First responders from across El Dorado County will gather before dawn this Friday at Red Hawk Resort + Casino in Placerville, strapping on turnout gear, duty uniforms, and ballistic vests to climb the equivalent of 110 stories in memory of those who died on September 11, 2001. Registration begins at 8 a.m. at the casino's first-floor parking structure, with the climb itself kicking off at 9 a.m., marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
The event is hosted jointly by Red Hawk Resort + Casino and the El Dorado County Fire Protection District, according to a post from the El Dorado County Fire Protection District on Facebook. Sworn and professional personnel are invited to take part, climbing 2,200 steps while wearing incident-response gear including helmets and ballistic vests. Fire Chief Tim Cordero leads the district, which serves west-slope foothill communities through an integrated emergency network and joint ambulance dispatch, according to the El Dorado County Fire Protection District.
The climb is designed to pay respect to the emergency responders who lost their lives on 9/11, including the 343 FDNY firefighters, 37 Port Authority police officers, and 23 NYPD officers killed that day, per the Facebook announcement. It also honors the thousands of civilians who died, as well as New York Fire Patrol member Keith Roma, who was killed on September 11, 2001. El Dorado County Fire will be joined by CAL FIRE, the U.S. Forest Service, tribal fire agencies, the Firefighters Burn Institute, Marshall Medical Center, and other regional public safety partners, the district's post states.
A Tradition Born in Denver, Now National
The 110-story format traces back to September 2005, when five Denver firefighters scaled that many stories in full turnout gear to honor their fallen FDNY colleagues — a climb that the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation later formalized into a nationwide memorial standard, as detailed by FireRescue1. The 2,200-step benchmark directly replicates the height of the World Trade Center's twin towers, and participants traditionally climb non-competitively while carrying the names of specific responders who died that day, according to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
Red Hawk's climb joins a wave of similar 25th-anniversary tributes happening across the country this year, from Kansas City to Jacksonville to Las Vegas, as fire departments nationwide mark the milestone with their own 110-story ascents. Locally, CAL FIRE's Amador-El Dorado Unit regularly joins the El Dorado County Fire Protection District and regional tribal fire departments to complete the climb in full protective gear at Red Hawk Casino, according to a post in a local community discussion group.
Casino Donation Supports Burn Survivors
Red Hawk Resort + Casino is contributing $5,000 to the Firefighters Burn Institute as part of this year's memorial, supporting regional burn survivors and first responder assistance programs, the Folsom Times reported. The casino, located off Highway 50 at Red Hawk Parkway, is owned and operated by the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, a federally recognized tribe that stands as one of El Dorado County's primary economic drivers and employers.
Beyond Friday's climb, El Dorado County Fire Protection District personnel have taken part in other regional high-rise tributes, including scaling Sacramento's 30-story Esquire Tower in full gear during past September 11 observances, as Hoodline previously reported. Those repeated appearances at high-rise and garage stair climbs throughout early September reflect a broader pattern of local firefighters showing up for multiple tribute events each year.
Why the Toll Keeps Climbing
The September 11 attacks remain the single deadliest day in American history for emergency personnel, but the health toll didn't stop when the towers fell. More than 600 FDNY firefighters and over 541 NYPD officers have died from post-9/11 toxic dust illnesses since 2001, a number that now far surpasses the line-of-duty deaths suffered on the day of the attack itself, according to City & State New York. Exposure to pulverized concrete and toxic chemicals at Ground Zero has caused severe chronic respiratory conditions and late-onset cancers among responders in the years since.
The scale of that ongoing health crisis is reflected in the federally funded World Trade Center Health Program, which had enrolled over 140,000 rescue workers and survivors as of March 2024, with nearly 49,000 participants certified as having 9/11-related cancers, according to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. That program, created by Congress under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, funds medical monitoring and treatment for those exposed at Ground Zero — underscoring why this Friday's climb at Red Hawk honors not just those lost in 2001, but the responders still paying the price today.
Those interested in registering for Friday's climb can reach organizers at [email protected] or 209-986-3108.
