January 10, 2025 • 58 mins
Discover how snowy weather is transforming the towing landscape across the U.S. and why a standoff with state police in Connecticut has everyone talking. Our special guest, Jose from Big Valley in Vegas, shares fascinating updates from his company and insights into Nevada's towing industry. We also pay tribute to President Jimmy Carter, exploring his unexpected impact on the towing world through trucking deregulation and his enduring humanitarian work.
Join us as we explore an exciting partnership with the Statewide Towing Academy in Massachusetts, where Todd Chase, Nate Buckler, and Michael Spacey are leading the charge on electric vehicle training. Learn about resolved communication issues between Connecticut tow operators and state police, and delve into legislative inquiries affecting the industry. Jose returns to discuss strategic company consolidations and legislative strides in Nevada, shedding light on the TRIP program's role in enhancing traffic safety.
We wrap up with a critical look at legal and safety issues in emergency response. Hear about a volunteer fire department's legal battle, emphasizing the importance of thorough documentation and understanding SOPs versus SOGs. Ron Moore, our rescue guru, underscores the significance of regular safety meetings and detailed training documentation in the towing industry. Tune in for an engaging discussion, packed with industry insights and valuable lessons for towing professionals.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Today on Towing News.
Now there's news updates fromacross the country, including an
update about what happened inConnecticut with the standoff
with the state police.
Also, towing is busy across theUnited States with snowy
conditions.
We have an update interviewwith Jose from Big Valley out in
Vegas.
What's going on out there withthat company?
(00:26):
They've joined.
What's going on in the state ingeneral?
Also a great interview with ourrescue guru, ron Moore.
Ron's going to talk to us alittle bit about training later
in the show.
So sit back, relax.
We've got a great show.
If you're driving, of course,pay attention to what you're
(00:46):
doing.
We're glad you're here for theride.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
The team at Towing News Now would like to take a
moment to remember our 39thpresident, jimmy Carter, who
passed away on December 29th2024, at the age of 100, and was
preceded in death by his lovelywife of 77 years, rosalyn
Carter.
Jimmy Carter's presidency was acomplicated one, coming on the
heels of Vietnam, nixon andstatuation.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Notable events during his presidency the Iran hostage
crisis 444 days created 20%interest rates which crippled
the economy.
Interest rates which crippledthe economy.
(01:30):
The Camp David Accord peacesummit of Egypt and Israel.
Grant China diplomatist statusfor the first time ever.
Gave away the Panama Canal.
He also deregulated trucking,the airline industry and other
various types of businesses.
I know personally of two thingsfrom his administration.
(01:53):
The trucking deregulationchanged the towing industry
quite a bit.
Before you had to have permitsto make certain moves and tows
depending on how your statehandled it, and things were
handled differently at all thedifferent states with assigned
routes etc.
It limited who you get in thetowing business, especially the
(02:15):
heavy towing business.
It also indirectly created acategory of towing that
basically just started aboutthat time.
Voluntary repossessionsTraditionally, up to that point
repossessions had been their ownpart, own segment of the towing
(02:35):
industry.
You're not really interactingwith the tower that was trying
to do police towing, publictowing, dealership towing etc.
But because interest rates gotso bad, big corporations like
GMAC had tons of customers thatcouldn't afford the cars,
realized they couldn't affordthem and just wanted to give
them back.
(02:55):
Sometimes they would break downand need a tow truck.
Sometimes the tow truck wasjust used for the convenience,
but the GMAC rep would be there,the customer would be there
handing you the keys and it wasa very similar tow-to-tow in a
car to a service center back inthose days.
So, inadvertently, his highinterest rates created that
(03:17):
whole category.
And then the truckingderegulation, like I say,
changed things a lot, allowed alot of people to get into heavy
towing again, depending on howthe state handled things.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
But it was his post-presidency that was his
legacy.
President Carter dedicatedhimself to alleviating human
suffering, in addition topromoting peace and human rights
Through the Carter Center,president and Mrs Carter led the
Jimmy and Rosalind Carter WorkProject for Habitat for Humanity
for over 30 years.
Together they've workedalongside over 108,000
(03:51):
volunteers, who have built,renovated, repaired more than
4,447 homes in 14 countries, allwhile raising awareness of the
critical need for affordablehousing.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
May he rest in eternal peace.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Welcome to the new season, season four, episode one
of Towing News.
Now You're going to haveindustry news, tech talks,
fantastic guests throughout thiswhole year.
Welcome to 2025.
This is DJ Harrington, yourco-host.
I'll now pass it over to thereal host of the program, april,
(04:28):
and Wes Wilburn.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Hey, jake, glad to be back with you on the show,
really happy to be more involved.
I started towards the end oflast year with you guys and I
will roll out the new year withyou as well.
How is your year looking so far, dj?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Fantastic April.
It has been a good one, and ofcourse, we're getting ready for
bad weather here, just like you,and Wes are up there.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Yeah, so far we are lucky we have cold weather, but
that's about it.
A little bit up north, ournorthern friends are really
having some experiences with thesnow and the ice.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
And out west too, boys, there's been some serious
winter conditions and I wore myhats off to all the towing
professionals and all the otherpeople out there keeping America
moving, but especially thetowing professionals, the unsung
heroes out there.
If it wasn't for them, Americawould be totally shut down right
now, with a large percentage ofthe country under snow
(05:27):
conditions.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Yeah, they said that this started off in California,
northern California and justspread throughout the country.
So you know.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah, boy, speaking of California, the day we're
recording this, there'swildfires getting terrible out
there.
I've got to choose my wordscarefully because it's a
horrible, horrible situation.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Horrible event.
I was watching it last nightand Pasadena High School, which
apparently is a historical highschool, is on its own.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
The whole thing's blown up.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah, we're praying for everybody involved, with
those affected by those firesand, of course, everybody across
the country putting themselvesin harm's way to keep American
roadways and America's roadsmoving.
So definitely the days we'rerecording this we're definitely
thinking of those folks.
We took a weekend off for aweek off for Christmas, so to
(06:20):
speak.
So it's the first of the year.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Well, today is Elvis Presley's birthday, January the
8th, and we'll drop thistomorrow, so we yeah, so there
was a little gap there, but thisis our new weekly program, bj.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
We've got some good feedback about the new format
with the news and, and, you know, focused on getting this thing.
You know, focused on gettingthis thing.
When I say live, folks don'thave to listen to it live, they
can still listen to it as apodcast.
But we're getting good feedbackfrom the new format.
What have you heard?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
So far, having you select Wednesdays as your day.
It really has added more to it,because there's a lot of
co-shows that are on weekendsand people travel to those shows
, and having it on Wednesday, soWednesday is your day for
Towing News.
(07:15):
Now, this is a great idea.
Wes and April, you've tuned inand we want all of our people to
tune in and get turned on withtelling news.
Now.
I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, so so we're going to still do the interview
format.
As a matter of fact, we'regoing to do more interviews.
Today we have a returning guest.
We had him on.
It's been two years almostsince we had him but Jose and
big rally toes going to tell usout there in Vegas.
We're going to tell us what'sgoing on out there.
They've joined one of theconsolidation groups, so he's
(07:50):
going to tell us a little bitabout that.
I haven't heard all the details.
I know the big pieces, but he'salso going to let us know
what's going on in the state ofNevada with their state
association, their Association,their trip program.
Then we have Ron Moore.
That believes in us and theconcept of the podcast greatly.
He's been a great mentor andfriend over the years.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Ron's agreed we think it's going to be weekly or
every other week.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
We're trying to work on the scheduling right now to
make that happen.
What do you think DJ Gettinghim on regular would be a good
thing to talk about interest toboth groups and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
You're not kidding.
Ron Moore is one of the finesthuman beings and to get him to
be on the podcast Wes is a realplus for the program, and you're
going to get morecross-training with first
responders.
You're going to get a lot offirefighters on the podcast
because of Ron Moore and doingcross-training with our
(08:53):
excellent professional towersthat listen to us every week.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
A lot of towers are.
I don't know if it's 25% itmight be a little bit less than
that but it just seems likeabout 25% of towers are.
Also is a volunteer or theywork for the fire department,
and to me that's just a greatcrossover.
He's also going to kind ofspeak to somebody like me.
As far as what my insights are.
I'm not as sophisticated withsome of the stuff that mine and
Wes is, so when he's explainingthis he's going to even make it
where maybe something is thateven I can understand.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
April.
I agree with you and all ourlisteners.
This is DJ Anderson, the ToeDoctor, and I have news for you.
I wrote my very first articlecalled Keep them Stable Till we
Get them to the Table, and it'sbecause of Ron Moore, wes
Wilburn and doing cross trainingyeah absolutely.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
You never know who you touch whenever something
happens.
You have no concept of that.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
So Ron's going to do, I think, a real good subject
today.
He's just going to talk abouttraining in general, whether
it's a selling organization, afire department, et cetera.
So we're looking forward tohaving him on.
So we're going to have twogreat interviews on today's
podcast.
Like I say, a week now,wednesday the 15th, I guess it
will be yeah.
(10:29):
Thursday.
Yeah, we also have a update onsound equipment.
We're gonna.
We I know I've needed to do itfor a while and we have
everything taken care of.
The weather got us delayedslightly, but next week we hope
to have a new studio sound goingon as well.
And again, god bless you.
(10:49):
I know a couple of you havementioned it to me that I need
to do this for a while, so I'm alittle dinosaur and I move slow
sometimes, but we're gettingthat done.
So two years off is a goodstart, dj, we're excited.
We're excited about many things.
We entered an agreement withthe Statewide Towing Academy,
(11:10):
which is a division of theStatewide Towing Association out
of Massachusetts, todd Chaseand Nate Buckler and Michael
Spacey, which is their educationcommittee and they volunteer a
lot of time up there for thatassociation.
In about 2006 2006 they adoptedour light medium duty program
(11:30):
and I did a train the trainerprogram.
I worked with michael espositoand todd chase at that point,
especially todd he did, he didmost of the classroom, um, but
they adapted our trainingprogram.
The association modified itslightly to fit their needs.
Up there we did a series ofclasses together with their
(11:51):
trainers where I trained withthem and that's worked out real
well.
It's gone on for years.
We've traded some notes backand forth.
They just made a deal and theyhave bought a franchise
agreement to provide ourelectric vehicle training and
testing and certification.
There's some interest.
(12:12):
Some of the authorities in thatpart of the country are
interested, very interested, tooperate our electric and
alternative fuel vehicletraining.
So we're going to do a seriesof courses in the middle of
February.
Dates haven't been exact, citylocations haven't been announced
yet.
