ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WSPA) - Firefighters from around the country visited Asheville to honor a fallen comrade Tuesday. Tony Garrison, 52, died on September 27 from a landslide caused by the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, according to the Asheville Fire Department. Garrison was both a Battalion Chief with the Fairview Volunteer Fire Department and a volunteer firefighter with the Garren Creek Volunteer Fire Department. "That news is pretty hard to take even if I wasn’t like really close to him," said Christian Mclemore, a former co-worker of Garrison and a current firefighter with the Weaverville Fire Department. "It’s hard to hear somebody that you knew for a good while and had pretty good conversations with is gone. That was pretty hard to take." A procession was held in Asheville on Tuesday to honor his legacy. Dozens of first responders from different agencies across the country, including the fire department of the City of New York, came to take part. "Chief Garrison was a great guy. He was funny. Very outgoing. He would just say stuff that would brighten your day," said Kenneth Letford, the Deputy Fire Chief at the Reynolds Fire Department. The procession started at the Ingles parking lot off Charlotte Highway and went towards a nearby church where Garrison's casket was taken for a private viewing. Buncombe County officials said in lieu of flowers, Garrison's family asks those wishing to honor his memory to donate to the North Carolina Fallen Firefighters Foundation, a GoFundMe set up in his honor or Chestnut Hill Baptist Church.