Brittany Linde from Chilliwack BC always has a big smile on her face and it is easy to see that she loves her job. This is her story: According to my parents and doctor, I was considered a miracle baby. I was born in April of 1982, after a worrisome pregnancy for my parents. My dad had had cancer and cobalt treatments and he was advised that he would probably never have children because of it. My parents were delighted when I came along but didn’t want to take any more chances. So I remained an only child.

I was born in North Vancouver and we moved to White Rock when I was 6 months old, where I spent the next 16 years.

For as long as I can remember I have always been intrigued by horsepower, be it cars, trucks and equipment, or real flesh and blood horses. While my mom worked in the garden, I’d be in the dirt playing with my toy fire and dump trucks, loading them with soil and transporting it for my mom. My life with equipment started at an early age. Around the age of 3, there was a bulldozer parked at Crescent Beach, a favourite play spot. Once I saw it, I just had to be in it, and have my photo taken!

My dad worked for a rental car agency and was always bringing home different vehicles. It was so exciting to see what he was going to come home with that night!

 I spent most of my time on a friend’s farm and have had or been around horses since I was 6. I would clean paddocks and stalls in exchange for a chance to ride. Occasionally we would load up the horses in a livestock truck and head to the trails. I always insisted on being in the truck with the horses, instead of in the cars following behind. Half the fun was the truck ride!

When I was 14, my dad moved to Whitehorse, YT. Even with him gone, my interest in vehicles and mechanics remained. I took as many shop and mechanical classes as I could throughout high school, and spent any spare block there as well. My high school had a drag racing team and 2 cars. I worked on them, learning everything from changing oil to bodywork.

At 16, I earned my drivers license, squeaking in 4 days before graduated licensing came into effect. My cousin, who was 5 days younger than me, was not impressed.

My mom had a car, as well as a pick up truck to haul the horse trailer. I knew the pickup was harder on fuel, but any chance I could get I would convince my mom to let me drive it. Once I was comfortable with that, I challenged myself and started hauling the horse trailer. Let me say that backing up took a little getting used to, but after some frustration my dad gave me a tip that helped immensely. He told me to turn the wheel the opposite way I wanted the trailer to go, and it worked like a charm. In no time I was backing up almost flawlessly, who knew it could be that easy!

After high school, I obtained a working student position for an Olympic short-listed member of 3-day eventing. So I packed up my things into the truck and horse trailer and my mom and I drove to Wisconsin! I spent 6 months there training and pursuing my goal of representing my country at an Olympic Games. When I returned back to BC, real life set in. Now that I was out of high school, I had to work full time to pay the bills. Gee, who would have thought everything wasn’t paid for after you turn 18.

I found a full time job working for a company that shipped vehicles across the country. My duties were to sort the cars into appropriate lanes of destination, wash the vehicles that came off the trains and keep the yard clean. We had a flat deck tow truck that was used to deliver the cars to residences once the cars had arrived and been washed. Craig, the operator, would show me how to load and tie down cars. Any chance I could, I would be out there helping him and learning how the truck works and how to tie down the many different kinds of vehicles. We got everything from Honda Civics, to exotic sports cars, to hot rods, and classics! The more time I spent learning this, the more I wanted to tow, instead of being in the yard. I inquired about advancing within the company into towing, but because of my age (20) and insurance regulations (25) I was turned down.

I started looking for work at local towing companies, but being a female in a male dominated industry, with no real prior experience, no one was willing to give me a chance.

Determined, I kept looking. I was finally given an opportunity by a tow company in Abbotsford. Even though I didn’t have any time behind the wheel towing, I was pretty comfortable with the loading/unloading process. Because I was familiar with the way a deck truck worked, I was given one to drive, and to top it off, it was almost new!! After a year of driving it, I was really comfortable operating the deck and was looking for a challenge. I was promoted to driving a 1 ton wrecker. I was shown how to do some recoveries, but the company did not hold a local police contract, so the chance to use the boom was few and far in between.