What is that February?
Speaker 4 (12:32):
18th, 19th and 20th, and that's in an effort to make
it more accessible to peoplethroughout the state also.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Oh yeah, well it's commendable.
Yeah, again, the three gentlementhat I named, nate, michael and
Todd, and there's others too.
There's the three that I'mworking I've started the process
on this program with, butthere's several other people
involved up there now, whichagain many people doing the work
makes it a little easier oneverybody, but they've taken
(13:02):
control of their own destiny asa tow association, provided good
quality research informationdelivered professionally.
So it's not a waste of, youknow, wasting half the time at a
class, it's delivering aprofessional format, which is
what we always strive to do.
And they've delivered the lightand medium for years.
We've done several heavies upthere.
(13:24):
It might be up there in thefall for heavy.
We're working on that now, butwe'll definitely be up there in
February.
We've done three electric slash, alternative fuel vehicle
classes, promoting, of course,the EV Clever app.
So all the answers you need toa electric or alternative fuel
vehicle, all the information youneed to buy a good alternative
(13:45):
fuel vehicle, all theinformation from the
manufacturer.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
And that app is available on Google Play Store
and Apple and it's a 30-day freetrial.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Absolutely, yep.
So we'll be up there inMassachusetts delivering that
information with them inFebruary and they're going to,
as I understand it, workdiligently to get that
information around the state,like they have with the light
and medium duty program.
Again, it's a good arrangementbecause it allows the hotelers
(14:15):
to provide it for their members,hotel association, rather
provide it for their members,get classes close to home for
folks that don't have to travelas much and classes specific to
their region of the country.
So, that's going on, DJ.
We're real excited about thatprogram but also the last
(14:36):
program we talked about,Connecticut.
There was coming up to our headbetween the tellers not wanting
to respond to heavy statepolice calls, heavy-duty state
police calls, because manyissues between them and the
state police that did getresolved.
I don't know.
(14:57):
It broke down in communicationand this coming to a head has
brought the communication backto the forefront and to a better
level than before.
That's what I've been told.
I don't know if everything'stotally resolved, but things are
on a better platform.
So the toys did not strike theweek of Christmas like they had
been talked about.
(15:17):
It came to some sort of resolve.
Also an interesting side notethe state of Connecticut.
Apparently you tow an older car.
It's worth under $1,500.
The requirement for keeping it,the amount of days, the
requirement for keeping it isrelatively short and that's come
(15:38):
under the scrutiny of twodifferent newspapers.
I guess they're kind of thesame newspaper organization.
One's an offshoot of the otherone as far as I can tell.
But now the state authoritiesare looking into why it's only
15 days it's only worth $1,500,and how much shorter of a time
span that that is in most states.
I don't know if it's right orwrong.
(16:00):
It does seem to make some sensewith the car being such low
value.
But anyway, the newspaperreports the state legislature is
looking into this issue andthey'll tell us as things
progress.
So we'll try to keep ourlisteners progressed as well.
All right, we're going to takea moment.
Go to a break.
We've got a great guest afterthe break, so hang around and
(16:22):
come on back after the break.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
so hang around and come on back.
For electric and otheralternative fuel vehicles, we
have developed an app that givesyou all the manufacturers 411
for when that 911 happens,whether you are a fire tow or
police, we got you covered.
To find the EV Clever app, goto your Apple or Google Play
store for a 30-day free trial.
To find the EVClever app, go toyour Apple or Google Play store
for a 30-day free trial.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
We also offer the National Tow Operator
Certification, an independentlysourced virtual testing program
covering light-duty, heavy-dutyelectric and alternative fuel
vehicles.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
You have been listening to Towing News Now
with Wes Wilburn and AprilWilburn, dj Harrington, the Toe
Doctor, every week.
We do our best to bring you thevery best we're available on
Spotify, itunes, pandora,stitcher, iheartmedia, amazon or
(17:19):
wherever you get your podcasts.
I can't thank you enough forlistening to our new season four
, episode one of Towing News Now, wes, I'm going to turn it over
to you because you know Jose awhole lot better than me, but he
is a fine returning guest thata lot of our listeners love
(17:40):
listening to.
Before Wes, I'll turn it overto you.
Thank you, dj.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Yeah, we have Jose from Big Valley out in Vegas, a
returning podcast guest and alongtime friend and supporter of
the Institute.
Jose, give yourself a briefintroduction if you would please
.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
Sure.
Thank you, wes.
Thank you, dj.
My name's Jose Nerina.
I am the general manager of BigValley Towing here in Las Vegas
, nevada.
I've been in the towingindustry about 36 years and love
every minute of it.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
I know you're part of a group of companies out west
and some of them are inCalifornia.
With what's going on with thefires, I've got to start by
asking is there any companiesthat are in your group at this
point affected by any of thefires there in the Los Angeles
area?
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Well, none of our companies are affected in a
negative way as far as the fireswithin our platform.
Obviously, we have a broadcustomer base in Southern
California within the platform,and so we are doing work for
several entities that areinvolved in firefighting, but
(18:55):
nothing affected negatively inthe sense of no loss of property
or life, so that's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
It is, and of course we pray for everybody affected
out there.
Of course your personnel ishelping assist.
We earn our thoughts andprayers as well.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
So some things have changed.
It's been almost two yearssince we've been on the podcast.
Yes, it has.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
Yes, it has A couple things have changed.
Well, just to give you a littlebit of background for the
listeners, valley Towing wasowned by two individuals, debbie
Collins and myself.
I was literally the minorityowner.
Ben Dan Collins passed away ona roadside accident.
So when I came on board in 2012, subsequently after that became
(19:49):
part of the business side of itand we were able to, you know,
hit a lot of goals and make alot of things happen for a big
Valley towing in Las Vegas area.
At which time Debbie, after thepandemic, you know, she kind of
had kind of checked all theboxes right.
She did everything she set outto do within the towing industry
(20:11):
and she kind of wanted toretire.
And it was almost like a birdiehad whispered in everybody's
ear and almost instantly we hada phone call from the people at
First Line Road Solutions.
We had a phone call from thepeople at Firstline Road
Solutions.
They were interested inpurchasing our Opco, our
operating company, to be part ofthe process, of the road
(20:38):
solutions process, and it kindof came at a good time for
everybody.
So consequently, as we know now, we did go ahead and sell to
the Firstline Road Solutionsplatform to become part of Big
Valley Road Solutions and it wasgreat.
It allowed Debbie Collins toretire and reach her goals
(20:59):
personally and it allowed me tocontinue on and carry the banner
that is Big Valley in this newventure.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Now First Line Road Solutions.
They're a company that hasconsolidated other telecom
companies.
Is that correct?
Speaker 5 (21:17):
That's correct.
So it is part of anequity-backed road solutions
company.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That's private equity , correct.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Correct, that's private equity and they
obviously serve as the financialbacking for Firstline Road
Solutions.
But it's kind of like you know,we're trying to.
We're literally reinventing thewheel within towing because, as
we know, other people havetried to do at other entities,
like you know, road One andUnited Road Towing but something
(21:56):
happened over the course of thelast few years.
There's an entity that's verysimilar to ours on the East
Coast.
That's very similar to ours onthe East Coast, and it turns out
that if you back up, if youfill in the gaps a little bit
tighter, you're able to get theresult that you need.
And so First Line RoadSolutions took over companies in
(22:21):
several states.
So we're in California, nevada,utah, idaho and Wyoming at the
moment, and the beauty of it allis is, yes, we're all a
consolidated company and we'reall under the same banner, but
we still maintain our entities.
And then we also have theability to reinforce each other
and to support each other forwhatever they need, right,
(22:44):
because we're close enough,we're all within about 200 miles
from each other, and so we'rereally able to create this one
entity with massive internalsupport.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
So who's the closest one to you in a couple different
directions?
Speaker 5 (23:03):
So, for example, we have our partners to the north
of Cal, nevada Towing and GarinoSparks area.
Our partners to the southwestis a combination of statewide
towing in the Fontana Riversidearea and then 10 west towing
(23:25):
starting to go into Bakersfield,and then to the north we have
stoppers towing out of Utah.
That kind of rounds it out andwe've kind of become this little
middle sprocket, middle hubbecause of the things that Vegas
offers, which is an up andcoming solution for warehousing
(23:48):
and logistics.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Right, yes, I know it's becoming a lot busier for
those areas.
Speaker 5 (23:59):
Yeah, it's really something With everything going
on with Amazon and as muchproduct as they move, and
obviously they've opened uptheir own point where you know
it's really centralizing inNevada.
You know you got people leavingCalifornia for one reason or
(24:33):
another and they seem to belanding in states like Nevada
obviously Arizona, but Nevadahas a little thing called no
inventory tax and so you canstore inventory here and not be
taxed, and obviously that's agreat situation for warehousing
and logistics, so we've beenquite popular.
(24:53):
Obviously, we also have theability or the facilities
through Tesla up in the northand northern Nevada that create
a lot of commercial traffic.
So we're really situated in areally sweet spot within our
platform at Big Valley, and sowe like to believe that we have
(25:15):
a very important job to makesure that everything gets moving
in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
So I have a question to ask, jose.
If you are a company that isconsidering being absorbed by
one of these consolidators, suchas yours, was there a fear,
when this was happening, of youremployees, drivers, office
personnel?
A fear of job loss, fear of paycuts, fear of any of that, and
(25:47):
how has that worked out for yourstaff?
Speaker 5 (25:50):
Sure Great question.
There's always that fear, right, because you see the movies of
quote-unquote corporatetakeovers.
But we're doing a differentbusiness model here.
Corporate takeovers, but we'redoing a different business model
here.
It is really a partnershipbetween the corporate culture
and the towing culture and we'recoming together and part of the
(26:12):
mantra is nobody goes backwards, right, and so everybody keeps
their name, everybody keeps theemployees.
Is there a shuffle?
Well, sometimes it's an organicshuffle, right, and the beauty
is is that if you create thisplatform and you have employees
that no longer want to be inNevada, for example, their life
(26:34):
takes them to transfer over andcontinue doing what they love
without losing whether it beseniority, without losing, maybe
, experience or having to startover, and so it creates this
organic camaraderie amongst allof our Opcos that we help each
(26:58):
other because we're so close.
You know, I think before themistake was is that you had the
outposts so far apart.
You know you had some in LasVegas and then the next one
would be San Antonio and thenthe next one would be Chicago,
and you can't support each othercorrectly at that distance.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Right.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Yeah, it sounds more.
This is more of a natural, um,like you said, organic, because
everybody's so close together,even with California.
