More than 2,300 people gathered the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11 to “never forget.” The participants of the 2018 Colorado 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb paid tribute to the 343 FDNY firefighters and almost 3,000 Americans who died on 9/11 by climbing the equivalent of the 110 stories of the World Trade Center.
“It’s all about keeping our promise we made to never forget,” said Shawn Duncan, coordinator of the Colorado climb and lieutenant at West Metro Fire. “That’s why we do this every year.”
In the 10th year of the climb at Red Rocks, over 45 fire departments from 25 states and Canada were joined by community members. Each climber wore a badge of one of the firefighters killed on 9/11.
The Phoenix Fire Department was one that traveled to join the climb. Sam Jones, who was born and raised in Colorado and attended Warren Tech was one of the firefighters representing Phoenix.
The Stair Climb benefits the FDNY Counseling Services Unit and the programs provided by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to support the families of our nation’s fallen. Over $1 million is raised annually.
Colorado’s Stair Climb is one of more than 40 stair climbs held around the world and is the largest and most well attended in the country.