Pella firefighters were honored by the West Burlington Fire Department Friday for their response in assisting with a fatal crash just over one year ago.

A group of West Burlington firefighters was traveling to training in Ames on February 24th last year, and the truck they were traveling slipped hard off the road during snowy and windy conditions on Highway 163 east of Pella. James “Franco” Franciskovich died as a result of the crash.

West Burlington Fire Chief Shaun Ryan tells KNIA/KRLS News he’s thankful for the efforts of Pella’s first responders in their attempts to save Franco’s life, as well as the care they provided to Carrie Ellen Falcon and Shane McCampbell, the two other firefighters in the truck at the time of the incident.

“It will take an eternity of giving thanks and gratitude for what they did, to help us out in just a small way that night,” Ryan says. “So in return, we wanted to give them something that means a lot to us to let them know we still think about them every day, and that going forward from here–this year, five, ten, 25 years from now, that we’ll still maintain that bond, that unique bond that was formed a little over a year ago.”

The Pella Fire Department was presented with a special trophy named after Franco, which West Burlington Fire Captain Zach Boyd says has become their department’s highest honor.

“In this line of work, you build relationships with people in different cities, different towns, and to have a department that’s so far away, to have this kind of unique relationship — the brotherhood that a lot of people hear about in this job, it means a lot.

“This department and what they did that night, we can never, ever thank them. To be able to give them this award and to be able to say thank you, which we can’t say enough, I hope they understand that we’re eternally grateful, and if the situation was reversed, we would have done the same for them,” Boyd says.

Pella Fire Chief Doug Van Gorkom says the trophy will be proudly displayed. Last June, Pella firefighters presented the West Burlington Fire Department with a unique wooden plaque and ax to signify the bond built between the departments, which has since been hanging on West Burlington’s firefighter memorial wall.