Learn How To Drive Truck In The Mountains.......

0400 this morning I80 @293mm in Wyoming at the bottom of Elk Mountain I get woke up with hard breaking, a quick swerve to the side of the road and air brakes set before truck even stopped and a slamming of the driver side door. I am like what the hell is going on.

Well I know my brother and the way he drives and for that to happen something bad must have taken place. First thought was vehicle accident or maybe someone hit us. Or maybe a rollover and he was going to help. Well none of the above and sort of the above.

I get dressed, in a hurry I might add, and walk back to the scene out of a movie almost. Flames at least 25 feet in the air. Silhouette of a truck back-lit by flames.

A few people standing around just watching. My brother, a fed-ex driver, two other drivers and their dog which by the way came from the burning truck. Everyone got out OK. When we arrived on scene the fire had just started and my brother and the fed-ex driver both had fire extinguishers sitting at their feet. While the fire was still manageable but when dealing with a brake and tire fire there is not much that can be done. They could not get close enough to the fire cause of the heat. Tires burn super hot. And since the fire started on the inside of the tires there was no way they could have hit the base of the of the fire due to the trailer.

So we all stood around watching the fire till the cops showed up and shutdown the interstate. Keep in mind that that area of the country can't afford a full time fire department and we were 15 miles west of Laramie WY.

From the few questions I asked the driver said he was coming down Elk Mountain and the brakes caught of fire. He was riding the brake cause he was in the wrong gear. Elk mountain is not that steep of a grade and the jake brakes would have held him back IF he would have been in the correct gear.

If you have to use your service brakes more than once or twice and only then briefly within a one mile stretch then you are in the wrong gear. This driver learned the hard way but at least they got out OK and they got their puppy out also.

We are not driving cars or pickup trucks people. These are 80,000 lbs machines that demand respect. If you can't or won't respect them then they will try their best to kill you. And yes they will kill you just as dead as a gun stuck to your head will if the trigger is pulled.

I know a lot of people recently are coming to trucking due to the job market but know this when you do.... Your action or inaction or your ability or inability to control these trucks does not only effects you but every single person you are on the road with. This is why we preach safety. That driver did not respect the mountain he was going down or the truck and he got off lucky with only loosing personal items in the truck.

That's another thing. The truck insurance will not cover personal items in the truck. It's up to the drivers to carry their own insurance for their stuff. Most renters insurance will cover it.

Oh by the way the truck that burned was one of our trucks. A Werner truck pulling a UPS trailer. The driver got off easy but next time..... Who knows?

So my question on this is.....does the driver get into trouble for this type of situation? It sounds like he was at fault....but could it have also been a brake problem? Mechanical issue, or was it just plain driver error?

With this type of thing happening it's almost always the drivers fault. A company will look at all the possible things that could happen verses what a really did happen. Breaks overheating. Truck just came down a mountain grade. No prior issues with the truck. The fact he sent in a qualcomm message stating the breaks caught fire on the way down the mountain(found this out when I called the emergency road service line to check and see if he had a co-driver with him.) . Yes the driver will get the blame.

The driver reached the point of no return and made the wrong choice. What I mean is when in a brake over heating situation you have a choice to make and it is all dictated by the road. If you know or suspect your brakes are over heating, start to smoke is first sign, at that point to you either stop the truck asap like that driver did or, since he was already off the mountain, he could of kept going and allowed the air flow to cool the brakes down then once the smoke stops then stop the truck and check for any damage. Of course that knowledge comes with experience. It's not something that is taught.

Now if he would have still been in the mountains on the down hill side then there is not much you can do but get stopped as soon as you can.

So long story here, I've made the decision not to run a CB anymore because of the bs I hear on it

hmmmm.......the CB is an awfully valuable tool to throw in the trash because of a few jerks. I mean, there is no perfect tool. GPS is the best tool in the history of navigation but it's wrong sometimes - you just have to compensate for that. Trucks are an awesome tool for hauling freight but they break down sometimes. You don't throw em out, you fix em.

There's nothing wrong with turning the CB off sometimes - I did it quite a bit. But by God when I needed to know something or warn someone about something it was the best tool in the world sometimes. The only thing worse than listening to a bunch of knuckleheads is not being able to give or get information when you desperately need to.

Sobering story. Thanks for posting. I was driving in upper VT this past week and saw a 5% grade coming up. I made sure I got in a gear below the one I used to climb the hill, and pretty much just used the jake the whole way. In all reality, the grade was not as steep as some other grades I've descended that weren't even posted, but seeing that sign towards the crest of the hill made me make sure I knew what gear to select before I started the descent.

As my instructors taught me, it used to be that you could go down the hill in the same gear that you used to climb the hill, but with modern trucks, safer to choose a gear lower when descending. I had to downshift to 9th to climb the hill, and I was in 8th gear with the jake set on high when I descended that particular slope and I was fine. I tapped the service brakes a few times and didn't hold the brake down for more than a few seconds at a time, in order to slow down to my proper speed I was aiming for.

Before I knew anything about trucking, I used to think that driving in the mountains would be fine. I love the mountains. But now I know that you MUST respect posted grade signs, and your equipment. Driving a big rig in the mountains can be deadly if you're not careful.

Oops, I had a typo. I meant to say that I used to think that driving a big rig in the mountains would be fun - I typed 'fine.' It is fine if you're in the proper gear and careful, and I suppose it can also be fun, but I'd imagine that to some drivers it is an anxious experience! I know when I saw that 5% grade sign coming up I puckered a little ...

I drove mostly the West so mountains are a part of my day, and they're harder with a LW truck because the Jakes are almost nonexistent .

It's a shame that happened, that downgrade really isn't that bad. But it's better for that to happen on that downgrade versus a more dangerous downgrade like Cabbage. Hope he gets some 1 on 1 training on this.

Props to you and everyone else who stopped to help!

Thanks for sharing this Guyjax. I am glad to hear everyone made it to safety and appreciate the reminder as I get ready to start school.

Very bad way to wake up for sure . Could have been much worse . Its a great reminder that you have to respect the mountains and your equipment. That was a very costly mistake.

What kind of pilot flies a plane without inspecting and respecting it? A dead one.

Same for big rigs.

Elk Mountain!? Really, how do you mess up on that little Mountain!

Elk Mountain!? Really, how do you mess up on that little Mountain!

Which begs the question, if he messed up on Elk Mountain then how did he get down that 5% downgrade for 5 miles before Laramie? Of course this applies only if Westbound. Can't tell if E or W based on what we were told.

I have a question.. if you get to climb a hill in 10th gear and then go down steep In 9th gear.. isn't that a too high gear to go downgrade?

I know its safe to downshift to a lower gear when you are going downgrade but does this work with any big gears like 10th to 9th etc... ?