When we weren’t out on calls, a few companies from the area would gather at the Tim Horton’s in the middle of town and swap towing stories. This is where I met Howie, who is now my fiancée. Howie has almost 20 years experience in towing and has operated everything from auto loaders to heavy recovery units and low beds.

A few months later I moved to a company with a city contract where I was doing more frequent recoveries and MVA’s. The challenge was great, and I loved the fact that each recovery was different so I had to think. I also liked not having to commute into town and was able to work closer to home.

Nine months later I started with Aggressive Towing, where I am still employed. I started in a flat deck, and filled in with a boom truck. I was working night shift and found the boom truck was more versatile for police calls, because they didn’t always tell us what we were going for. Howie had shown me how to use the 1 ton to its fullest; including burnt out vehicles and lowered cars. I was feeling pretty comfortable and liked the high pace of the police work. I would occasionally go out with Howie in the heavy wrecker or low bed, and I would learn and help as much as I could.

One call that Howie and I did together was on January 2 one year. We had a lot of snow, and then it had warmed up and rained. There was massive flooding throughout Abbotsford and lots of roads were closed due to it. Before the local police had a chance to close one of the major roads, a car hydroplaned off the roadway and across a 15’ wide ditch. We were dispatched in the early afternoon, but were advised to come back later after the city had a chance to clear some culverts to allow the water level to come down. Due to how dangerous it can be with water recoveries, 2 people are sent. The water level came down just below the road in the early evening and we were sent back out. The windows were open on the vehicle to allow the occupants to escape, which gave us something to aim for to pull the car to the road side of the ditch. I held on to one end of the chain, just in case Howie missed, so we didn’t lose our chain in the deep water. Howie threw the other end and I held my arm out to give the chain enough slack to reach the car. Well in doing so, I lost my balance and fell face first into water! Treading water, in steel toe boots (which is NOT easy, let me tell you) I yelled out to Howie “I got the chain! I got the chain!” Howie leaned over and said “Okay give it to me” as he proceeded to hook the chain on the cable so we didn’t lose it in the water, before helping me out. We got the car loaded up on the wrecker and Howie sent me on my way to the yard with it, soaking wet sitting on my jacket. He then went home for a change of clothes for me, as it was just the beginning of our shift.

Now that I had been riding with Howie in the semi trucks, I was getting quite the taste for it. I had just learned that my grandmother had driven semi’s and dump trucks for the DND, and eventually moved to the RCMP delivering weaponry. I was looking for another challenge and inquired with my boss about upgrading my license class, to which he was very supportive. With the assistance of my grandmother, I was able to get my class 1. I attended Valley Driving School, where I met my instructor Al. His way of teaching allowed me to pick up the way the truck works very easily. After my hours with him I did my driving test and aced it! After my road test, my examiner said I was one of the best he had ever examined. I don’t know how Al got through to me, but he definitely instilled confidence in me behind the wheel!

After obtaining my license, there was not room for a full time position in a heavy truck, but I would fill in where needed. After 6 months of doing this, a full time position became available. I was assigned to a Peterbilt 378 day cab and a triaxle Landoll (sliding axle tilt deck) trailer. Shortly after being assigned to this truck, Howie and I had to go up the Fraser Canyon for a lead trailer of super ‘b’s. The trailer had been involved in a fatal crash and was fully loaded. Due to police investigation, we were not able to shift the load, and because the back 2 axles had been knocked out it couldn’t be towed on the ground. We had to load the lead trailer on to the Landoll and return to Hope for the police to continue their investigation. We nick named this load ‘fat, tall, and ugly’. It was over width, over height and just plain ugly looking. I was nervous hauling this for only having my license a couple months. I sure had a good grip of the seat, especially coming up to the overpasses. This was definitely an initiation to over dimensional loads!

