7 agencies recognized for their actions during private jet crash in Collier County

It was a day that asked for action on Interstate 75 when a private jet crashed on a highway in Collier County back in February.

The passengers and flight attendants made it out alive, but the two pilots died. Now, the first responders who helped those survivors are being honored.

They have been picked by the Greater Naples Chamber for the 2024 Distinguished Public Service awards.

It’s an annual event, but this, by far, had to be one of the bigger incidents these departments responded to.

Seven agencies will be recognized for working together to put out the flames and keeping traffic away from the scene.

Although it was too late to rescue the pilots, three people on board ran out of the plane as it burst into flames.

Wednesday morning, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, North Collier Fire Rescue, Greater Naples Fire Rescue, City of Naples Fire Rescue, Marco Island Fire Rescue, Collier County EMS and the Florida Highway Patrol were recognized for responding to that scene.

“It was something that I’ve never seen before; it kind of felt like it was like a movie scene, or maybe even a warzone,” said William Wilkie, firefighter for Greater Naples Fire Rescue. “Just because of how big the fireball and the column were.”

“It’s once in a lifetime,” said Alexa Yero, firefighter for Greater Naples Fire Rescue, “so for me, I felt a sense of accomplishment that, you know, what we trained for with this job was put to the test, and we were able to do our part.”

Not only did these agencies make a heroic effort in the tragedy, but they say they were able to do their jobs effectively because of the flight attendants’ and passengers’ efforts to save themselves quickly and the pilots’ efforts to save others at the cost of their lives.