Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Greater Napanee Emergency Services firefighters will join first responders around North America this Sunday is taking part in the 9/11 Stair Master Challenge.
Using the machines at Napanee’s Planet Fitness, they’ll set out to climb the equivalent of 110 flights of stairs-about 2,200 steps-to replicate the 110 floors of New York City’s World Trade Center. Many will complete the challenge in full bunker gear.
Participants will be on the stairs at the Napanee gym in shifts throughout the day. Members of the public are encouraged to visit the gym on Sunday to drop a donation into boots that will be set up near the gym entrance. Included in the display will be a piece of metal from the actual wreckage of the World Trade Centre.
Donations will also be accepted anytime leading up to the event at hall at 66 Advance Ave. in Napanee. Funds raised for the event will go to the Canadian Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Last year, with the help of a donation from Planet Fitness, the event raised $3,000.
Just as important as raising the money is keeping the memory alive of the brave men and women who rushed into the burning World Trade Center buildings in an attempt to save innocent lives. Each first responder who entered the burning building knew a collapse could happen at any moment. While those old enough will be able to recall where they were when they heard the news of the first plane striking a tower, for a certain era the events of that 2001 morning are only something they’ve read about it.
“Brand new firefighters are coming in and they were two or three years old at the time (of the 2001 attack),” said GNES’ Kevin Duncan, who is helping to organize the local event and will once again be taking part in the stair climb. “343 firefighters died in one day. That’s a lot to lose, that’s incredible.”
Keeping that memory alive is all the more meaningful given the news that Manhattan’s 9/11 Tribute Museum announced last month it will be closing for good due to the financial losses suffered during the pandemic.
For Duncan the stair climb is a symbolic gesture, not a race to see who can be the fastest.
“It’s only about just going to do it,” said Duncan. “If it takes you half an hour or if it takes two hours to do it. Nobody cares. That’s not the issue. The issue is just going out to do it and the meaning behind that.”