning in January, a crew filmed Preferred Towing seven days a week for nearly three months. Vandenheuvel said the cameras were intrusive initially but eventually came to be part of the scenery.

“At first I stumbled over myself but you get used to it,” he said. “Then you are just doing your job.”

It was a time-consuming project but Heavy Rescue does take a “good snapshot” of the company, which is featured in all eight episodes, and which also shows off the community, Vandenheuvel said.

“It’s really neat to be able to show the professional side of our industry. It brings Sarnia into the picture, and I am excited about that.”

The new show’s predecessor, Highway Thru Hell, is one of the Discovery Channel’s top five programs and rated one of the top 10 shows in specialty television.


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