FOX CREEK, Alta. – Like many linehaul truckers, there came a time in Len Fletcher’s career when he simply wanted a break from life on the road. Two-and-a-half years of living in his truck had taken its toll – both on his body and his personal life.

But trucking was in his blood and Fletcher wasn’t ready to turn his back on the profession to which he had dedicated most of his life. So, he ventured to Northern Alberta and took up another form of trucking – hauling in the rugged oilfields of Alberta.

Now Fletcher is a driver with Trottier Trucking, a company that operates nearly 50 trucks out of four Northern Alberta locations. And he couldn’t be happier.

“In the patch you can live a normal life, you’re home every night,” said Fletcher, as he took Truck News on a run to pick up some produced water which we then delivered to one of Chevron’s water injection wells.

Produced water is oilfield lingo for salt water that is extracted from the ground along with oil or gas at sweet wells. This water needs to be transported back to the injection well where it is recycled back into the ground.

It was a beautiful morning in late May when we joined Fletcher on our run in Trottier’s Kenworth W800, nicknamed ‘Grumpy.’ It was one of those days that truckers in the oil patch live for – clear skies, dry roads and a light breeze to keep the mosquitoes away.

“When it’s nice out and the roads are clear, there’s no better place to be,” said Fletcher as he maneuvered the Kenworth tanker truck and pup over a twisting gravel road. But, he added, it’s not always a walk in the park.

“These roads get pretty slick at times,” said Fletcher.

That’s what makes trucking in the oilfields so appealing to Fletcher and other drivers who venture off the beaten path. They enjoy the challenge poised by the rugged terrain, which demands they use all their driving skills. While the speedometer rarely reaches highway speeds, the driver must never let his guard down or he can easily find himself on his roof or stuck in knee-deep mud. That’s why chaining up is practically routine, especially in the spring and winter.

“If ever in doubt, throw a set on,” advised Fletcher. “For one, if you do get into trouble and you don’t have chains on, the oil companies aren’t footing the bill. It’s far more embarrassing to call for help than to put the chains on.”

Traffic on the gravel roads is usually light, but the road itself is a formidable challenge for drivers, even at low speeds.

“I don’t have to worry about a woman and kids stepping out in front of me out here,” said Fletcher.

But he does have to worry about Mother Nature throwing the odd curve.

“I’ve been chained right up, but still tobogganing,” he said.

Fletcher is always cognizant about the dangers that face truckers working the oilfields, but he said following proper safety procedures minimizes the chance of an incident.

“There’s no room for mistakes out here,” he said.

Part of Fletcher’s job involves hauling sour water – a deadly substance that can kill you without warning if you’re not careful. Sour water has H2S gas dissolved in it, and like produced water it comes from the ground along with the oil and gas that’s extracted. But whereas produced water comes from sweet wells, sour water is extracted from sour wells and must also be transported to an injection site.

Many truckers in the oilfields refuse to work with sour, but for Fletcher it’s just part of the job.

“I work with sour and I’ve never had a problem because I respect it,” he said. “I want to go home at the end of the day so I’m never careless.”

He never leaves home without a portable monitor that measures the amount of gas in the air and sounds an alarm if it reaches potentially dangerous levels.

“It’s an expensive piece of equipment, but it’ll save your life,” Fletcher said.

In recent years, safety and environmental concerns have topped the priorities among companies providing oilfield services. Now, when someone gets hurt or killed, it’s usually because those stringent safety procedures weren’t followed, said Fletcher.

“If you follow your safety procedures, you’ll never be in trouble,” he vowed.

Although Fletcher loves his job, he admits it’s not for everyone. There’s the isolation factor to cope with – not everybody enjoys living in a small communities like Fox Creek, hours from the nearest major city. But it does have its advantages, for Fletcher.

“We make the best of it,” he said. “If a guy likes hunting and fishing, this is the place to be.”

The community’s isolation makes it difficult for the fleet to attract qualified drivers – even though the company’s drivers make between $60,000 and $100,000 per year, said Scott Doran, operations manager for Trottier Trucking’s Fox Creek division.

“The only reason you’d be making $60,000 for us is because you don’t want to make more,” Doran added. Drivers are paid by the hour and while they do have to abide by hours-of-service regulations, there’s plenty of opportunity to rack up the hours within the legal limits, Doran said. There’s currently no weekly driving cap in Alberta, although that’s slated to change under the recently approved federal hours-of-service regulations.

“Manpower is the biggest challenge for us,” Doran said, adding the company could add more trucks to its fleet if it had the drivers in place. But while the company is willing to take on drivers that don’t have oilfield experience, Doran admitted it’s not for amateurs.

“This is the toughest trucking in Alberta, right here,” he said.

The ability to make a six-figure income driving a truck is definitely another appealing aspect of working the oilfields for Fletcher.

“As long as the patch is busy, we’re busy,” he said. “You’ll always be able to feed yourself and your family working in the patch.”

Truckers who ply the oilfields must also be able to work without supervision, said Fletcher. Most of the oil wells are unmanned, so there’s nobody there to reprimand you if you get lazy and start cutting corners. For Fletcher, it’s one of the more endearing qualities of the job.

“It’s kind of like being your own boss,” he said. “You know what you have to do and you do it.”

Another aspect of the job that Fletcher welcomes is the ability to spend much of the day outside the truck. While making transfers, oilfield haulers must frequently get out to load and unload, which takes about 40 minutes to an hour each time. It’s not uncommon to spend just half a day behind the wheel. It may be more labor-intensive than highway trucking, but Fletcher said he finds it’s easier on his body than sitting behind the wheel for hours at a time.

“I got crippled up from sitting all the time,” he said. Trottier is just one of many fleets specializing in servicing Alberta’s oilfields.

The company is always on the lookout for new drivers and can be reached at 888-622-3006.