Everything is going on inSouthern California.
If it, if it came down to it,you guys could send resources
and help out with that.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Absolutely, that's.
One of the advantages ofconsolidation is that, you know,
we have, uh, a lot of resourcesand area.
(28:07):
At one time, you know, I thinkwe actually threw like 20 or 30
trucks at the problem and wewere able to really just kind of
move things along because wehad the ability to share
resources and everybody kind ofpitched in.
You know, and again, if we havea situation where right now in
(28:28):
the winter, let's say, there's asnow storm in Utah and our Utah
opco can't handle it, thenabsolutely there's a call that's
made to, you know, other opcoshey, can you send a truck or two
, or can you send some drivers,and we can, you know, use their
trucks.
You, a truck or two, or can yousend some drivers and we can,
you know, use their trucks?
You have options that youdidn't have before.
(28:48):
You know you were kind of stuckin a hole, you know, because
you can't, like you can't, buy atruck fast enough nowadays or
train an operator fast enough tokeep up with the, you know,
instant demand that is, theroadway recovery.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Yeah, that sounds like an optimal situation too,
and it also seems like the waythey structured when they came
and they made everybodycomfortable with it and they
seem like they have value intheir operations and their
employees.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
Yeah, and that's really why it's important to the
way they are doing theallocations right, the way
they're going and inviting thecompanies in.
All the companies are verysimilar in scope, both in
culture and in businesspractices, so we're all alike,
(29:38):
so to speak, and we all haveidentities in our own markets.
That is important to keep, andI think that's one of the
underlining factors that's goingto lead to our success, is the
fact that it's not an entitytaking over a name.
It is.
(29:58):
The entities are specific toeach area, because each area has
a specific type of business,and what works in California
doesn't work in Nevada, doesn'twork in, you know, utah or Idaho
, and so we're able to take theexperience of the local company
and imagine backing them up withsome.
(30:18):
You know different financialsituation, financial, you know
help.
What can you create?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Obviously it's an amazing situation.
Well, that's good that that'sworking out for you.
When did the transaction happen?
Speaker 5 (30:39):
So we switched over to first line.
I want to say 6th, so June of23.
We've been apart with them and,like I said, it's been
everything has been transparent,everything has been what has
been.
You know what has been promisedhas happened, and so that is
good to know because, again, wesee everything on, you know the
movies and television and youhear it corporate, bad, and
(31:04):
there are some instances wherethis can work.
And I really think that thepeople in play here, all the way
down from the operators at theopcos to the board directors,
are all in the same mindset isthat let's create a better
solution for our customers andour employees.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
That's a great mindset.
It's nice to see that it'sworking well for you and working
well for the whole group outthere.
I'd like to get you to comeback on at some point and talk
about that some more, but rightnow we're up against a hard
break.
I'd like to take a break andafter the break I'd like to get
you to come back and talk aboutwhat's going on with the Toe
Association, the TRIP programand anything else at Nevada.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Sure, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
All right, we'll be right back after the break.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
For all your ringing needs.
Give us a look attowingequipmentdirectcom or
email us at info at amtowriorg.
Also, you can give us a call at910-747-9000.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
Information in this podcast is made possible by
generous sponsorship fromHenry's Wrecker, serving the
community with quality towingand recovery for over 40 years.
Henryswreckercom.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Welcome back listeners.
Of course you know you'relistening to the number one
program towing news now with WesWilburn and April Wilburn and
DJ Harrington today from bigValley towing in Nevada.
The one and only Jose isexplaining everything.
If you want anotherprofessional like Jose, by all
(32:43):
means dial our hotline numberhere at the podcast center
706-409-5603.
706-409-5603.
And we'll get that professionallike Jose from Big Valley
Towing in Vegas on the line.
All right, wes, I'll turn itback over to you.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Thank you, BJ.
Jose, tell us what's going onwith the Tow Association.
Last time we talked, I think itwas gaining some traction.
What's going on?
Speaker 5 (33:16):
Yeah, so we've formed the Nevada State Tow
Association.
It's been two years now andwe've had a lot of great success
.
You know, what happens is whenyou don't have an association on
your behalf, it's just a bunchof individuals going to say the
legislature and saying, hey, youknow, this legislation that
(33:39):
you're proposing might not be agood idea, but when you have a
whole entity that represents thewhole state, that represents
all of the towers in this case,then obviously I believe it has
a lot more weight.
We've had a lot of success inthe legislature, not only for
towing but, I think, for many,many citizens, to make sure that
(34:00):
the laws are even and fair foreverybody, not just for the
towing community.
And so we've been able to workwith state legislatures,
department of Motor Vehicles,law enforcement to make sure
that the wording is correct andwhen we do lien fails, when we
do auctions, you know the waythe titles are given out, and so
(34:25):
we made a lot of progress withthat.
We had some progress.
You know, since we're regulatedby the state of Nevada, in
Nevada, or our non-consenttowing, you have to go through
some hoops to get increases onon pricing, on rates, for going
in recovery, and usually itcomes with a whole roll of red
(34:48):
tape, and through theassociation, working closely
with the Nevada TransportationAuthority, we were able to get
an increase, a substantialincrease to our rates that we
hadn't had in about 14 years, todeal with this inflation that
everybody is getting clobberedover the head with.
So that was one of the biggestpositives that we had with the
(35:11):
association, on top of the factthat we are constantly gaining
ground, constantly gaining moreand more members, and so they
understand that together we'restronger than we are
individually.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Well, that's good to hear everybody's working
together.
Everything you've talked aboutis very important.
I don't want to sound like abroken record because I've made
several of those comments allthe time.
But the legislative issues thatany group or association can
address is very powerful.
It's good to hear that'sworking well for you all out
there.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
Oh, for sure, for sure, and you know, because
unfortunately we still have animage problem in our industry
and so when legislatures go upthere and you know, something
gets proposed and it's all aboutthe big bad towing company,
maybe we're not so bad at theend of the day, right, because
we are performing services thatare necessary, you know, and
(36:05):
that includes, you know, privateproperty, stuff that can get a
little murky, but it is still aservice necessary to create
parking control in theseresidential and commercial areas
.
So they need a voice, we need avoice, and state associations
create that.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
Wait, april.
Sorry about that.
No, interrupted you.
I'm sorry.
Um the whole bad name thing.
It is still there and I don'tunderstand it either.
But watching the news last weekthere were two, two events I
won't go through them, but theyinvolved vehicles and I asked
what I was like.
When something happens likethat with these vehicles, how do
they get moved?
Speaker 1 (36:44):
What happens?
Well, one of them was in Jose'stown.
As a matter of fact, I askedhim about it.
Jose, there were Vegasoperations.
The one vehicle got moved.
What did you say?
Just one, by you know, when itwas rotating months out there.
Speaker 5 (37:05):
Jose, how does that work?
Yeah, so um, the Las Vegasincident was handled by Las
Vegas Metropolitan PoliceDepartment and they use their
rotation to go ahead andtransport that vehicle to their
investigative services lot, um.
But what usually happens withthat is whatever contracted tow
(37:25):
company entity that it workswith is, you know, very skilled
in the way of not contaminatingthe evidence.
You know we work constantlywith law enforcement to come up
with ways to not contaminateevidence.
If it's it could be, could bein this case it could be
criminal evidence.
It could be the corner thatwe're working with.
(37:50):
If we have an incident where wehave multiple fatalities and we
need to remove it from theroadway to stay safe, well, how
do we do that?
So we're constantly working andtraining with these entities
and that is part of elevatingthe industry.
You know Wes and I alwaystalked about the way to, you
know, get the industry to abetter standard is through
(38:12):
certification and education, andthat happens at every level of
public sector, whether it be,you know, dot, law enforcement,
fire, ems.
It's all about certificationand education and we've come a
long way in the 36 years thatI've been involved in towing,
(38:34):
but we still have a long road togo, just because we need to
really get everybody involved,every single one of us.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Last question I've got for you only because we're
running out of time.
We're really enjoying theconversation, but we are running
out of time.
What's going on?
Was a trip program coming outthere, that type of program?
Speaker 5 (38:59):
Yeah, yeah, so we have the trip program out here.
It's the uh incident.
Uh, you know quick clearanceincident response program very
similar to, I think trip is ingeorgia.
It's also in virginia.
Risk is in florida.
There's another program inwashington, um, yeah, so it's a
quick clearance program.
(39:19):
You see, a 2024 was was thebeta test year.
Looks like we're going to moveforward in 2025, cross our
fingers and really it was asuccess.
Southern Nevada doesn't have asmany incidents as maybe
situations in Florida orVirginia or Georgia, but it's
(39:41):
getting there.
It's getting there, it's growingby the minute and what it does
is that it allows to identify anX amount of companies that are
in the program and when thattrip incident is triggered by
law enforcement, there's amassive response to the incident
(40:01):
so that everything can gettaken care of, hopefully within
about a 90-minute time frame andour roadways are open, not only
preventing secondary accidentsbut keeping our operators and
our first responders as safe aspossible, because we're removing
them from the roadway.
Now, that does not mean thatthe incident for either Eto'o
(40:22):
company or the private response,whether it be Hazmat or
whatever is done.
It just means it's clear fromthe roadway.
We could be working off theshoulder, we can be working in a
different area, away from thehighway, but again it allows us
to work quickly, have all theassets needed on scene to open
(40:43):
that roadway and relievecongestion, relieve secondary
accidents which, by the way, arethe most high probability for
fatal.
And then, of course, everybodygoes home at the end of the day,
not only private sector butpublic sector.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
That's good to hear that it's working out well for
you.
Keep us updated on that, willyou?
Speaker 5 (41:06):
Absolutely, absolutely guys.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Jose, thanks for being here.
We look forward to having youback sometime soon.
Speaker 5 (41:14):
Anything you'd like to leave our listeners with,
Well, just thank you foreverything you guys are doing.
I think these conversationsthat you're having with everyone
in the industry go a long wayto open each other's minds, to
understand everybody's problemsand their solutions.
I think that we always getstuck in the problem and we
(41:37):
don't understand the solution orlook at it, identify it, and
your program helps us do a lotof that with everybody's
processes, and I appreciate thatvery much.
I urge my community in towingto get on that bandwagon and to
certify and to educate, becausethat's the only way we're going
(41:58):
to get to the level that we needto be.
Thank you for having me on.
I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
Thank you, Jose, and be safe out there.
Speaker 5 (42:07):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (42:09):
All right, we'll be right back after this message
with fire extricator expert RonMoore.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Weekly.
