Golden search and rescue pulls road rescue service

One of the most treacherous B.C. stretches of the TransCanada is without a professional rescue service as Golden and District Search and Rescue has stopped doing road rescue work.

"We're finding the fabric of volunteers is changing," said president Shauna Speers. "We just don't have that passion on the road rescue side of things."

Speers says volunteers were getting burned out so they withdrew their services last month.

"It was a really hard decision for us to make, because we knew we were putting community members and the travelling public at risk," she said. "At the same time we knew we could just no longer provide that service."

Speers says search and rescue used to do up to one road rescue a week around Golden, as the fire department can't legally leave city limits and the police have limited resources.

She worries it's going to be an issue in the summer months.

"Once we start seeing an increase in traffic over the summer months between Field and Golden, and Golden and the Rogers Passthat is where the problem lies."

She said the province has promised to provide an alternative but has released few details.