A river crossing near Diamond Valley has prompted a warning from fire personnel.

In a recent Facebook post, Diamond Valley Fire Rescue cautioned drivers to avoid the River Ford Crossing just east of Millarville, near where Township Road 210 meets Range Road 23A.

A large gap in the crossing has been causing damage to cars recently.

The post references Red Rescue Towing, who have been called to the site numerous times in the past few weeks.

Owner of the towing company, Kenneth Greenan, says there are a few elements that are blending together, leading to the recent rise in vehicles getting stuck or damaged.

"Google is telling people that's the fastest way, so people are ignorantly listening to their Google. If you come from the Calgary side, it's a long driveway so you can see 'Oh, I don't want to take it.' When you come from the other side, you're coming down the hill and you don't notice it until it's too late. If you have too much speed you're going to wreck your vehicle."

He estimates his company is called out to there two to three times a day, with bumpers often being ripped completely off of vehicles.

Greenan isn't aware of any road/crossing quite like it.

"Everyone thinks it's a road, which it is, but it's only a summer access road. The only reason they can't close it down is because of all the farmer access, there's about six farms right in that area and they use that access to get to their farms and their properties... You'll see cattle runs go through there sometimes so it's a very utilized access."

He says the winter months usually make traversing the crossing an easy task, but this year's conditions have made it very treacherous.

"Depending on the weather, if it's been a cold winter, it's good right until March, but it's been so nice out that it's been breaking up. I've watched big one-tonnes get stuck and then we've got to go and pull them out... people think 'Well I just watched this guy go through with his truck so I can do it.' That guy who just went through with his truck just broke up that ice and now you're going to get damaged."

The Diamond Valley makes reference to an incident where EMS were called to the scene after a Lexus was wrecked.

Greenan recalls the incident and his amazement that the young driver and passenger only sustained minor injuries.

"Google told him to go that way, they were coming back from Longview, and they hit that. They're lucky to be okay, their vehicle was completely written off. All the airbags went off, front end completely damaged, frame bent, so they were very lucky."

Longtime residents of the area are familiar with the crossing and are likely to have gotten stuck there once or twice themselves.

Despite this, Greenan warns against offering help to someone stuck there or getting help from a passerby.

"We're all very helpful out here so a lot of people try to help tow them out with their own vehicles because they're jerking on them. I get the comradery and trying to help your neighbour, but when you're stuck like that it's better to call a tow truck to get your vehicle out because we do it with a slow process to make sure it's out with no damage. Plus now we're liable, so if the vehicle does break, who's paying for it? We are."