VIDEO/PHOTOS: The Cottage Grove Fire Department is honoring the life of a firefighter Friday who was killed in a motorcycle crash last year.
The agency explained in a Facebook post that it proclaimed April 5, 2024, as Firefighter Gavin Wendricks Day. The date marks the two-year anniversary of when he joined the department.
Gavin Wendricks died in a motorcycle crash on Oct. 28, 2023, which the department noted was National First Responders Day. He was 20 years old.
The fire department recounted that Wendricks graduated from Monona Grove High School in 2021, and worked as a welder and heavy equipment operator.
Gavin then joined the Cottage Grove Fire Department in 2022 and served alongside his father, Paul, who had been with the fire department since 1998.