A damaged EV can look calm, get loaded, and then light off again when you least expect it. That single detail changes everything for towing and recovery, because once the fire department clears the scene, the tow operator often becomes the long-term risk manager for a high-voltage battery that may reignite minutes, hours, or even weeks later. We sit down with Chas Hendrickson, COO and founder at Ramp Container, to talk about what that reality means for EV towing safety, yard storage, and protecting your people.

We dig into why lithium-ion thermal runaway doesn’t behave like a normal vehicle fire, why “just add water” can require massive volumes and still fail to end the reaction, and how toxic smoke plus high voltage raise the stakes for drivers and yard staff. Chas walks us through EV Rescue, a containment and transport system designed to keep distance during loading, continuously monitor with thermal imaging, and automatically respond with an extremely cold liquid cryogen when temperatures spike, then reset and keep watching. We also cover real-world incidents, the training gap for towers, and the practical need for a written SOP that answers where the vehicle goes, who monitors it, and what happens when it heats back up.

If you’re seeing more EVs and hybrids on your calls, this is a must-listen for EV fire response planning, tow yard risk management, and safer roadside recovery. Subscribe for more tools and tactics that help you run a safer, stronger operation, and if this helped, share it with another operator and leave a review.

Tow trucks get compared to “big trucks” all the time, and that misunderstanding drives bad assumptions, bad headlines, and sometimes bad policy. We sit down with Bruce Bender, Executive Director of TRAA, to talk about how Hill Day changes the conversation by bringing towing and recovery professionals straight to Capitol Hill with a clear message: understand the work, then fix the rules that shape it.

We break down what Hill Day 26 accomplished simply by showing up consistently, building recognition with lawmakers, and making the industry real through stories, stats, and straight talk. We also dig into the issues towers keep running into right now: the insurance squeeze, roadside safety and move-over realities, weights and measures compliance challenges, and the growing need for guidance around EV fires and EV fire remediation. Along the way, we share why most towing businesses being small operations matters in federal legislation, and how relationship-building can create early warnings when harmful proposals start moving.

Then we get practical about Hill Day 27: how the event prepares first-timers, how meetings are organized by state, and why bringing the next generation of tow operators is a game-changer. We also cover key logistics like early bird registration and the new Washington, DC hotel setup at the Omni Shoreham with a dramatically lower nightly rate and optional extended stay for families who rarely get that time back.

If you care about safer roads, fair treatment for safety-critical towing, and a stronger voice for the towing and recovery industry, listen now, share this with a fellow operator, and subscribe and leave a review so more towers hear about Hill Day.

Buying a car has become a tech circus, yet towing and recovery is still stuck juggling paper tickets, radio dispatch, and a maze of separate apps. That mismatch doesn’t just waste time, it keeps towers waiting to get paid and keeps drivers exposed on the roadside longer than they need to be. So we brought on Rudy Nieto, CEO of Autura, to get practical about what actually changes when towing operations move from disconnected tools to one connected workflow.

We dig into what owners keep telling Rudy and his product teams: the pain of manual processes, the chaos of managing motor club apps plus government rotation portals, and the constant friction between “pretty software” and software that survives 2 a.m. in a snowstorm. Rudy explains why workflow matters more than feature lists, how domain knowledge makes or breaks a tow management system, and what reliability, security, and compliance look like when you’re handling real dispatch volume.

We also break down how to think about Dispatch Anywhere versus TOPS, how technology supports growth in a consolidating towing market, and why integrating with law enforcement and agency systems can reduce app overload and improve decision-making. Then we get into the money side: where time and profit leak between vehicle hookup and the day it leaves the lot, and why online vehicle auction marketplaces can outperform the old “we’ve got a guy” approach to unclaimed cars. If you get value from this conversation, subscribe, share it with a tow owner who’s overwhelmed by apps, and leave a review so more operators can find it.