Myself, april Wilburn, my wifeand DJ Harrington conduct a
weekly podcast.
It's actually turning into alive radio show now.
The Towing News Channelprovides great interviews, tech
talk, product reviews, also justa 411 on what's going on in the
towing recovery industry.
(42:38):
Check us out.
Our podcasts are availableanywhere you can listen to
podcasts.
We've archived over 100 of theepisodes, so be sure to listen
to them, and weekly we do a newepisode, so stay tuned for those
as well now listeners.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
You know you're all listening to the new season of
Towing News.
Now we have a guest who's beenon before, who's been asked to
be on again Ron Moore, ourreturning expert on cross
training.
So, wes, you and April, take itfrom here.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
Not only is Ron Moore a returning guest, he's going
to be a recurring guest and wehope to have a lot of his
expertise in 2025 to help all ofus be safer and have better
relationships between fire andtower, because Wes and Ron do a
wonderful fire tower crosstraining together.
Speaker 6 (43:40):
Ron, welcome, Ms April, thank you.
Speaker 4 (43:44):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Ron we're glad to have you on board for this new
format.
As I told you, I just want youto talk about subjects that come
to mind, et cetera.
Of course, I think you and Iboth agree, I think, on the fact
there's a lot of similaritiesbetween the training between two
different types oforganizations.
(44:06):
So what would you like to talkto us about today?
Speaker 6 (44:10):
Today my topic would be documentation and policies
and also, with a reference, likeyou mentioned, Wes, like the
fire department does.
My history is with the fireservice, fire rescue service,
not with towing and recovery,but documentation and policies
are an element that appeals toboth tow storage facility
(44:37):
operators as well as firedepartment personnel.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
Yeah, that seems like a kind of a universal
application too, and when itcomes down, if you have all that
stuff together and somethingcomes into speech or there's a
question, then at least you havethat basis to start off with.
Speaker 6 (44:57):
Right and what I've found is, as I'm requested to do
, fire service only training thefire service that is requesting
me.
If I mentioned that my programis NFPA compliant or NFPA
addresses NFPA components, it'sautomatically accepted.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
So I find an NFPA is National Fire Protection
Association, so an NFPA is.
Speaker 6 (45:20):
National Fire Protection Association, which is
a big deal to the fire service.
I was going to ask I know whatthat is now because you know you
went west, but just for ourlisteners to have that
clarification.
Well, and if a trainer or atraining program is NFPA
(45:48):
compliant or NFPA specific inwhat it addresses, it seems to
be readily accepted by the fireservice.
So I don't know if the tow andrecovery industry has anything
equivalent to the NFPA, but itall talks about documentation.
What I got caught in recentlywas a legal situation where the
fire service arrived at atraffic collision.
(46:09):
It was on a major highway and Iwent to the scene.
I went to the location laterwith the attorney.
The volunteer fire departmentwas being sued by one of the
civilians at the incident.
The fire department had notdone what was required or what
(46:32):
was NFPA specified.
What turned out is I visitedwith the attorney that was kind
of defending the fire service.
It wound up being a smallvolunteer fire department that
was really one bay in thestation in a very small
(46:55):
community.
Turns out the fire departmentfire service had recently
trained on exactly what theywere being sued for.
Except the fire chief told theattorney that was trying to
(47:24):
defend them that they had donethe skills, but the
documentation was on the napkin.
Well, that didn't hold up incourt at all.
So the case wound up beingsettled and it was like a
seven-figure settlement, a bigdeal for a small volunteer fire
(47:44):
department in a small community.
They had done the skills, theyhad the policy in effect, but
they had not documented thatthey had done the training.
Speaker 4 (47:55):
It really was the technicality that they lost on,
but that's what it's all aboutin America today.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
An example that you can be right as rain and be
wrong sometimes Right.
Speaker 6 (48:08):
It was an example where they did everything right
as far as I could see, but theywere wrong due to the
technicality.
Correct, correct.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
That's a real shame.
That is a real shame, but thatis the world we live in, boy.
Speaker 6 (48:22):
So what I would recommend to tow operators and
recovery operators and storagefacility operators as well as I
recommend to fire departments,is to have a policy, a protocol,
and then document that you havethe skills.
In the NFPA they refer to themas JPR, job performance
(48:43):
requirements.
So if you say that you have thepolicy, the protocol and that
you have documented the skills,you are kind of covering as best
you can.
So SOG standard operatingguideline versus a SOP standard
operating guideline versus a SOPstandard operating procedure.
If an employee of myorganization tow and recovery or
(49:08):
fire rescue is involved in anincident and they do exactly
what is on the SOP, the SOPgives that individual, that
employee, no flexibility.
As an SOG, as a standardoperating guideline, potentially
the agency, the employer, issaying here are the
(49:33):
ramifications of doing it A ordoing it B and we will practice
both.
We have policies or guidelinesfor both and they both have
ramifications.
But you, the employee at thescene, can make the decision to
the best of your judgment.
So that's the differencebetween having a policy, sog and
(49:56):
then SOP and then SOP.
The SOP leaves you no room forerror.
You have to do exactly exactlystep-by-step, what the policy is
of the organization.
The guideline SOG the standardoperating guidelines gives the
employee some flexibility at thescene.
Speaker 4 (50:15):
So I have a question to ask Ron.
When there is a situation and apotential lawsuit or a lawsuit,
it's not only the entity thatgets sued, but the actual
responder, or the fire or tower,so to speak.
That also would be sued,correct?
Speaker 6 (50:42):
employer, but it's the employer and their agency
who was maybe behind a desksitting in the chair.
It really has a ripple effectfrom the incident scene all the
way up through In the fireservice.
A firefighter on a crew may dosomething that is being sued for
, but the firefighter is heldresponsible, the officer in
charge of that incident is heldresponsible, and maybe the chief
(51:04):
of the department, maybe eventhe mayor of the village or of
the community.
So my experience has been thatthe lawsuits are to try to find
the deep pockets, to try to findwhere the money is, so
everybody involved with thatagency.
Oh, and training officer, myhistory with the fire service
(51:26):
has been as a battalion chiefand then as a deputy chief, as a
training officer.
So I would be called intoquestion.
I had a case that happenedoutside of Buffalo where a fire
department again did everythingright but the 21-year-old
patient victim died.
(51:46):
The chief, who was en route tothe scene and arrived on the
scene before he got across thefield and across the creek into
the actual action, the hot zone,the actual accident area, he
was called into question in thecourt case.
(52:08):
He was the incident commanderbecause he was chief of the fire
department, but he wasn'treally even on scene.
He was on the roadway and yetwas questioned about his ability
and his skills.
As a training officer, I foundthat not only doing the skill
(52:30):
and not only documenting theskill, but then who was the
person that trained theindividual in that particular
skill?
What was the training officer'squalifications?
Speaker 1 (52:44):
So let's look at that Realistically.
For the towing industry,hopefully, companies that are
serious about education andsafety do a monthly safety
meeting.
If you're not, you should be.
I'm not trying to pass nojudgment, it's just the best
advice I can give you.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
Just as a side note here.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
earlier interview with one of the companies that
founded Consolidation.
This is the reasonConsolidation is going to work
in the towing industry for thesekind of situations.
You've got to be serious aboutwhat you're doing with safety
and safety meeting Boy, it'shard to be the little business
(53:27):
person.
Speaker 4 (53:27):
Yeah, they call it the litigious society.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
So let's talk serious for a moment.
Hopefully you're doing thatsafety meeting.
If you're not doing it, andthey do that safety meeting, Ron
, they need a brief paragraphabout what they talked about,
what they covered in the meeting.
Speaker 6 (53:42):
Yes, and that's right .
That's part of thedocumentation.
So you can do the meeting, youcan do the skill, but then the
background who was a presenteror the instructor, whatever you
want to call it within yourorganization?
What were the skills, what werethe objectives that were
presented?
And then what's the backgroundof the presenter?
(54:03):
If they were unqualified, thenthat won't hold up in court as
well.
So they're trying to find aweak link.
So not only doing the safetymeeting west, but then
documenting the safety meetingand the narrative that goes
along with it.
Meeting West, but thendocumenting the safety meeting
and the narrative that goesalong with it.
(54:24):
If the fire chief in thissituation that I talked about
earlier, if the fire chief hadsimply put down in his narrative
who was in charge and the factthat he was or wasn't on the
scene at that time, that wouldhave been read in court and that
would have been very obvious tothe jurors.
But in this particular case thedocumentation was lacking, the
(54:46):
narrative was lacking andtherefore get your checkbook out
to pay.
Speaker 1 (54:52):
I just want to be realistic for towing companies
out there.
Here's what I'm recommendingfolks, If you're not doing that
monthly meeting?
do it?
I think I made that point clear.
After that brief summary ofwhat you did.
Who did it?
Ron makes a wonderful pointabout the level of training of
the individual giving it, butsomething's better than nothing.
(55:14):
At this point, we're not quiteas evolved as the fire services
industry.
I think it's important forthese companies to share the
information that they have.
They want things done the nameof safety with each other, and
then they need to have astatement that the attendee
signs that they understand andunderstand the training, et
(55:40):
cetera.
Don't they, ron, understand thetraining?
et cetera, don't they Ron?
Speaker 6 (55:44):
Yes, sir, if you get the individual employee's
signature on a morning orafternoon situation, that is, on
a dated document that can beplaced at a location, that
really is the best, because thatshows if the employee is
personally signed in for thecourse.
The employee then participates.
(56:05):
Better than that, with thesignature you could have a
review of questions, or it couldbe oral or it could be written.
It doesn't have to be toosophisticated, but you have a
test of learning as well.
The one thing I've also foundWes that is important for tow as
well as firefighters.
(56:26):
I was referred to my lastposition was a deputy chief of
training, but they made me adeputy chief of professional
development.
The training on the policiesand the skills training went
from the probationaryfirefighter or probationary
employee up to and including thechief of the department.
(56:50):
So right from day one you canhave what most fire service is
relating to a task book.
These are individual skills.
You send a tow operator, let'ssay, out on the job.
These are individual skillsthat the tow operator must be
able to perform and you'vetested them on it, you've
(57:10):
evaluated them on it and you'vedocumented them on it through
this task book.
That starts right from day oneof employment right on through.
Speaker 1 (57:22):
That's interesting.
We're developing somethingalong those lines right now.
That's very interesting, but ifyou can't fight that, thank you
.
Speaker 6 (57:30):
Yeah, if you had a task book for employees that
were assigned to a heavy, forexample, or an integrated or a
rollback, for example, the taskwould be different but they
could be.
