BOZEMAN, Mont. - Snowy weather over the weekend meant an extra busy few days for Bozeman Road Rescue, a local towing and road service company.
Josh Hawes, CFO of Bozeman Road Rescue said they had around 60 – 80 calls for service Saturday through Sunday. While the snow started falling Friday afternoon, the calls did not start until Saturday morning when people were out on the roads again.
There was a point over the weekend where all six of the company’s vehicles were out on the roads, including four tow trucks and two service cars. Many of the calls were for accidents and winch-outs, where cars get stuck in the snow or ditches and need to be pulled out, Hawes said.
On weekends like this past one where Bozeman gets a lot of snow in a short amount of time, towtruck drivers often must make detours while going to calls.
“If we have a truck close by headed to a call, and it’s a lockout or something like that, or just a slight little winch-out where somebody’s stuck in their driveway, our dispatchers can go ‘Okay, well I’ve got a truck right here, he’s driving by, we’ll have him stop by and help this client real quick.’”
Bozeman Road Rescue is also a backup provider for AAA. So, when all of AAA’s tow trucks are busy, they call Bozeman Road Rescue to fill in.
Hawes said his drivers were working overtime on helping people both in town and on the interstate all weekend. Sections of I-90 shut down for periods of time, including Bozeman Pass, which made longer distance calls more difficult or not possible. One driver was out until around 2 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday nights.
The job can be dangerous, especially when other drivers are not exercising caution, he said. If you see the blinking lights, that means you need to move over, if possible, to give towers space, as is the law in Montana.
