Hundreds climb City Stadium stairs in remembrance of 9/11

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) -Hundreds of first responders climbed the steps of City Stadium Saturday for the annual Sept. 11 Memorial Stair Climb.

The stair climb honors 343 New York firefighters who died that day saving those trapped inside of the Twin Towers.

The mood at the stadium was solemn as hundreds of people recalled the details of 9/11. Many of the first responders who answered the call on that fateful day 21 years ago would never make it out of the towers alive.

People who walked in the event carried around tags with the names of those who died in the attacks.

“May we never forget, those who lost their lives,” said one speaker at the event’s opening ceremony.

The World Trade Center stood at 110 stories tall with over 2000 steps to reach the top. Participants walked roughly seven rounds through the City Stadium bleacher. The same amount of steps first responders would’ve climbed to try to save those trapped inside of the towers.

“I remember last year there were a lot of fun jokes laughs and picking each other up and pushing each other to make sure that you could reach to the finish line and that’s what each of us do everyday to make sure that our teammate our partner makes it out of whatever that situation is,” said another speaker.

First responders at the ceremony were able to relate to the pain those emergency crews would’ve felt on that day. They share a commonality of brotherhood and sisterhood and know the sacrifice that comes with the job. That same sacrifice is the price so many paid on that day which will forever be etched into our memories.

“All of us are but one phone call away from making the ultimate sacrifice right? and we go to work and we do it we do it with dignity we do it with honor and we do it with respect,” one of the speakers explained.

Money collected from the event’s registration fees will benefit the Metro Richmond Flying Squad which provides relief and rehabilitation to fire departments when they respond to calls.

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