The first task could add to thesecond to add to the third, the
system could build, but itshows that the employee out at
the incident scene addressed atsome time in training, addressed
(57:54):
those topics and is reallyready to go.
Speaker 1 (57:59):
Good stuff, ron.
Thank you, looking forward tohaving you back as a reoccurring
expert.
Certainly appreciate theinformation.
Be safe out there and we'lltalk to you next time.
Speaker 6 (58:09):
All right, thank you, wes.
Thank you, I got some topics togo over with it that would be
of interest to tow and recovery,as well as fire department
personnel, so I'm available asyou need me.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (58:23):
Thank you, Ron.
Today on Towing News.
Now there's news updates fromacross the country, including an
update about what happened inConnecticut with the standoff
with the state police.
Also, towing is busy across theUnited States with snowy
conditions.
We have an update interviewwith Jose from Big Valley out in
Vegas.
What's going on out there withthat company?
(00:26):
They've joined.
What's going on in the state ingeneral?
Also a great interview with ourrescue guru, ron Moore.
Ron's going to talk to us alittle bit about training later
in the show.
So sit back, relax.
We've got a great show.
If you're driving, of course,pay attention to what you're
(00:46):
doing.
We're glad you're here for theride.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
The team at Towing News Now would like to take a
moment to remember our 39thpresident, jimmy Carter, who
passed away on December 29th2024, at the age of 100, and was
preceded in death by his lovelywife of 77 years, rosalyn
Carter.
Jimmy Carter's presidency was acomplicated one, coming on the
heels of Vietnam, nixon andstatuation.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Notable events during his presidency the Iran hostage
crisis 444 days created 20%interest rates which crippled
the economy.
Interest rates which crippledthe economy.
(01:30):
The Camp David Accord peacesummit of Egypt and Israel.
Grant China diplomatist statusfor the first time ever.
Gave away the Panama Canal.
He also deregulated trucking,the airline industry and other
various types of businesses.
I know personally of two thingsfrom his administration.
(01:53):
The trucking deregulationchanged the towing industry
quite a bit.
Before you had to have permitsto make certain moves and tows
depending on how your statehandled it, and things were
handled differently at all thedifferent states with assigned
routes etc.
It limited who you get in thetowing business, especially the
(02:15):
heavy towing business.
It also indirectly created acategory of towing that
basically just started aboutthat time.
Voluntary repossessionsTraditionally, up to that point
repossessions had been their ownpart, own segment of the towing
(02:35):
industry.
You're not really interactingwith the tower that was trying
to do police towing, publictowing, dealership towing etc.
But because interest rates gotso bad, big corporations like
GMAC had tons of customers thatcouldn't afford the cars,
realized they couldn't affordthem and just wanted to give
them back.
(02:55):
Sometimes they would break downand need a tow truck.
Sometimes the tow truck wasjust used for the convenience,
but the GMAC rep would be there,the customer would be there
handing you the keys and it wasa very similar tow-to-tow in a
car to a service center back inthose days.
So, inadvertently, his highinterest rates created that
(03:17):
whole category.
And then the truckingderegulation, like I say,
changed things a lot, allowed alot of people to get into heavy
towing again, depending on howthe state handled things.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
But it was his post-presidency that was his
legacy.
President Carter dedicatedhimself to alleviating human
suffering, in addition topromoting peace and human rights
Through the Carter Center,president and Mrs Carter led the
Jimmy and Rosalind Carter WorkProject for Habitat for Humanity
for over 30 years.
Together they've workedalongside over 108,000
(03:51):
volunteers, who have built,renovated, repaired more than
4,447 homes in 14 countries, allwhile raising awareness of the
critical need for affordablehousing.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
May he rest in eternal peace.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Welcome to the new season, season four, episode one
of Towing News.
Now You're going to haveindustry news, tech talks,
fantastic guests throughout thiswhole year.
Welcome to 2025.
This is DJ Harrington, yourco-host.
I'll now pass it over to thereal host of the program, april,
(04:28):
and Wes Wilburn.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Hey, jake, glad to be back with you on the show,
really happy to be more involved.
I started towards the end oflast year with you guys and I
will roll out the new year withyou as well.
How is your year looking so far, dj?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Fantastic April.
It has been a good one, and ofcourse, we're getting ready for
bad weather here, just like you,and Wes are up there.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Yeah, so far we are lucky we have cold weather, but
that's about it.
A little bit up north, ournorthern friends are really
having some experiences with thesnow and the ice.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
And out west too, boys, there's been some serious
winter conditions and I wore myhats off to all the towing
professionals and all the otherpeople out there keeping America
moving, but especially thetowing professionals, the unsung
heroes out there.
If it wasn't for them, Americawould be totally shut down right
now, with a large percentage ofthe country under snow
(05:27):
conditions.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Yeah, they said that this started off in California,
northern California and justspread throughout the country.
So you know.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah, boy, speaking of California, the day we're
recording this, there'swildfires getting terrible out
there.
I've got to choose my wordscarefully because it's a
horrible, horrible situation.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Horrible event.
I was watching it last nightand Pasadena High School, which
apparently is a historical highschool, is on its own.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
The whole thing's blown up.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah, we're praying for everybody involved, with
those affected by those firesand, of course, everybody across
the country putting themselvesin harm's way to keep American
roadways and America's roadsmoving.
So definitely the days we'rerecording this we're definitely
thinking of those folks.
We took a weekend off for aweek off for Christmas, so to
(06:20):
speak.
So it's the first of the year.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Well, today is Elvis Presley's birthday, January the
8th, and we'll drop thistomorrow, so we yeah, so there
was a little gap there, but thisis our new weekly program, bj.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
We've got some good feedback about the new format
with the news and, and, you know, focused on getting this thing.
You know, focused on gettingthis thing.
When I say live, folks don'thave to listen to it live, they
can still listen to it as apodcast.
But we're getting good feedbackfrom the new format.
What have you heard?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
So far, having you select Wednesdays as your day.
It really has added more to it,because there's a lot of
co-shows that are on weekendsand people travel to those shows
, and having it on Wednesday, soWednesday is your day for
Towing News.
(07:15):
Now, this is a great idea.
Wes and April, you've tuned inand we want all of our people to
tune in and get turned on withtelling news.
Now.
I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, so so we're going to still do the interview
format.
As a matter of fact, we'regoing to do more interviews.
Today we have a returning guest.
We had him on.
It's been two years almostsince we had him but Jose and
big rally toes going to tell usout there in Vegas.
We're going to tell us what'sgoing on out there.
They've joined one of theconsolidation groups, so he's
(07:50):
going to tell us a little bitabout that.
I haven't heard all the details.
I know the big pieces, but he'salso going to let us know
what's going on in the state ofNevada with their state
association, their Association,their trip program.
Then we have Ron Moore.
That believes in us and theconcept of the podcast greatly.
He's been a great mentor andfriend over the years.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Ron's agreed we think it's going to be weekly or
every other week.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
We're trying to work on the scheduling right now to
make that happen.
What do you think DJ Gettinghim on regular would be a good
thing to talk about interest toboth groups and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
You're not kidding.
Ron Moore is one of the finesthuman beings and to get him to
be on the podcast Wes is a realplus for the program, and you're
going to get morecross-training with first
responders.
You're going to get a lot offirefighters on the podcast
because of Ron Moore and doingcross-training with our
(08:53):
excellent professional towersthat listen to us every week.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
A lot of towers are.
I don't know if it's 25% itmight be a little bit less than
that but it just seems likeabout 25% of towers are.
Also is a volunteer or theywork for the fire department,
and to me that's just a greatcrossover.
He's also going to kind ofspeak to somebody like me.
As far as what my insights are.
I'm not as sophisticated withsome of the stuff that mine and
Wes is, so when he's explainingthis he's going to even make it
where maybe something is thateven I can understand.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
April.
I agree with you and all ourlisteners.
This is DJ Anderson, the ToeDoctor, and I have news for you.
I wrote my very first articlecalled Keep them Stable Till we
Get them to the Table, and it'sbecause of Ron Moore, wes
Wilburn and doing cross trainingyeah absolutely.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
You never know who you touch whenever something
happens.
You have no concept of that.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
So Ron's going to do, I think, a real good subject
today.
He's just going to talk abouttraining in general, whether
it's a selling organization, afire department, et cetera.
So we're looking forward tohaving him on.
So we're going to have twogreat interviews on today's
podcast.
Like I say, a week now,wednesday the 15th, I guess it
will be yeah.
(10:29):
Thursday.
Yeah, we also have a update onsound equipment.
We're gonna.
We I know I've needed to do itfor a while and we have
everything taken care of.
The weather got us delayedslightly, but next week we hope
to have a new studio sound goingon as well.
And again, god bless you.
(10:49):
I know a couple of you havementioned it to me that I need
to do this for a while, so I'm alittle dinosaur and I move slow
sometimes, but we're gettingthat done.
So two years off is a goodstart, dj, we're excited.
We're excited about many things.
We entered an agreement withthe Statewide Towing Academy,
(11:10):
which is a division of theStatewide Towing Association out
of Massachusetts, todd Chaseand Nate Buckler and Michael
Spacey, which is their educationcommittee and they volunteer a
lot of time up there for thatassociation.
In about 2006 2006 they adoptedour light medium duty program
(11:30):
and I did a train the trainerprogram.
I worked with michael espositoand todd chase at that point,
especially todd he did, he didmost of the classroom, um, but
they adapted our trainingprogram.
The association modified itslightly to fit their needs.
Up there we did a series ofclasses together with their
(11:51):
trainers where I trained withthem and that's worked out real
well.
It's gone on for years.
We've traded some notes backand forth.
They just made a deal and theyhave bought a franchise
agreement to provide ourelectric vehicle training and
testing and certification.
There's some interest.
(12:12):
Some of the authorities in thatpart of the country are
interested, very interested, tooperate our electric and
alternative fuel vehicletraining.
So we're going to do a seriesof courses in the middle of
February.
Dates haven't been exact, citylocations haven't been announced
yet.
What is that February?
Speaker 4 (12:32):
18th, 19th and 20th, and that's in an effort to make
it more accessible to peoplethroughout the state also.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Oh yeah, well it's commendable.
Yeah, again, the three gentlementhat I named, nate, michael and
Todd, and there's others too.
There's the three that I'mworking I've started the process
on this program with, butthere's several other people
involved up there now, whichagain many people doing the work
makes it a little easier oneverybody, but they've taken
(13:02):
control of their own destiny asa tow association, provided good
quality research informationdelivered professionally.
So it's not a waste of, youknow, wasting half the time at a
class, it's delivering aprofessional format, which is
what we always strive to do.
