CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – About 30 first responders riding bicycles across the Carolinas honored a city firefighter killed two years ago.

The emergency personnel were part of the seventh annual Carolina Brotherhood bike ride. The group chose to end its first leg of the ride in Conway on Monday to honor fallen firefighter Chris Ray. 

“Chris was one of our brothers,” said Conway fire chief Le Hendrick. “If you didn’t know him, you really missed on a character.”

Chief Hendrick says he was Chris Ray’s first captain about eight years ago.

“He liked to joke,” Chief Hendrick said. He was a jokester. He liked to keep people on their toes. He always had a joke to tell and always had a smile on his face.”

Ray died in March 2016 after he fell off a fire engine and was hit as the truck backed over him.

The Carolina Brotherhood went from Moncks Corner to Conway on Monday, honoring Ray and a firefighter in the Berkeley County town who died. The group supports families of fallen first responders. The group was created after the 2011 death of fire captain Jeff Bowen of Asheville, North Carolina.

To raise money, about 30 police, firefighters and other emergency personnel will bike about 600 miles across North and South Carolina in six days.

“Unfortunately, each year, there’s always an excuse to ride because North and South Carolina suffer the biggest line of duty deaths in the country,” said Jim Squittieri.

The Carolina Brotherhood bikers rested Monday night with inflatable beds in the Conway High School gym.

Some of Ray’s family members greeted the bikers as they pulled into the high school parking lot.

“I think it’s pretty nice for them to do this,” said Cheyenne Ray, who’s Chris Ray’s daughter.

Chief Hendrick says he was touched when the Carolina Brotherhood decided to pay tribute to Chris Ray.

“The outpouring of support over the past two years has been incredible,” he said. “It’s tributes like this that mean the most, the ones we don’t ask for.”

The Carolina Brotherhood has already raised more than $25,000. Click here to follow the ride as it goes through the Carolinas.

Twenty first responders and other volunteers are helping the bikers on their journey, which is expected to end Saturday in Pineville, North Carolina.