At 1:15 am today east of me near Nighthawk, this crane was in the ditch, I was told by some one that lives close by. When we drove by at 9:00 tires were still smoking. Near 4:00 pm cam back and crane fire was out but BC forestry had 4 choppers working a 60 acre grass bush fire. Driver was smart taking the ditch on the high side as the other side is 150 to 200 ft down to river.
Once the tires or the hyd oil gets going, they are pretty much a lost cause, they are tough to get the fire out. 4 axle liebherr looks like a 1080- its got single stage outriggers so I don't think its bigger. Its going to take a couple pretty big wreckers to get it out of the ditch and loaded up. Be easier to get on a trailer if the boom was in the rest and not on the dolly. I think if I was going to try it, I'd pull the boom out, put it and dolly on a trailer. Lock the upper and pick what's left up and load it on a double drop. Would be easier with a crane or two.
I see on Highway thru hell that there is no Rural fire Departments like in the States that must make insureance very high ?
I heard this morning that the crane had transmission problems along the way and someone did some roadside repairs, and then got underway so that is why it was on the highway at that time.
We are daylight only travel for my oversize/overweight permitted cranes. I originally hated it when I moved here, but with our hills and narrow roads, it saves a lot of problems. I have no business trying to move my big stuff in the dark, its a accident waiting to happen. In the dark its hard to see that whisp of smoke from a stuck brake, or leaking fluids, until its too late.
I had an emergency callout to a food processing plant the other day, after an already long day. A blown transformer was shutting down their entire line, I got there at 6, left at 9, and then noticed I had NO dash lights or taillights. This happened once before, a few weeks ago, fuses/breakers all good so I blew it off as a one time deal. I made it into town, trying to get back to my yard, took a back road, getting off the interstate ASAP, and got pulled over by a state trooper who told me I was going 62 in a 45, AND, I had no tail lights! I expressed surprise, and he said with no dash lights I can understand how you were speeding, THEN he asked where I was going and I told him to my yard, about 1/4 mile past the trooper barracks, (true) he then said check your flashers, they worked, and he said, I was good to go! Never checked my license or nothing, made my day!
Just wondering what replacement cost for a crane of this size, would be.
New one close to a million. It doesn't look new though- old style cab etc, so around 200-300,000 to replace it.
Either way, its junk just like this one I got pictures of a while back. It was brand new and the only thing I can figure is they dropped it at the port. There isn't anything straight on it and it really doesn't look like a road accident. This one is like a 200 ton.
That puts shock load into perspective.
Recovery isn't going too well. Every liebherr has different lifting charts for which sections of boom you have out. Any heavy picking at short radius with full counterweights- your best chart is with the big sections out- they are stronger. A lot of times its even better if the big sections are at 46%. Looks to me like he had the tip two sections at 100% - which would be a much weaker configuration.
That makes my problems look small.
Ever notice when dealing with cranes. The situation can always get worse! Hope everyone walked away.
Total to cranes on the same accident
Man that’s starting to look expensive.
I guess 2 different Crane companies will have hugh write off's
Both blue colored cranes, I'm going to say its from the same company (factory color is a yellow/orange). Second crane looks like a liebherr 1160- about a 200 ton crane, similar in age to the original crane that burnt. Their insurance carrier should cover both incidents, but likely they are going to get a letter stating they will not be renewed. And if you've had two incidents and been dropped by your carrier, its really tough to get another carrier to pick you up.
I am most likely wrong but was told the first crane was a company from Penticton not far from me, they only have one crane and several crane /boom trucks. My guess is is a company from the lower main land (Vancouver area). But you may be correct as I have seen Blue cranes pass through town here a few times Just drawing a blank on the name or I rather not say unless I know for sure.
What a cluster. Agree with Old Doug. My problems look small.
The county bridge builders put a crane up for sale years ago i think it was a 50 ton . I went and looked at it. The thing was in good shape they just didnt need it. It sold for way less than scrap price and was cut up on the spot. I kept thinking about what if it had a problem on the way home how could i move it off the highway to a safe place .
I’m surprised they tried to lift it.
Lampson Blue.
Could of been resold
That's what I'm thinking. Lampson has had several of that type in their yard, but they deal in cranes also.
There is a crane outfit here in the Vancouver area that is that shade of blue. Matching B trains pulled by blue day cabs for the pads and counter weights. The name is escaping me at the moment. Cam
That is the one I was thinking of as seen them come through town. Mega???
Had coffee with a friend this morning , and the Cranes are both still there as of 9:00 last night. From my house I usually see over size loads coming into do so keeping my eyes open for it.
Maurer crane is the name I've read. Based out of Penticon and kelowna.