And they've delivered the lightand medium for years.
We've done several heavies upthere.
(13:24):
It might be up there in thefall for heavy.
We're working on that now, butwe'll definitely be up there in
February.
We've done three electric slash, alternative fuel vehicle
classes, promoting, of course,the EV Clever app.
So all the answers you need toa electric or alternative fuel
vehicle, all the information youneed to buy a good alternative
(13:45):
fuel vehicle, all theinformation from the
manufacturer.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
And that app is available on Google Play Store
and Apple and it's a 30-day freetrial.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Absolutely, yep.
So we'll be up there inMassachusetts delivering that
information with them inFebruary and they're going to,
as I understand it, workdiligently to get that
information around the state,like they have with the light
and medium duty program.
Again, it's a good arrangementbecause it allows the hotelers
(14:15):
to provide it for their members,hotel association, rather
provide it for their members,get classes close to home for
folks that don't have to travelas much and classes specific to
their region of the country.
So, that's going on, DJ.
We're real excited about thatprogram but also the last
(14:36):
program we talked about,Connecticut.
There was coming up to our headbetween the tellers not wanting
to respond to heavy statepolice calls, heavy-duty state
police calls, because manyissues between them and the
state police that did getresolved.
I don't know.
(14:57):
It broke down in communicationand this coming to a head has
brought the communication backto the forefront and to a better
level than before.
That's what I've been told.
I don't know if everything'stotally resolved, but things are
on a better platform.
So the toys did not strike theweek of Christmas like they had
been talked about.
(15:17):
It came to some sort of resolve.
Also an interesting side notethe state of Connecticut.
Apparently you tow an older car.
It's worth under $1,500.
The requirement for keeping it,the amount of days, the
requirement for keeping it isrelatively short and that's come
(15:38):
under the scrutiny of twodifferent newspapers.
I guess they're kind of thesame newspaper organization.
One's an offshoot of the otherone as far as I can tell.
But now the state authoritiesare looking into why it's only
15 days it's only worth $1,500,and how much shorter of a time
span that that is in most states.
I don't know if it's right orwrong.
(16:00):
It does seem to make some sensewith the car being such low
value.
But anyway, the newspaperreports the state legislature is
looking into this issue andthey'll tell us as things
progress.
So we'll try to keep ourlisteners progressed as well.
All right, we're going to takea moment.
Go to a break.
We've got a great guest afterthe break, so hang around and
(16:22):
come on back after the break.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
so hang around and come on back.
For electric and otheralternative fuel vehicles, we
have developed an app that givesyou all the manufacturers 411
for when that 911 happens,whether you are a fire tow or
police, we got you covered.
To find the EV Clever app, goto your Apple or Google Play
store for a 30-day free trial.
To find the EVClever app, go toyour Apple or Google Play store
for a 30-day free trial.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
We also offer the National Tow Operator
Certification, an independentlysourced virtual testing program
covering light-duty, heavy-dutyelectric and alternative fuel
vehicles.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
You have been listening to Towing News Now
with Wes Wilburn and AprilWilburn, dj Harrington, the Toe
Doctor, every week.
We do our best to bring you thevery best we're available on
Spotify, itunes, pandora,stitcher, iheartmedia, amazon or
(17:19):
wherever you get your podcasts.
I can't thank you enough forlistening to our new season four
, episode one of Towing News Now, wes, I'm going to turn it over
to you because you know Jose awhole lot better than me, but he
is a fine returning guest thata lot of our listeners love
(17:40):
listening to.
Before Wes, I'll turn it overto you.
Thank you, dj.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Yeah, we have Jose from Big Valley out in Vegas, a
returning podcast guest and alongtime friend and supporter of
the Institute.
Jose, give yourself a briefintroduction if you would please
.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
Sure.
Thank you, wes.
Thank you, dj.
My name's Jose Nerina.
I am the general manager of BigValley Towing here in Las Vegas
, nevada.
I've been in the towingindustry about 36 years and love
every minute of it.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
I know you're part of a group of companies out west
and some of them are inCalifornia.
With what's going on with thefires, I've got to start by
asking is there any companiesthat are in your group at this
point affected by any of thefires there in the Los Angeles
area?
Speaker 5 (18:33):
Well, none of our companies are affected in a
negative way as far as the fireswithin our platform.
Obviously, we have a broadcustomer base in Southern
California within the platform,and so we are doing work for
several entities that areinvolved in firefighting, but
(18:55):
nothing affected negatively inthe sense of no loss of property
or life, so that's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
It is, and of course we pray for everybody affected
out there.
Of course your personnel ishelping assist.
We earn our thoughts andprayers as well.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
So some things have changed.
It's been almost two yearssince we've been on the podcast.
Yes, it has.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
Yes, it has A couple things have changed.
Well, just to give you a littlebit of background for the
listeners, valley Towing wasowned by two individuals, debbie
Collins and myself.
I was literally the minorityowner.
Ben Dan Collins passed away ona roadside accident.
So when I came on board in 2012, subsequently after that became
(19:49):
part of the business side of itand we were able to, you know,
hit a lot of goals and make alot of things happen for a big
Valley towing in Las Vegas area.
At which time Debbie, after thepandemic, you know, she kind of
had kind of checked all theboxes right.
She did everything she set outto do within the towing industry
(20:11):
and she kind of wanted toretire.
And it was almost like a birdiehad whispered in everybody's
ear and almost instantly we hada phone call from the people at
First Line Road Solutions.
We had a phone call from thepeople at Firstline Road
Solutions.
They were interested inpurchasing our Opco, our
operating company, to be part ofthe process, of the road
(20:38):
solutions process, and it kindof came at a good time for
everybody.
So consequently, as we know now, we did go ahead and sell to
the Firstline Road Solutionsplatform to become part of Big
Valley Road Solutions and it wasgreat.
It allowed Debbie Collins toretire and reach her goals
(20:59):
personally and it allowed me tocontinue on and carry the banner
that is Big Valley in this newventure.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Now First Line Road Solutions.
They're a company that hasconsolidated other telecom
companies.
Is that correct?
Speaker 5 (21:17):
That's correct.
So it is part of anequity-backed road solutions
company.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That's private equity , correct.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Correct, that's private equity and they
obviously serve as the financialbacking for Firstline Road
Solutions.
But it's kind of like you know,we're trying to.
We're literally reinventing thewheel within towing because, as
we know, other people havetried to do at other entities,
like you know, road One andUnited Road Towing but something
(21:56):
happened over the course of thelast few years.
There's an entity that's verysimilar to ours on the East
Coast.
That's very similar to ours onthe East Coast, and it turns out
that if you back up, if youfill in the gaps a little bit
tighter, you're able to get theresult that you need.
And so First Line RoadSolutions took over companies in
(22:21):
several states.
So we're in California, nevada,utah, idaho and Wyoming at the
moment, and the beauty of it allis is, yes, we're all a
consolidated company and we'reall under the same banner, but
we still maintain our entities.
And then we also have theability to reinforce each other
and to support each other forwhatever they need, right,
(22:44):
because we're close enough,we're all within about 200 miles
from each other, and so we'rereally able to create this one
entity with massive internalsupport.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
So who's the closest one to you in a couple different
directions?
Speaker 5 (23:03):
So, for example, we have our partners to the north
of Cal, nevada Towing and GarinoSparks area.
Our partners to the southwestis a combination of statewide
towing in the Fontana Riversidearea and then 10 west towing
(23:25):
starting to go into Bakersfield,and then to the north we have
stoppers towing out of Utah.
That kind of rounds it out andwe've kind of become this little
middle sprocket, middle hubbecause of the things that Vegas
offers, which is an up andcoming solution for warehousing
(23:48):
and logistics.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Right, yes, I know it's becoming a lot busier for
those areas.
Speaker 5 (23:59):
Yeah, it's really something With everything going
on with Amazon and as muchproduct as they move, and
obviously they've opened uptheir own point where you know
it's really centralizing inNevada.
You know you got people leavingCalifornia for one reason or
(24:33):
another and they seem to belanding in states like Nevada
obviously Arizona, but Nevadahas a little thing called no
inventory tax and so you canstore inventory here and not be
taxed, and obviously that's agreat situation for warehousing
and logistics, so we've beenquite popular.
(24:53):
Obviously, we also have theability or the facilities
through Tesla up in the northand northern Nevada that create
a lot of commercial traffic.
So we're really situated in areally sweet spot within our
platform at Big Valley, and sowe like to believe that we have
(25:15):
a very important job to makesure that everything gets moving
in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
So I have a question to ask, jose.
If you are a company that isconsidering being absorbed by
one of these consolidators, suchas yours, was there a fear,
when this was happening, of youremployees, drivers, office
personnel?
A fear of job loss, fear of paycuts, fear of any of that, and
(25:47):
how has that worked out for yourstaff?
Speaker 5 (25:50):
Sure Great question.
There's always that fear, right, because you see the movies of
quote-unquote corporatetakeovers.
But we're doing a differentbusiness model here.
Corporate takeovers, but we'redoing a different business model
here.
It is really a partnershipbetween the corporate culture
and the towing culture and we'recoming together and part of the
(26:12):
mantra is nobody goes backwards, right, and so everybody keeps
their name, everybody keeps theemployees.
Is there a shuffle?
Well, sometimes it's an organicshuffle, right, and the beauty
is is that if you create thisplatform and you have employees
that no longer want to be inNevada, for example, their life
(26:34):
takes them to transfer over andcontinue doing what they love
without losing whether it beseniority, without losing, maybe
, experience or having to startover, and so it creates this
organic camaraderie amongst allof our Opcos that we help each
(26:58):
other because we're so close.
You know, I think before themistake was is that you had the
outposts so far apart.
You know you had some in LasVegas and then the next one
would be San Antonio and thenthe next one would be Chicago,
and you can't support each othercorrectly at that distance.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Right.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Yeah, it sounds more.
This is more of a natural, um,like you said, organic, because
everybody's so close together,even with California.
Everything is going on inSouthern California.
If it, if it came down to it,you guys could send resources
and help out with that.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
Absolutely, that's.
One of the advantages ofconsolidation is that, you know,
we have, uh, a lot of resourcesand area.
(28:07):
At one time, you know, I thinkwe actually threw like 20 or 30
trucks at the problem and wewere able to really just kind of
move things along because wehad the ability to share
resources and everybody kind ofpitched in.
You know, and again, if we havea situation where right now in
(28:28):
the winter, let's say, there's asnow storm in Utah and our Utah
opco can't handle it, thenabsolutely there's a call that's
made to, you know, other opcoshey, can you send a truck or two
, or can you send some drivers,and we can, you know, use their
trucks.
