Honoring Our Heroes: First Responders Recognized for Courage in I-70 Tragedy

Goodland, KS – August 23, 2025

Saturday evening at the Goodland High School Auditorium, our community came together for something more than just a ceremony. It was a moment of gratitude, reflection, and healing as we honored the first responders who faced one of the darkest days northwest Kansas has ever seen.

On March 14, 2025, a sudden dust storm swept across Interstate 70 near Edson. Within minutes, visibility dropped to nothing. Cars and trucks piled up in chain reaction crashes-71 vehicles in all. Eight precious lives were lost, dozens more were injured, and countless families were forever changed.

While the storm created devastation unlike anything we’ve witnessed before, it also revealed the best of us. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs, dispatchers, and medical crews ran toward the chaos. They risked their own safety in choking dust, tangled wreckage, and debris to pull people from cars, render aid, and bring order to unimaginable destruction.

Agencies Honored at the Ceremony

• Thomas County Sheriff’s Office

• Colby Fire Department

• Cheyenne County Ambulance Service

• Thomas County EMS

• Wallace County Ambulance Service

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Between all of them, dispatchers managed over 100 calls in just a few hours. First responders worked side by side with the Kansas Highway Patrol’s CHART team and investigators, turning a scene of chaos into one of compassion and care.

The ceremony was more than applause and handshakes. It was a time to acknowledge the heavy emotional weight carried by those who responded. They not only saw devastation—they carried it home with them. “On March 14, our first responders didn’t just answer calls,” one speaker reminded us. “They carried hope into the storm.”

The evening also remembered the victims, including 20-year-old Dawson Hogan, a Fort Hays Technical College Northwest student whose bright future was cut short. His name, and the names of the other seven who died that day, were spoken with reverence and love.

For many in the room, the event was healing. Survivors, families, and neighbors stood shoulder to shoulder with the very people who pulled them from wreckage or guided them through grief. It was a reminder that while tragedy can break us, it can also bring us together.

We will never forget the dust storm of March 14. But thanks to the bravery of our first responders, we will also never forget the lives saved, the compassion shown, and the unshakable spirit of northwest Kansas.