Fall River Highway Incident Through the Eyes of the Clean-Up Crew

While everyone and their mother were complaining yesterday over the standstill traffic in Fall River and surrounding towns, firefighters and clean-up crews were working around the clock to get Interstate195 back to normal again.

WBSM reported the incident earlier on Friday morning stating that a truck bed full of recycled cardboard had caught a blaze which backed up traffic for miles upon miles. My entire Facebook newsfeed and Instagram were photos of cars on the highway that looked more like a parking lot than anything. Even with the warning, once you were merged onto the highway around the Plymouth Ave Exit area on 195 Westbound in Fall River.

One person who was on the scene was Michael Cleary, a truck driver for Big Wheel Hazmat Recovery Team out of East Freetown who arrived at the scene to assist. Once the fire was controlled, Cleary captured incredible first-person footage of the wreck itself (thankfully there were no injuries involved) and posted the wreck to his TikTok.

Cleary has been employed at Big Wheel doing heavy recovery for almost three years and has about 12 years of towing experience under his belt.

"You never know what you're about to head to when the phone rings," Cleary said. "It could be as simple as a mother and kids that broke down that need to get off the roadway toward safety or something as crazy as a tractor-trailer that flipped over the guard rail or even a plane that had an emergency landing."

Luckily for everyone involved, this trailer fire caused zero injuries.

"Some of these accidents are heartbreaking to have to go out to," Cleary said, "The stuff we see sometimes working side by side with the first responders is tough. Luckily there were no injuries or major incidents with this one, just a big stinky mess. A job like this is a different experience, especially working with the Fall Fiver Fire Department to contain the fire prior to the clean-up was definitely an honor."

It just goes to show that you'll never know what someone does for a living until you either walk in their shoes, or in this case, watch an eye-opening TikTok.