Willing to bet those came from Lampson originally, very costly to repaint. Plus Lampson did a lot of work at the Hanford site with cranes like those. Hanford is fairly quiet these days so it was time to unload them how ever far back.
The crane the is in ditch that caught fire is a Maurer it was here in Princeton doing a lift , then headed out when it had problems. I thought that was their largest one in the fleet.
Two cranes, one burned and one broken, could finally be removed from the side of Highway 3 near Osoyoos Thursday. A Maurer Cranes rig started a wildfire between Osoyoos and Cawston near the Nighthawk turnoff overnight Aug. 11. That blaze was successfully dealt with by BC Wildfire Service crews. The burned-out shell of the crane remained, and the company sent another to deal with it. That crane is still on scene next to the first, ostensibly damaged during the removal efforts. Maurer Cranes has not responded to Castanet requests for comment. Traffic has been single-lane alternating since the incident. Traffic control worker Troy Gangl told Castanet Wednesday it is his understanding removal work of both of the cranes could take place Thursday, Aug. 25, possibly resulting in a highway closure.
I'm kind of amazed that the authorities would allow a highway to be partially blocked for that long. Is it not very busy? Do they have flaggers on it or some kind of traffic control?
Highway is not really busy and 24 hr traffic control. I heard that some of the delay is there is not a free crane until Thursday to handle the job. If the road is closed my chance of getting some pictures are not very good.
Maybe they will **** up a third crane and make it a hat trick.
They are not a big company, the 200 ton with a broken wing I think is there largest.
If the map is correct, I ran over 3 years ago. Ran to Kelowna regularly.
If you were going to Kelowna you would stay on 97 North straight into Kelowna, Highway 3 heads towards Princeton then Vancouver 3 hrs later Vancouver I am 1 hr and 15 minutes from cranes.
Highway 3, the Crows Nest highway. I ran that way a few times to return to Brewster first to start my pickups. Instead of going south to Stevens Pass then back north to Brewster.
Yes you passed through my town.
Seems like they should be able to get the second crane off the road with a cutting torch.
Sad state of affairs … Fred Maurer's Forman retired a few months ago, nothing good will come out of these million dollar wrecks
Hopefully, the tele cylinder collapse didn't send metal into the hyd system so that the machine will still run. Then you could grab the remnants of the boom with a third crane, cut off the damaged two sections, swing around and drop weights, and then use the third crane to pull the weights. Put the second crane back on its tires with the boom in the rest and drive it home, and wait for liebherr to build you some new sections. Then hopefully split the burnt one apart and get it loaded on two or three trucks. You would think that even with a retired foreman, there should be some guys left that know what they are doing.
I am 80% sure nothing happened to day as I checked drive BC for road closers etc and 3 times Highway 3 was open.
that is optimistic IMO. They were stupid enough to try and pick and set it, what was clearly a job for the recovery company. I can't see them having grown an extra brain cell now. Sorry if I sound callous but most things are best left for the pros.
Crane Recovery Company? I want their number…….lol
When it's burnt by the side of the highway it's just another truck just a heavy one. Let the pros with the recovery rigs take care of it. They would rotate out of there a little bit if needed, and then slide it on something like a big landoll. When I was working on the river job in Puyallup, the drillers borrowed our 4100 and overcentered it, trying to pull on a 3-ft can that they should have kept vibrating. They got a pro out of California to come recover that crane. He brought in sicklesteel with a 300 ton truck crane and they laid it down without any further damage, or damage to the railway or highway bridges on either side of us. The insurance paid for that, and it went with no drama.
A couple of tow trucks, one 50 ton-one 35 ton could have recovered that without too much drama. Just don't get in a hurry, it was still up-right.
Yeah that went like the carpenter story. There's only two times when a carpenter's in a hurry. When he's screwing up or trying to fix it.
The fact that they tried to recover it themselves seems to preclude that they had enough insurance coverage in the first place.
I’ve never seen a tow truck that could tow that burnt crane without having someone steering it. All those at’s have steering pumps that are ground driven. Every time I’ve seen a 150t crane or bigger towed it’s just pulled by the wrecker. Plug air in from the tow truck for your brakes and put someone in the cab to steer it. You are not putting that crane behind a tow truck in that shape and moving it. Way simpler to bring in a crane big enough to set it on a lowboy and haul it out. At least that’s exactly what I’d have done. The bigger crane was simply configured wrong. Aside from that IMO they had the right idea. I really don’t know what good a tow truck will do you.
There is no tow truck that can raise it and tow it, same with some mixers and garbage trucks. There flat towed. Done all the time. But it can be winched on to road and moved to a better location.
