An unstable landscape and a near vertical drop required cautious expertise.
by Tia Allard
For most people, Hawk Cliff near Port Stanley in Central Elgin, Ontario, is a place of calm. The cliffs themselves tower over the waters of Lake Erie, the layers from years past stripped bare by the near constant breeze. The cliffs are a sheer landslide of sand and shale with stunted trees and sandy grasses that grow where the scallops of loose rock haven’t fallen away.
The area normally sees a fair share of human visitors toting cameras and hiking poles to take photos of birds. However, one fateful evening, the cliffs were alight with the strobes of EMS crews and firefighters responding to reports of a truck at the very bottom of the cliff, with a person still inside.
March-April 2025
Images courtesy of DNO Towing
After a creative rescue of the driver via an EMS-assisted Sea Doo, a few attempts to recover the silver Ford F150 itself were made by other towing companies, to no avail.
That’s when, for Corbin Neville of DNO Towing, Hawk Cliff became a place of determination and teamwork.
The recovery area had multiple bulged ledges made of heaped sand and featured near vertical drops. A narrow strip of beach waited at the bottom where the truck rested, barely holding off the hungry waves of Lake Erie. Due to the unstable landscape and a sandy shelf that jutted above the beach, the crew would have to recover the truck without a clear view of it during its 250-foot ascent. To make it harder, they had to keep their heavy recovery vehicles safely away from the sagging cliff edge, or the recovery vehicles would join the truck in the waves below.
added to this recovery challenge.
heaped sand and featured near vertical drops.
"The recovery area had multiple bulged ledges made of heaped sand and featured near vertical drops.”
After the first response crews vacated the area, the vehicle recovery team assembled. Corbin Neville arrived in his 50-ton rotator, assisted by his crew in another 20-ton rotator and a Kubota track loader equipped with a winch unit. Together, they executed a complicated system, running multiple lines to the wedged Ford. A private boat and another Sea Doo were deployed to coordinate the recovery from the water where they had a clear view. The skid steer is the lightest recovery vehicle and was initially used to get close to the loose edge and repel down to the beach to run secure, sturdy recovery lines.
By the time the winch lines were pulled taut, the truck was at the bottom of the cliff, nose down and on its roof. The descent had been fast and violent, the body of the truck noticeably flattened. Over the span of several careful hours and long inches, the truck was rotated 180 degrees at the base of the cliff before it was pulled up and away from Erie’s tides. Now, what remained of the tires was oriented down with the nose of the truck pointed up the cliff. From there, Mr. Neville began expertly navigating the truck back up the steep drops and tugged it over stubborn, soft ledges. With his 50-ton rotator acting as the principal recovery vehicle, the 20-ton and track loader’s efforts were instrumental in overcoming a total resistance of over 40,000 pounds.
sky as the crew secured it on the back of a flat deck tow truck to be transported out. Corbin Neville is a second-generation tow truck operator. Originally, his company was coined DeanO Towing by late family friend Norm Dean (started in 1959). In 2005, in the wake of Mr. Dean’s death, the company was purchased by Corbin’s father, Don Neville. Under new management, the company was modernized to its current name of DNO Towing, with Don’s son Corbin operating alongside him. In 2013, Corbin himself expanded the outfit by purchasing Pete’s Towing in 2013. Due to popular demand, they again grew recently in 2022 by merging with Northside Towing out of Aylmer, Ontario.
With the assistance of their local connections and everyone’s cautious expertise, the recovery was completed, and the delicate environment preserved. For Corbin and the crew from DNO Towing, it highlighted the importance of teamwork and experience when it comes to taking on recoveries of any size—or drop! 🍁