The 9/11 Memorial Stair Climbs honor FDNY firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice.
The Marshfield Fire Protection District and the Logan-Rogersville Fire Departments took time to reflect on the events of Sept. 11 23 years ago by participating in a memorial stair climb.
They climbed the equivalent of 110 floors at their respective football stadiums in honor of those who lost their lives in 2001, and in continued honor of our first responders and military who protect us from foreign and domestic threats.
“This is something we do every year. One of the tag lines that came out of that day was that we will never forget. So every year this is our way of remembering and honoring those that passed, especially from emergency services,” said Captain Andrew Blanton, who helped organize the Marshfield climb.
The Marshfield Fire Protection District carries a retired fire hose during the stair climb, which is representative of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives during the 9/11 attacks.
“Years ago we took an old hose that that is out of service, and once we completed a stair climb, a lot of the lot of the people that did the stair climb got together and we took turns writing out every single firefighters name, all the 343 on that hose,” said Tony Saitz, who helped organize this year’s event.
“Everybody participates for their own personal reasons and I think a lot of us feel from the firefighter standpoint, that every firefighter wants to complete their mission when they start,” Blanton added. “So for us, we climb 110 stories for the guys that were unable to finish their mission that day.”
“We have three additional names that have been added to the hose as well – Lieutenant Matt Blankenship, Deputy Chief Ed Nolan, and then Sergeant Justin Burney. We added those to the list to symbolize that those are the people that were carrying through that stair climb,” Saitz noted. “Those are the people that we’re honoring and remembering. So we wanted to kind of throw our own spin on it as well, and remember our own people as well as the 343.”


The World Trade Center's Twin Towers each consisted of 110 floors and 2,071 steps, and each year hundreds of thousands of people across the nation walk, climb and run the stairs to remember those lost. Firefighters in full gear, Police, Military and Bomb Squad personnel march steadily alongside civilians of varying ages, abilities and backgrounds.
“It’s cool to see so much participation right here at home,” he added. “Several of the family members of our firefighters participated as well. It’s just something that we truly will never forget.”
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