Firefighters from more than 20 states pulled on their gear before dawn Sunday and climbed 110 stories at Town Pavilion in downtown Kansas City, each one carrying the photo of an FDNY firefighter who never came home from the World Trade Center. The 16th annual Kansas City 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb capped its field at 343 participating firefighters, and the roster filled with departments representing more than 60 agencies.
The climb began shortly after 8:45 a.m. local time, timed to follow the first call reporting that a plane had hit the Twin Towers, according to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV. Climbers used 1111 Main, the 38-story, 591-foot office tower in downtown Kansas City formerly known as Town Pavilion, per Copaken Brooks.
Among the climbers was Melena Alderman, who traveled from Southaven, Mississippi, for her 14th Kansas City stair climb. She climbs in honor of David Arce, according to the Dallas Morning News.
A Tradition Born in Denver, Now Nationwide
The Kansas City 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb organization provides a history of the memorial stair-climb tradition.
Kansas City's event is officially sanctioned by the Association of Memorial Stair Climbs. Registration is capped at 343 firefighters.
Local Dollars Fund a $40,000 Safety Net
The event extends beyond a single day of remembrance.
The Surviving Spouse and Family Endowment Fund is a program run by the Kansas City Metropolitan Crime Commission that delivers $40,000 in immediate financial support within 24 to 48 hours to families of first responders killed or catastrophically injured in the line of duty across 13 Kansas and Missouri metro counties. The fund, known as SAFE, provided just $3,000 per family in 2005 before growing to its current payout level.
A Toll That Keeps Growing Decades Later
The 343 photographs carried up 1111 Main represent only the firefighters killed the morning of the attacks — a fraction of the emergency responder losses tied to September 11. The documented September 11 emergency-responder toll at Ground Zero reached 411, comprising 343 firefighters, 37 Port Authority police officers, 23 NYPD officers and eight EMS providers, according to EMS1.
And the toll has not stopped growing, with FDNY illness deaths surpassing 343, according to EMS1.
Kansas City's climb joins similar tributes held around the country. For Alderman and the hundreds of others who climbed 1111 Main this year, the ritual remains as much about a name and a face as it is about the flights of stairs beneath their boots.
