By Bruce Rolfe

While it has been 24 years since the 9-11-2001 terrorist attacks, firefighters from six local fire departments, representatives from the Army and some local residents joined together in a stair climb to remember the firefighters, police and medical first responders who were killed that day at Vicksburg High School’s football stadium September 11.

Two  hijacked airplanes slammed into the World Trade Center towers, one hijacked plane flew into the Pentagon and another hijacked plane flew into a field in Pennsylvania, killing 2,996 innocent people, including 343 Fire Department of New York firefighters.

Firefighters from the Richland Township, Pavilion Charter Township, South Kalamazoo County Fire Authority, Galesburg-Charleston Township, Comstock Township, and Portage fire departments participated along with two Army soldiers and some local citizens.

The 9-11 Stair Climb participants climbed up and down the home stands of the football stadium three and one-half times, which would equal the approximate number of stairs it would take to reach the 78th floor of one of the World Trade Center Towers, the furthest recorded level firefighters reached in their attempt to help people in the World Trade Center Towers.

“For us, it’s just about preserving the legacy of the guys that sacrificed on 9-11 and continue to, the fire service as a whole. It is a career of service and sacrifice, and it’s easy to lose sight of that, with everything going on in the world. But we come and we climb to remember those people,” said Ryan Wright, a firefighter with the City of Battle Creek.

Wright said the 9-11 Stair Climb is a challenge and can be difficult physically. But his thoughts turn to what the brave men and women of the New York City Fire Department  who responded to the Twin Towers terrorist attacks, faced that day.

“Sometimes, when it gets hard and you feel like you can’t do it for yourself, you have those 343 other people, and you find another reason or someone else to do it for, and dig down and you know, give yourself some perspective about what it might have been like for those guys just showing up to work. And the sacrifice that they made,” said Wright, who has been a firefighter eight years.

Wright said a hose that has the names of the 343 members of the New York City Fire Department who died at the Twin Towers, is carried by the 9-11 Stair Climb participants. There’s also a Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA). Both items get handed off to firefighters during the stair climb, replicating the heavy equipment firefighters took into the Twin Towers after the terrorist attacks.

“We pass the hose, we pass the SCBA. You see the team work and the brotherhood that’s in the people here. Which is cool to see,” said Wright.

Brad Welniak of the Pavilion Charter Township Fire Department said because there’s a group of firefighters who were born after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, it’s difficult for them to grasp what happened that day. 

Firefighters and citizens participating in the stair climb wore one or multiple name tags containing the picture and name of a FDNY firefighter who was killed that day.

Welniak said he encourages the firefighters that were born after 9-11-2001 to learn about the 9-11 attacks and something about the person on the tag they wore during the stair climb. 

Climax Township resident Dawn Myers, who has participated in three or four previous 9-11 stair climbs, said it’s interesting for her to research and learn about the person on the badge she wore during each stair climb. She learned many are generational firefighters, especially in New York City.

Colin Fletter, who was born in 2003, did not experience the horrible feeling so many Americans did on 9-11-2001. He said he wanted to be a firefighter his entire life. However his ambitions of 
becoming a firefighter increased  after he learned about the history of 9-11.

“I may not have been born during 9-11 or before 9-11, but the history behind it and the people that sacrificed their lives, I took that personally. So, in a way, I’ve devoted my life not only to help people currently, but to live their memory on,” said Fletter a firefighter with Comstock Township Fire and Rescue. 

Brandon Schnurr, of Schoolcraft and a member of the South Kalamazoo County Fire Authority, also was born after the 9-11 tragedy. He learned the impact of the tragedy from family members who were in fire service at the time and from his firefighter instructor, who was a firefighter officer and first responder at the Pentagon when 9-11 happened.

He said hearing stories how firefighters ran into danger instead of running from it, was inspiring to him.

He wanted to be in a profession where he could help others in a community that gave him a lot.

“That’s the whole reason being out here, is to remember people that unfortunately had to wake up one day and have to experience that. And without even thinking, run immediately towards it. That kind of bravery is unheard of still, even to this day. And it’s something that I try to keep in mind a lot because this job does test you. And people like that, you know, even in their passing are huge inspirations. Even in never meeting them, even in never being alive when they were alive. It’s something that pushes you. And I try to keep that in mind a lot, especially today, that’s why I wanted to come out here and do this stair climb, because they gave so much and now I’m beginning,” said Schnurr, who said he’s been on the SKCFA for a little over a month but was on the Huron Township Fire and Rescue in the upper peninsula two years.

Myers said she wanted to participate in the stair climb to remember 9-11 and all the firefighters, police and EMS first responders who died trying to help others.

As the Climax woman watched some of the firefighters climb up and down the stairs carrying a heavy hose or SCBA container on their back, it gave her an added sense of appreciation of what firefighters will do to help others.

“Definitely watching these guys climb with their gear on, the guys that day on 9-11, that was what they did, that was their job. They didn’t think twice about putting their gear on and going and saving people. It’s very humbling to know that’s what they did, day in and day out, and then lost their lives that day,” said Myers.

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