Firefighters rescue little boy's card for deceased mom in heaven

— -- Thanks to a group of firefighters, one boy was able to retrieve a balloon that he sent up to "heaven" for his mom.

"It meant so much to us and we're so thankful and grateful for everything they do," dad Jess of Lakewood, Colorado, told ABC News. "They protect the community and go out of their way to help out, even when it's not a big thing so we're just deeply appreciative."

Seven-year-old Evan's mom, Kellie, died in Feb. 2014. Since then, Evan and his father, who asked that ABC News not share their last name, have been writing cards to her and sending them up in the sky.

This Mother's Day, Evan and Jess attached their note to a balloon and released it in the backyard, but it got tangled in a tree.

On Wednesday, Jess wrote to West Metro Fire Rescue in Lakewood, asking them to rescue the balloon for his son.

"We reached back out to [him] and said, 'Absolutely, we'll come and help you,'" Chief Steve Aseltine told ABC News. "We sent a tower ladder apparatus, which has four personnel. An opportunity to take their bad situation and make it better, we would jump on it. The firefighters, they were ecstatic to go and help."

On May 17, the firefighters surprised Evan at home as soon as he got out of school.

"The reason his hair looks so ridiculous is because it was wacky hair day for spirit week at school," Jess said of his son. "The firemen went out of their way to make him feel very special. They let him in the truck and hung out with him afterward and that was great."

Evan now hopes to resend the balloon to his mom in a "big field with no trees in sight," dad said.