Over 140 people will participate in a memorial stair climb in Sarnia on Saturday in honour of the 343 New York firefighters who gave their lives on September 11, 2001.
Friday marks the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
Coordinator of Lambton College's Fire Science Technology program Scott Brown said we're now a generation away from when 9/11 happened, further stressing the importance of acknowledging what took place.
"One of the mottos of the hashtags you'll see when people post things about 9/11 is 'Never Forget,'" said Brown. "Certainly the social media posts are nice but the stair climb is a way for people to tangibly demonstrate that they haven't forgotten the events of that day... the impacts, and sacrifices of the first responders."
Brown said this will be the second memorial stair climb held at the college after one was held in 2021 for the 20th anniversary.
A brief opening ceremony will be held inside the school's main gymnasium at 8:30 a.m.
"By 8:46 a.m., which is the time the first plane hit the first tower, we will be walking over to Progressive Auto Sale Arena to start the climb," he said. "All the participants will be climbing up and down all the stair rows in between the seats and doing seven laps. That's the equivalent of about 2,200 steps or 110 stories, which was the height of those buildings."
During the climb, Brown said participants will be carrying photo ID tags of the first responders who didn't make it to the top floor.
Brown said participants include local firefighters, Lambton OPP officers, and members of the public.
"I think it really opens the eyes of the participants and the spectators as to how challenging the task in front of those responders that morning really was," Brown said.
In addition, Brown said some of the climbers will be wearing full firefighting gear.
"We take a moment when everybody reaches their fifth lap, which would be the equivalent of the 78th floor -- that's significant because we know a fire marshal by the name of Ronald Bucca as well as a battalion chief by the name Orio Palmer had reached the 78th floor," Brown continued. "So we take a moment there to recognize everybody who rings a bell, once they get to that point, they announce who they're climbing for. The moment that first bell rings, you can hear it through the entire area, and it's very motivational and inspirational for everybody else who's climbing."
Brown said spectators are welcome to attend.
A New York City fire truck that was pulled out of reserve status to flow water at ground zero after the towers fell will be parked at Lambton College for people to see.