You, a truck or two, or can yousend some drivers and we can,
you know, use their trucks?
You have options that youdidn't have before.
(28:48):
You know you were kind of stuckin a hole, you know, because
you can't, like you can't, buy atruck fast enough nowadays or
train an operator fast enough tokeep up with the, you know,
instant demand that is, theroadway recovery.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Yeah, that sounds like an optimal situation too,
and it also seems like the waythey structured when they came
and they made everybodycomfortable with it and they
seem like they have value intheir operations and their
employees.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
Yeah, and that's really why it's important to the
way they are doing theallocations right, the way
they're going and inviting thecompanies in.
All the companies are verysimilar in scope, both in
culture and in businesspractices, so we're all alike,
(29:38):
so to speak, and we all haveidentities in our own markets.
That is important to keep, andI think that's one of the
underlining factors that's goingto lead to our success, is the
fact that it's not an entitytaking over a name.
It is.
(29:58):
The entities are specific toeach area, because each area has
a specific type of business,and what works in California
doesn't work in Nevada, doesn'twork in, you know, utah or Idaho
, and so we're able to take theexperience of the local company
and imagine backing them up withsome.
(30:18):
You know different financialsituation, financial, you know
help.
What can you create?
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Obviously it's an amazing situation.
Well, that's good that that'sworking out for you.
When did the transaction happen?
Speaker 5 (30:39):
So we switched over to first line.
I want to say 6th, so June of23.
We've been apart with them and,like I said, it's been
everything has been transparent,everything has been what has
been.
You know what has been promisedhas happened, and so that is
good to know because, again, wesee everything on, you know the
movies and television and youhear it corporate, bad, and
(31:04):
there are some instances wherethis can work.
And I really think that thepeople in play here, all the way
down from the operators at theopcos to the board directors,
are all in the same mindset isthat let's create a better
solution for our customers andour employees.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
That's a great mindset.
It's nice to see that it'sworking well for you and working
well for the whole group outthere.
I'd like to get you to comeback on at some point and talk
about that some more, but rightnow we're up against a hard
break.
I'd like to take a break andafter the break I'd like to get
you to come back and talk aboutwhat's going on with the Toe
Association, the TRIP programand anything else at Nevada.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Sure, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
All right, we'll be right back after the break.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
For all your ringing needs.
Give us a look attowingequipmentdirectcom or
email us at info at amtowriorg.
Also, you can give us a call at910-747-9000.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
Information in this podcast is made possible by
generous sponsorship fromHenry's Wrecker, serving the
community with quality towingand recovery for over 40 years.
Henryswreckercom.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Welcome back listeners.
Of course you know you'relistening to the number one
program towing news now with WesWilburn and April Wilburn and
DJ Harrington today from bigValley towing in Nevada.
The one and only Jose isexplaining everything.
If you want anotherprofessional like Jose, by all
(32:43):
means dial our hotline numberhere at the podcast center
706-409-5603.
706-409-5603.
And we'll get that professionallike Jose from Big Valley
Towing in Vegas on the line.
All right, wes, I'll turn itback over to you.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Thank you, BJ.
Jose, tell us what's going onwith the Tow Association.
Last time we talked, I think itwas gaining some traction.
What's going on?
Speaker 5 (33:16):
Yeah, so we've formed the Nevada State Tow
Association.
It's been two years now andwe've had a lot of great success
.
You know, what happens is whenyou don't have an association on
your behalf, it's just a bunchof individuals going to say the
legislature and saying, hey, youknow, this legislation that
(33:39):
you're proposing might not be agood idea, but when you have a
whole entity that represents thewhole state, that represents
all of the towers in this case,then obviously I believe it has
a lot more weight.
We've had a lot of success inthe legislature, not only for
towing but, I think, for many,many citizens, to make sure that
(34:00):
the laws are even and fair foreverybody, not just for the
towing community.
And so we've been able to workwith state legislatures,
department of Motor Vehicles,law enforcement to make sure
that the wording is correct andwhen we do lien fails, when we
do auctions, you know the waythe titles are given out, and so
(34:25):
we made a lot of progress withthat.
We had some progress.
You know, since we're regulatedby the state of Nevada, in
Nevada, or our non-consenttowing, you have to go through
some hoops to get increases onon pricing, on rates, for going
in recovery, and usually itcomes with a whole roll of red
(34:48):
tape, and through theassociation, working closely
with the Nevada TransportationAuthority, we were able to get
an increase, a substantialincrease to our rates that we
hadn't had in about 14 years, todeal with this inflation that
everybody is getting clobberedover the head with.
So that was one of the biggestpositives that we had with the
(35:11):
association, on top of the factthat we are constantly gaining
ground, constantly gaining moreand more members, and so they
understand that together we'restronger than we are
individually.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Well, that's good to hear everybody's working
together.
Everything you've talked aboutis very important.
I don't want to sound like abroken record because I've made
several of those comments allthe time.
But the legislative issues thatany group or association can
address is very powerful.
It's good to hear that'sworking well for you all out
there.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
Oh, for sure, for sure, and you know, because
unfortunately we still have animage problem in our industry
and so when legislatures go upthere and you know, something
gets proposed and it's all aboutthe big bad towing company,
maybe we're not so bad at theend of the day, right, because
we are performing services thatare necessary, you know, and
(36:05):
that includes, you know, privateproperty, stuff that can get a
little murky, but it is still aservice necessary to create
parking control in theseresidential and commercial areas
.
So they need a voice, we need avoice, and state associations
create that.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
Wait, april.
Sorry about that.
No, interrupted you.
I'm sorry.
Um the whole bad name thing.
It is still there and I don'tunderstand it either.
But watching the news last weekthere were two, two events I
won't go through them, but theyinvolved vehicles and I asked
what I was like.
When something happens likethat with these vehicles, how do
they get moved?
Speaker 1 (36:44):
What happens?
Well, one of them was in Jose'stown.
As a matter of fact, I askedhim about it.
Jose, there were Vegasoperations.
The one vehicle got moved.
What did you say?
Just one, by you know, when itwas rotating months out there.
Speaker 5 (37:05):
Jose, how does that work?
Yeah, so um, the Las Vegasincident was handled by Las
Vegas Metropolitan PoliceDepartment and they use their
rotation to go ahead andtransport that vehicle to their
investigative services lot, um.
But what usually happens withthat is whatever contracted tow
(37:25):
company entity that it workswith is, you know, very skilled
in the way of not contaminatingthe evidence.
You know we work constantlywith law enforcement to come up
with ways to not contaminateevidence.
If it's it could be, could bein this case it could be
criminal evidence.
It could be the corner thatwe're working with.
(37:50):
If we have an incident where wehave multiple fatalities and we
need to remove it from theroadway to stay safe, well, how
do we do that?
So we're constantly working andtraining with these entities
and that is part of elevatingthe industry.
You know Wes and I alwaystalked about the way to, you
know, get the industry to abetter standard is through
(38:12):
certification and education, andthat happens at every level of
public sector, whether it be,you know, dot, law enforcement,
fire, ems.
It's all about certificationand education and we've come a
long way in the 36 years thatI've been involved in towing,
(38:34):
but we still have a long road togo, just because we need to
really get everybody involved,every single one of us.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Last question I've got for you only because we're
running out of time.
We're really enjoying theconversation, but we are running
out of time.
What's going on?
Was a trip program coming outthere, that type of program?
Speaker 5 (38:59):
Yeah, yeah, so we have the trip program out here.
It's the uh incident.
Uh, you know quick clearanceincident response program very
similar to, I think trip is ingeorgia.
It's also in virginia.
Risk is in florida.
There's another program inwashington, um, yeah, so it's a
quick clearance program.
(39:19):
You see, a 2024 was was thebeta test year.
Looks like we're going to moveforward in 2025, cross our
fingers and really it was asuccess.
Southern Nevada doesn't have asmany incidents as maybe
situations in Florida orVirginia or Georgia, but it's
(39:41):
getting there.
It's getting there, it's growingby the minute and what it does
is that it allows to identify anX amount of companies that are
in the program and when thattrip incident is triggered by
law enforcement, there's amassive response to the incident
(40:01):
so that everything can gettaken care of, hopefully within
about a 90-minute time frame andour roadways are open, not only
preventing secondary accidentsbut keeping our operators and
our first responders as safe aspossible, because we're removing
them from the roadway.
Now, that does not mean thatthe incident for either Eto'o
(40:22):
company or the private response,whether it be Hazmat or
whatever is done.
It just means it's clear fromthe roadway.
We could be working off theshoulder, we can be working in a
different area, away from thehighway, but again it allows us
to work quickly, have all theassets needed on scene to open
(40:43):
that roadway and relievecongestion, relieve secondary
accidents which, by the way, arethe most high probability for
fatal.
And then, of course, everybodygoes home at the end of the day,
not only private sector butpublic sector.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
That's good to hear that it's working out well for
you.
Keep us updated on that, willyou?
Speaker 5 (41:06):
Absolutely, absolutely guys.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Jose, thanks for being here.
We look forward to having youback sometime soon.
Speaker 5 (41:14):
Anything you'd like to leave our listeners with,
Well, just thank you foreverything you guys are doing.
I think these conversationsthat you're having with everyone
in the industry go a long wayto open each other's minds, to
understand everybody's problemsand their solutions.
I think that we always getstuck in the problem and we
(41:37):
don't understand the solution orlook at it, identify it, and
your program helps us do a lotof that with everybody's
processes, and I appreciate thatvery much.
I urge my community in towingto get on that bandwagon and to
certify and to educate, becausethat's the only way we're going
(41:58):
to get to the level that we needto be.
Thank you for having me on.
I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
Thank you, Jose, and be safe out there.
Speaker 5 (42:07):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (42:09):
All right, we'll be right back after this message
with fire extricator expert RonMoore.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Weekly.
Myself, april Wilburn, my wifeand DJ Harrington conduct a
weekly podcast.
It's actually turning into alive radio show now.
The Towing News Channelprovides great interviews, tech
talk, product reviews, also justa 411 on what's going on in the
towing recovery industry.
(42:38):
Check us out.
Our podcasts are availableanywhere you can listen to
podcasts.
We've archived over 100 of theepisodes, so be sure to listen
to them, and weekly we do a newepisode, so stay tuned for those
as well now listeners.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
You know you're all listening to the new season of
Towing News.
Now we have a guest who's beenon before, who's been asked to
be on again Ron Moore, ourreturning expert on cross
training.
