Wright County First Responders Climb 2,158 Steps to Honor 9/11's 25th Year

Kevin Triplett has climbed the stairwell of the Wright County Justice Center once before to mark September 11, wearing his sheriff's office uniform. This year, the sergeant and Montrose Fire Department chief plans to do it again in full firefighter turnout gear, including an air pack, adding 60 to 70 pounds to every one of the 26 trips it takes to reach 110 flights.

Triplett is one of roughly 25 people expected to join him up the stairwell of the Buffalo, Minnesota facility, which has four levels and 89 steps from the bottom floor to the top, according to KNSI. Climbers there will cover 2,158 steps in total, using the elevator or stairs to return between runs, as the group works to replicate the 110 flights that once made up the height of each World Trade Center tower.

The Wright County climb is part of a statewide 9/11 Stair Climb Challenge that the Minnesota Sheriffs' Association sent to all 87 counties in March, coordinated by Training Coordinator Matt Luitjens. As of the KNSI report, about 25 counties had signed on, with some agencies having already completed their climbs and most others planning to take the stairs on September 11. Luitjens said he had hoped to get at least one participant from each of Minnesota's counties.

A Physical Tribute Rooted in 2005

The 110-flight benchmark participants climb nationwide traces back to September 11, 2005, when five Colorado firefighters scaled 110 flights at a downtown Denver high-rise in memory of fallen New York firefighters, according to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. That single tribute grew into standardized national event protocols established in 2010, and the foundation now says thousands of first responders and community members participate in sanctioned climbs across dozens of U.S. cities every year.

The number itself carries specific weight: 110 flights represents the number of stories in each Twin Tower, and FDNY firefighters in 2001 managed to climb as high as the 78th floor of the South Tower before it collapsed, per Pierce Mfg. Participants in official NFFF climbs ring a memorial bell upon reaching that 78th-floor equivalent in honor of those who made the ascent. The anniversary itself commemorates the 343 New York City firefighters who died, along with EMS crews, police officers and civilians killed that day, when hijackers flew passenger jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and a fourth plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against the hijackers. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks, and the day also commemorates firefighters who spent months afterward working at Ground Zero and the military members who served in the wars that followed. Official casualty figures from that day include 72 law enforcement officers — 37 Port Authority Police officers and 23 NYPD officers among them — and 10 emergency medical services personnel, according to the Dresden Enterprise, a toll that remains the single largest loss of life for any emergency response agency in U.S. history.

Why Luitjens Organized the Statewide Challenge

Luitjens was working a night shift at a prison on September 11, 2001, and was serving in the military at the time, according to the same KNSI report. He re-enlisted shortly after the attacks, ultimately serving 10 years in the Army National Guard and deploying to Egypt for nine months in 2003 with the Multinational Force and Observers.

“I also remember the days and weeks immediately after the attacks and how that made me feel and the community aspect of that, you know, flags lining both sides of the streets and people just willing to help each other,” Luitjens told KNSI. He said his motivation for organizing the statewide challenge also came from that community response, and that the event honors first responders who ran toward the Twin Towers. Before taking on the training coordinator role at the Minnesota Sheriffs' Association, Luitjens spent 14 years with the Scott County Sheriff's Office as a corrections sergeant and was appointed Jail Administrator for the Redwood County Sheriff's Office in June 2021, according to the Scott County Sheriff's Office. This year, he plans to climb with the Scott County Sheriff's Office while wearing a weighted vest.

A Non-Race Open to Every Skill Level

Triplett, who has served with the Montrose Fire Department for more than 23 years, emphasized that the Wright County event is not a competition. “The stair climb is not a race,” he said, adding that people should find their own way to mark the day: “Remember what happened, what you were doing, remember the sacrifices that so many made, have some time for some reflection, moments of silence, maybe take a flight of stairs up.”

The event is structured to welcome participants at any fitness level — those who climb just one flight are welcome alongside those who complete all 110. Triplett expects his Wright County group to grow before September 11, and he'll lead them up the Justice Center stairwell this year in his firefighter turnout gear rather than the uniform he wore during his solo climb in 2025.

Minnesota's Statewide Association Behind the Push

The Minnesota Sheriffs' Association, which is coordinating the challenge, was established in 1885 as a nonprofit representing elected sheriffs across all 87 Minnesota counties, providing training, legislative advocacy and statewide public safety coordination, according to Radio Mankato. The association elected Steele County Sheriff Lon Thiele as its 2026 president in December, succeeding outgoing president Jeff Markquart of Martin County.

Funds generated by official NFFF-sanctioned stair climbs support grief counseling, behavioral health resources and scholarships for surviving families of fallen firefighters nationwide, per the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, which was created by Congress in 1992 and collaborates with the FDNY Counseling Services Unit to assist families affected by line-of-duty deaths and post-9/11 illnesses. Similar tribute climbs are underway elsewhere this anniversary season, including a 110-story Fluor Field climb in South Carolina and a stadium climb at The STRAT in Las Vegas.

It remains an open question exactly how many of Minnesota's 87 counties will complete their climbs by September 11, with participation standing at approximately 25 counties as of the KNSI report. For Triplett and the Wright County group, the goal is simpler than a final county count: get people onto the stairs, however many flights they choose, and take a moment to remember.