{"id":2941,"date":"2017-01-03T20:08:16","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T20:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2017\/01\/03\/ontarios-highways-thru-hell-star-in-discoverys-heavy-rescue-401\/"},"modified":"2017-01-03T20:08:16","modified_gmt":"2017-01-03T20:08:16","slug":"ontarios-highways-thru-hell-star-in-discoverys-heavy-rescue-401","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2017\/01\/03\/ontarios-highways-thru-hell-star-in-discoverys-heavy-rescue-401\/","title":{"rendered":"ONTARIO\u2019S HIGHWAYS THRU HELL STAR IN DISCOVERY\u2019S HEAVY RESCUE: 401"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greg David \/ TV, Eh?<\/em><\/p>\n

Anyone who relies on Ontario\u2019s 400-series highways knows that, at the best of times, you\u2019ll fly along to your destination. But throw in some weather or boneheaded move by a fellow driver and chaos ensues. That\u2019s what\u2019s captured in Heavy Rescue: 401<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Debuting\u00a0Tuesday, Jan. 3, at 10 p.m. ET\/7 p.m. PT on Discovery Canada\u2014and from the same folks behind Highway Thru Hell, Heavy Rescue: 401<\/em>tracks the tow truck drivers, provincial police and emergency personnel who work long hours in dangerous conditions to keep cars and trucks full of precious cargo\u2014human, animal and product\u2014safe and on to their destinations. Yes, the west coast\u2019s Coquihalla\u00a0highway has snow and high peaks, but Ontario\u2019s roads have their own challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would fly into Toronto for meetings at Discovery and would drive from the airport and see guys smashing into each other in front of me,\u201d executive producer Mark Miller says. \u201cI\u2019d get to Discovery and tell everyone about the hell I had just been through and they\u2019d say, \u2018Yeah, we go through that every day.\u2019 We spoke to tow truck drivers that work the roads and quickly realized there was something there. It was different enough that it makes for a really cool series.\u201d Miller\u00a0likens the 401 to a spine with manufacturing plants and factories attached to it; the sheer number of tractor trailers needed to transport supplies along that route means jam-packed lanes and accidents waiting to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about time,\u201d says longtime Abrams Towing driver John Allen (pictured above), one of several drivers featured in Heavy Rescue: 401<\/em>. \u201cYou have auto parts going to Oshawa, auto parts going out to Windsor. If they get tied up, it\u2019s costing GM or Chrysler or whoever is doing the manufacturing millions of dollars because they don\u2019t have the storage capacity. Their storage is the trucks coming in.\u201d Tuesday\u2019s debut episode wastes no time showing what happens when snowy conditions and several lanes of traffic mix: a multi-vehicle accident has shut down part of the 401 and Allen is among the drivers rushing to the scene. Other companies followed in Season 1\u2019s episodes include Herb\u2019s Towing, Preferred Towing, Ross Services, Steve\u2019s Towing, Classic Heavy Towing and Metro Towing.<\/p>\n

Allen, with over 25 years in the towing business, has seen it all on Ontario\u2019s roads and isn\u2019t fazed by the fact he\u2019s about to become a TV star. Instead, he\u2019s more interested in educating viewers about the dangers involved in his profession.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of what I want to get out of this show is for drivers to slow down, move over and give us a little space,\u201d Allen says. \u201cOne tow truck driver is killed every six days in North America. That\u2019s more than police officers, firefighters and ambulance drivers put together.\u201d Injuries and death, he says, occur when a tow truck operator is crushed between vehicles or in what he refers to as \u201cthe 30 feet of kill zone\u201d between his door and the back of the truck working in an active traffic lane and totally unprotected.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot even one in 10 drivers will move over and give me room,\u201d Allen says. \u201cI was watching the episode back and was getting scared! Give me some space in my workplace \u2026 that\u2019s all I ask.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heavy Rescue: 401<\/em> airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET\/7 p.m. PT on Discovery Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greg David \/ TV, Eh? Anyone who relies on Ontario\u2019s 400-series highways knows that, at the best of times, you\u2019ll fly along to your destination. But throw in some weather or boneheaded move by a fellow driver and chaos ensues. That\u2019s what\u2019s captured in Heavy Rescue: 401. Debuting\u00a0Tuesday, Jan. 3, at 10 p.m. ET\/7 p.m. … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nONTARIO\u2019S HIGHWAYS THRU HELL STAR IN DISCOVERY\u2019S HEAVY RESCUE: 401 - Thunderbird Entertainment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2017\/01\/03\/ontarios-highways-thru-hell-star-in-discoverys-heavy-rescue-401\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ONTARIO\u2019S HIGHWAYS THRU HELL STAR IN DISCOVERY\u2019S HEAVY RESCUE: 401 - Thunderbird Entertainment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Greg David \/ TV, Eh? Anyone who relies on Ontario\u2019s 400-series highways knows that, at the best of times, you\u2019ll fly along to your destination. But throw in some weather or boneheaded move by a fellow driver and chaos ensues. That\u2019s what\u2019s captured in Heavy Rescue: 401. 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