That’s true. I think they’ll need a crane to get it loaded onto something anyway so why not just do it there? I don’t know why they wouldn’t pull the boom, haul that out and then pick the rest up and set it on a trailer. Which they may have been trying to do that. I’m not a towing guy but I know you have a lot better luck with cranes if you configure the boom and lmi correctly.
In this state-the state wants the road clear. After that it's the owners problem, do loading in a area other than the roadway. In Canada maybe they allow that, but here it's get the junk, garbage or wreck cleaned up asap. An experienced tow operator could look it over and have it done in no time, because we deal with those scenarios all the time.
Well boy at 3:25 pm today when I went by for a drive with Mrs. R, there was no change at crash site. 24/7 traffic control om each end.
Hank--in this case is the crane owner responsible for traffic control?
Not sure but I would insurance might cover for a few days then it may be his will ask in morning .
Whoever was pulling those levers had absolutely no business sitting in that crane. Obviously doesn't understand the concept of differing boom configurations, doesn't know how to read a load chart, and would've had to override the LMI in order to go well past the structural capacity. What a cluster!
From what I found out this morning is the first crane that caught fire is covered by ICBC insurance car truck insurance here in BC. The recovery crane was was working a job so the crane company insurance company is looking after that crane, the gray area is is the cost of traffic control as highway is down to single lane. I know this does not help much. Truck Shop you should come up for a quick road trip only 1/2 hr from boarder crossing on 97.
Highway 3 west of Osoyoos is closed in both directions Saturday as crews work to remove two cranes that have been there for weeks. A Maurer Cranes rig caught fire at the base of Richter Mountain, about 21 kilometres west of Osoyoos, on Aug. 11. The fire spread up the hill , growing to about 26 hectares in size before fire crews were able to get it under control. A second crane that was sent to the scene to help remove the burned out shell of the first crane appears to have been damaged in the process, and both cranes have remained at the scene for weeks . DriveBC says crews will be at the scene of the fire, near Sumac Road, removing the two cranes all day Saturday. The recovery efforts have forced the closure of Highway 3 in both directions, and work is expected to continue through to 9 p.m. Those looking to detour around the closure can use Highway 3A, between Keremeos and Kaleden.
From that angle, they were lucky to have not taken down those lines next to the road.
Mountain goats still there? Use to find them standing along side the road.
Yes they are.
Now for the rest of the story or real part. I talked to the Head man on this recovery from GWIL cranes this morning. a 80 ton and a 300 ton cranes were used on this job. They had the road closed for 16 hrs to do the recovery. The first crane the was in the ditch and burnt up the driver fell asleep or?? with his foot to the metal, and that is what started the fire. The boom was cut up into smaller pieces then removed. both cranes were used to lift and lode out the rest to a trailer and hauled to a ICBC yard for the insurance company to look at and sell for scrap, the man I talked to said that he does not understand there thoughts as some one has to unload in a wreck storage yard then sold for less than crane costs to unload. Now interesting thing is the operator of first crane, a few days later returned to accident site with the big crane and wrecked it as well. Damaged boom was cut off and hose turned around and unit then driven to Penticton to Maurer's yard. Liebherr is looking for used boom section that was damaged and are hoping to be back in the crane business in 4 or 5 months.
There may be a new Greeter at the Wal-Mart store as some one is looking for a new job. I seen a few pictures but the man was not allowed sent to me ...
Gonna take more than one or two sections and a Squirt Cylinder on Crane 2, the Pop it gave the chassis was enough to lift it off the outrigger mats, be damned if I would sign off a crane inspect on that one without crapping myself.
I agree with you , I was just listening to what I was told. Can not guess what this mess has cost$$$$$$
They will have a new insurance carrier after full investigation.
Thanks for the update Hank. Glad the road is clear and no one was injured.
I was driving up the mountain road the other day I happen to live on to do a truss job, 12% grade so not slowing down for anyone or anything. Three guys were sitting on the shoulder, no rig visible, odd...., as I went by them I made eye contact and somethingseemed a bit off, if I was in my Prius (don't laugh) I would have stopped and asked what was going on? Then I saw it, a big box truck for an insulation company. the weird thing was it was pointed uphill, and well before the switchbacks, I've driven this ski area road for 40+ years and this made no sense, short of just total inattention. Wasn't until later that I thought that when they saw me they probably thought I was the wrecker service, if I had had time I would have came back and watched the big wrecker in action.
Guess I didn't make it clear, the box truck was way off the road and almost tipped sideways, in the trees. I have since noticed two large divots in the asphalt, from the heavy tow truck's stabilizers I'm guessing.
i posted a rolled over crane earlier from similar inattention, going uphill on gravel.
if it's got wheels it can be wrecked-just put a human behind the wheel.
For faster results add one operator…..lol
I got sent a photo of the recovery of these cranes.