A few months after this load, I was called out to assist with a truck and trailer that had rolled over. The trailer ended up over the bridge and into the river, while the truck remained upside down on the bridge deck with the axles hanging off. After the truck had been rolled over, I had to remove it from the highway on the trailer, for there wasn’t a straight axle left underneath it. Once I winched the truck up, I had to secure the cab and sleeper to the frame rails with straps and chains. We got it down to 10’6” wide, so with banners and flags hung, I headed for home. I called the scale just to advise them that I was coming. Upon arriving at the scale, they stopped me before I rolled across. Now I was nervous, quickly going through my mind as to what I may have forgotten and sweating bullets, the scale master came out to take pictures of myself and the load. Phew!! With a nod and a smile, I was on my way home.

With a few of these unusual loads under my belt now I was feeling more confident. I spent the spring and summer moving equipment and getting more comfortable with how the low bed worked. In November of 2008, after having my license only a year, I was asked if I wanted to go to Southern California. With it being so cold that year and winter hadn’t even officially arrived yet, I jumped at the opportunity. I was told that my load was a bus, ok no big deal. As I was loading up, I inquired about the bus because it looked a little different than any of the others I had hauled; I learned that it was a hydrogen prototype worth 7 million dollars. It was being built and tested for the ‘Hydrogen Highway’ being built in BC. It had to go to California for additional testing. While driving through California, it was heart warming to have a fellow BC’er honk and wave as they passed me, recognizing the BC transit decals. Once unloaded in Poway, Ca, I had to stop at the Ritchie Brothers Auction in Perris, Ca for 2 man-lifts coming back to Canada for a customer. I had to spend the night waiting for the payment of the machines to go through. Unfamiliar with the area, I asked around for a decent place to eat. Jeff Ott, a local, over hearing me asking around invited me to join his wife and himself for dinner at a local brewery/ steak house.  It was an amazing meal, and excellent company. I learned that Jeff owned his own excavating company and runs a low bed as well! At the end of the night, they refused to let me pay for my own meal, let alone theirs. I was willing to treat them as thanks for having some company for a meal, which I was truly grateful for!

The following day I was loaded and headed northbound and made it to Sacramento for the night. After a sleep and a good breakfast I was back on the road. Feeling pretty good about the trip so far, and not having any issues with any scales, I pulled into the Cottonwood scale by Redding, Ca feeling confident. Once I rolled the pad, I got the park light. My stomach jumped up into my throat and I suddenly felt sick. They pulled me in for a full inspection because the last CVSA decal was 2005. I pulled inside over a pit. The inspectors there loved the old ‘86 Pete 359. While one inspector went over the truck, the other went through my log book and permits.  They parked me for an airline that had worn through the rubber, but wasn’t leaking on the trailer. Just more of a preventative measure before it became a problem on the highway. They were very nice, and helped me get a mobile mechanic out to fix the air line and get me on my way. Once the deficiency was resolved, a quick re-inspect, I got a new CVSA decal and was on my way home. It was definitely a pleasurable experience, and they invited me to stop in for a visit next time I was down.

I continued with hauling equipment short and long haul, switching between my day cab and a 1986 Peterbilt 359 with a long hood. One day I was hanging out at the office, and a call came in to haul a ladder truck. The truck was destined for Port Kells and was 15’6” tall once it was on the trailer. Now that I had done quite a few over height moves, I knew exactly what to do, and what route to take. This was a piece of cake!

This past summer, I had to transfer a Blackhawk helicopter from a repair shop, into a C131 Hercules cargo plane. Because of the dimensions of the helicopter and the Hercules, the helicopter had to be loaded straight in for there was mere inches of clearance all the way around. I didn’t sleep well for 2 days leading up to the load for I did not want to mess up. I had one chance to line up the trailer with the plane, but no pressure! After 8 hours, the helicopter was loaded and on it’s way.

I continue to keep my mind open and try to learn something from everything I do, be it what to do, or what not to do. I don’t think I would be here today if it wasn’t for the help and support from my family, employers, friends and everyone who believed in me. I am grateful to everyone who gave me the opportunity to do a job I love! If you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life.