More than 300 firefighters travel to Denver for 9/11 memorial stair climb
Across the country, people are honoring the victims and heroes of 9/11 with a memorial stair climb. A total of 343 firefighters from 13 states and 49 departments came to Denver to climb the Guard and Grace building, located at 1801 California Street, on Thursday.
This is a climb these firefighters have done since 2005, when it was just Denver and Castle Rock firefighters. The climb was expanded to include all firefighters in 2008.
Firefighters traveled from Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming for this climb. It started with a live audio of the newscast that was playing on the day of 9/11. Firefighters then had a moment of silence for the victims and heroes.
As firefighters climbed 110 flights of stairs at the Guard and Grace building, many carried full gear with them. Firefighters told CBS Colorado that gear adds an additional 120 pounds. Firefighters said the climb takes about 35 to 45 minutes to complete.
Firefighter Brian Brindisi with Louisville Fire District tells CBS Colorado he has been doing this climb for 17 years now. He says he prepares himself every year by climbing stairs, working on his cardio, and weight training. He says if anything were to happen to his peers or community, he wants to be in top shape to help them.
Brindisi also tells CBS Colorado that this tragedy brought everyone together.
"People put their differences aside and were there for each other," Brindisi said. "That's the one thing I want to instill on my son. Bad things can happen, but we come back from that. It's how we pull ourselves together, remember and reflect on how we can do good things and be great people."
Since the climb began, the program has raised more than $13.5 million for the FDNY Counseling Services Unit since its inception. The climb program states they are one year away from the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11 and will ensure that the sacrifices made by firefighters continue to be center of the national conversation about the events of that day.