So, wes, you and April, take itfrom here.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
Not only is Ron Moore a returning guest, he's going
to be a recurring guest and wehope to have a lot of his
expertise in 2025 to help all ofus be safer and have better
relationships between fire andtower, because Wes and Ron do a
wonderful fire tower crosstraining together.
Speaker 6 (43:40):
Ron, welcome, Ms April, thank you.
Speaker 4 (43:44):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
Ron we're glad to have you on board for this new
format.
As I told you, I just want youto talk about subjects that come
to mind, et cetera.
Of course, I think you and Iboth agree, I think, on the fact
there's a lot of similaritiesbetween the training between two
different types oforganizations.
(44:06):
So what would you like to talkto us about today?
Speaker 6 (44:10):
Today my topic would be documentation and policies
and also, with a reference, likeyou mentioned, Wes, like the
fire department does.
My history is with the fireservice, fire rescue service,
not with towing and recovery,but documentation and policies
are an element that appeals toboth tow storage facility
(44:37):
operators as well as firedepartment personnel.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
Yeah, that seems like a kind of a universal
application too, and when itcomes down, if you have all that
stuff together and somethingcomes into speech or there's a
question, then at least you havethat basis to start off with.
Speaker 6 (44:57):
Right and what I've found is, as I'm requested to do
, fire service only training thefire service that is requesting
me.
If I mentioned that my programis NFPA compliant or NFPA
addresses NFPA components, it'sautomatically accepted.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
So I find an NFPA is National Fire Protection
Association, so an NFPA is.
Speaker 6 (45:20):
National Fire Protection Association, which is
a big deal to the fire service.
I was going to ask I know whatthat is now because you know you
went west, but just for ourlisteners to have that
clarification.
Well, and if a trainer or atraining program is NFPA
(45:48):
compliant or NFPA specific inwhat it addresses, it seems to
be readily accepted by the fireservice.
So I don't know if the tow andrecovery industry has anything
equivalent to the NFPA, but itall talks about documentation.
What I got caught in recentlywas a legal situation where the
fire service arrived at atraffic collision.
(46:09):
It was on a major highway and Iwent to the scene.
I went to the location laterwith the attorney.
The volunteer fire departmentwas being sued by one of the
civilians at the incident.
The fire department had notdone what was required or what
(46:32):
was NFPA specified.
What turned out is I visitedwith the attorney that was kind
of defending the fire service.
It wound up being a smallvolunteer fire department that
was really one bay in thestation in a very small
(46:55):
community.
Turns out the fire departmentfire service had recently
trained on exactly what theywere being sued for.
Except the fire chief told theattorney that was trying to
(47:24):
defend them that they had donethe skills, but the
documentation was on the napkin.
Well, that didn't hold up incourt at all.
So the case wound up beingsettled and it was like a
seven-figure settlement, a bigdeal for a small volunteer fire
(47:44):
department in a small community.
They had done the skills, theyhad the policy in effect, but
they had not documented thatthey had done the training.
Speaker 4 (47:55):
It really was the technicality that they lost on,
but that's what it's all aboutin America today.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
An example that you can be right as rain and be
wrong sometimes Right.
Speaker 6 (48:08):
It was an example where they did everything right
as far as I could see, but theywere wrong due to the
technicality.
Correct, correct.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
That's a real shame.
That is a real shame, but thatis the world we live in, boy.
Speaker 6 (48:22):
So what I would recommend to tow operators and
recovery operators and storagefacility operators as well as I
recommend to fire departments,is to have a policy, a protocol,
and then document that you havethe skills.
In the NFPA they refer to themas JPR, job performance
(48:43):
requirements.
So if you say that you have thepolicy, the protocol and that
you have documented the skills,you are kind of covering as best
you can.
So SOG standard operatingguideline versus a SOP standard
operating guideline versus a SOPstandard operating procedure.
If an employee of myorganization tow and recovery or
(49:08):
fire rescue is involved in anincident and they do exactly
what is on the SOP, the SOPgives that individual, that
employee, no flexibility.
As an SOG, as a standardoperating guideline, potentially
the agency, the employer, issaying here are the
(49:33):
ramifications of doing it A ordoing it B and we will practice
both.
We have policies or guidelinesfor both and they both have
ramifications.
But you, the employee at thescene, can make the decision to
the best of your judgment.
So that's the differencebetween having a policy, sog and
(49:56):
then SOP and then SOP.
The SOP leaves you no room forerror.
You have to do exactly exactlystep-by-step, what the policy is
of the organization.
The guideline SOG the standardoperating guidelines gives the
employee some flexibility at thescene.
Speaker 4 (50:15):
So I have a question to ask Ron.
When there is a situation and apotential lawsuit or a lawsuit,
it's not only the entity thatgets sued, but the actual
responder, or the fire or tower,so to speak.
That also would be sued,correct?
Speaker 6 (50:42):
employer, but it's the employer and their agency
who was maybe behind a desksitting in the chair.
It really has a ripple effectfrom the incident scene all the
way up through In the fireservice.
A firefighter on a crew may dosomething that is being sued for
, but the firefighter is heldresponsible, the officer in
charge of that incident is heldresponsible, and maybe the chief
(51:04):
of the department, maybe eventhe mayor of the village or of
the community.
So my experience has been thatthe lawsuits are to try to find
the deep pockets, to try to findwhere the money is, so
everybody involved with thatagency.
Oh, and training officer, myhistory with the fire service
(51:26):
has been as a battalion chiefand then as a deputy chief, as a
training officer.
So I would be called intoquestion.
I had a case that happenedoutside of Buffalo where a fire
department again did everythingright but the 21-year-old
patient victim died.
(51:46):
The chief, who was en route tothe scene and arrived on the
scene before he got across thefield and across the creek into
the actual action, the hot zone,the actual accident area, he
was called into question in thecourt case.
(52:08):
He was the incident commanderbecause he was chief of the fire
department, but he wasn'treally even on scene.
He was on the roadway and yetwas questioned about his ability
and his skills.
As a training officer, I foundthat not only doing the skill
(52:30):
and not only documenting theskill, but then who was the
person that trained theindividual in that particular
skill?
What was the training officer'squalifications?
Speaker 1 (52:44):
So let's look at that Realistically.
For the towing industry,hopefully, companies that are
serious about education andsafety do a monthly safety
meeting.
If you're not, you should be.
I'm not trying to pass nojudgment, it's just the best
advice I can give you.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
Just as a side note here.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
earlier interview with one of the companies that
founded Consolidation.
This is the reasonConsolidation is going to work
in the towing industry for thesekind of situations.
You've got to be serious aboutwhat you're doing with safety
and safety meeting Boy, it'shard to be the little business
(53:27):
person.
Speaker 4 (53:27):
Yeah, they call it the litigious society.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
So let's talk serious for a moment.
Hopefully you're doing thatsafety meeting.
If you're not doing it, andthey do that safety meeting, Ron
, they need a brief paragraphabout what they talked about,
what they covered in the meeting.
Speaker 6 (53:42):
Yes, and that's right .
That's part of thedocumentation.
So you can do the meeting, youcan do the skill, but then the
background who was a presenteror the instructor, whatever you
want to call it within yourorganization?
What were the skills, what werethe objectives that were
presented?
And then what's the backgroundof the presenter?
(54:03):
If they were unqualified, thenthat won't hold up in court as
well.
So they're trying to find aweak link.
So not only doing the safetymeeting west, but then
documenting the safety meetingand the narrative that goes
along with it.
Meeting West, but thendocumenting the safety meeting
and the narrative that goesalong with it.
(54:24):
If the fire chief in thissituation that I talked about
earlier, if the fire chief hadsimply put down in his narrative
who was in charge and the factthat he was or wasn't on the
scene at that time, that wouldhave been read in court and that
would have been very obvious tothe jurors.
But in this particular case thedocumentation was lacking, the
(54:46):
narrative was lacking andtherefore get your checkbook out
to pay.
Speaker 1 (54:52):
I just want to be realistic for towing companies
out there.
Here's what I'm recommendingfolks, If you're not doing that
monthly meeting?
do it?
I think I made that point clear.
After that brief summary ofwhat you did.
Who did it?
Ron makes a wonderful pointabout the level of training of
the individual giving it, butsomething's better than nothing.
(55:14):
At this point, we're not quiteas evolved as the fire services
industry.
I think it's important forthese companies to share the
information that they have.
They want things done the nameof safety with each other, and
then they need to have astatement that the attendee
signs that they understand andunderstand the training, et
(55:40):
cetera.
Don't they, ron, understand thetraining?
et cetera, don't they Ron?
Speaker 6 (55:44):
Yes, sir, if you get the individual employee's
signature on a morning orafternoon situation, that is, on
a dated document that can beplaced at a location, that
really is the best, because thatshows if the employee is
personally signed in for thecourse.
The employee then participates.
(56:05):
Better than that, with thesignature you could have a
review of questions, or it couldbe oral or it could be written.
It doesn't have to be toosophisticated, but you have a
test of learning as well.
The one thing I've also foundWes that is important for tow as
well as firefighters.
(56:26):
I was referred to my lastposition was a deputy chief of
training, but they made me adeputy chief of professional
development.
The training on the policiesand the skills training went
from the probationaryfirefighter or probationary
employee up to and including thechief of the department.
(56:50):
So right from day one you canhave what most fire service is
relating to a task book.
These are individual skills.
You send a tow operator, let'ssay, out on the job.
These are individual skillsthat the tow operator must be
able to perform and you'vetested them on it, you've
(57:10):
evaluated them on it and you'vedocumented them on it through
this task book.
That starts right from day oneof employment right on through.
Speaker 1 (57:22):
That's interesting.
We're developing somethingalong those lines right now.
That's very interesting, but ifyou can't fight that, thank you
.
Speaker 6 (57:30):
Yeah, if you had a task book for employees that
were assigned to a heavy, forexample, or an integrated or a
rollback, for example, the taskwould be different but they
could be.
The first task could add to thesecond to add to the third, the
system could build, but itshows that the employee out at
the incident scene addressed atsome time in training, addressed
(57:54):
those topics and is reallyready to go.
Speaker 1 (57:59):
Good stuff, ron.
Thank you, looking forward tohaving you back as a reoccurring
expert.
Certainly appreciate theinformation.
Be safe out there and we'lltalk to you next time.
Speaker 6 (58:09):
All right, thank you, wes.
Thank you, I got some topics togo over with it that would be
of interest to tow and recovery,as well as fire department
personnel, so I'm available asyou need me.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (58:23):
Thank you, Ron.
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