Thomasville community remembers 9/11 with stair climb

THOMASVILLE, Ga. (WALB) – 22 years ago, a group of fearless New York City firefighters climbed up to 110 flights of stairs of the World Trae Center towers that were on fire. Since then, communities across the country have honored those heroes with their own stair climbs.

The Thomasville YMCA and Fire Department are remembering 9/11 in a special way.

An emotional day at the Jackets Nets Stadium as firefighters and members of the community came together to climb these stairs all in memory of the nearly 3,000 lives that were lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

“It’s a very emotional day for me. I remember vividly the day it happened. I was teaching in Moultrie, and we had just gotten to school, and I remember it vividly, and my grandson is a firefighter, so it’s especially emotional to me,” said stairclimbing participant Dona Evans.

The stair climb began at 5 a.m. on Monday with an opening ceremony as a tribute to the first responders who lost their lives in the deadliest incident for firefighters in the United States.

“Those are true local heroes. For them to be out here in full gear, it’s symbolic of those that were climbing the steps of the World Trade Center.” CEO of the Thomasville YMCA Tom Everett said. “They walk and they honor the memory of those that were serving the Ground Zero that day.”

Thomasville firefighters and community members are coming together to climb these stairs all in memory of the 3,000 lives that were lost on 9/11.

At 10:03 am there was a pause for a moment of silence for lives lost.

2,977 lives were lost on Sept. 11th. 343 were firefighters, 63 police officers, and 8 emergency medical personnel. Captain Mike Mann says Monday’s stair climb is a reminder of how physical a firefighter’s job can be.

“It just reminds us of the task that all of us first responders were looked at that day and how hard of a task it was to try to climb 110 flights of stairs to at least save one more life,” said Mann.

From young to old, different generations came out to pay their respects to those departed.

“Firefighters, they struggled a lot when they went up the stairs to help save people, and a lot of people have lost their families.” says young participant Mariah Parramore.

“I was 9 years old when 9/11 took place. I remember it like yesterday being in the school room,” said Nathan Odon. “We need to continue to remind those, even our younger generation, how significant this day was in American history.”

“I learned that the people who sacrificed their lives used a lot of motivation, and sacrificed their lives just to save some people that they barely even knew.” says young participant Kinsley Benfield.

“I learned that it takes a lot of hard work and dedication for the people to get up and stop the fire,” Adelle Ganga said.

Monday’s event showed how firefighters were not only wearing their gear to put out fires but were also wearing a lot of equipment to provide medical aid too.

“This past week we’ve been talking and showing YouTube videos on what really happened because none of these children were even alive when this happened.” says special needs teacher Kathy Payne.

“Even though they weren’t around then, like I said it’s just a day that we try to bring awareness to everybody just to remember 9/11 not only affected the people that day, it continues to affect people,” Mann said.

Some of the audio that was recorded on 9/11 was played during the stair climb in Thomasville. Officials said they have this audio playing to ensure that they can set the scene here while people are participating in the stair walk.

“You can hear the first responders in the background with the radio traffic, you get to hear them as they’re talking about the planes crash, when the towers start falling, just the difference in people’s voices when all that happened,” Mann said.

Mann says community support is everything when it comes to this event, as they are making a $10,000 donation to Tunnels to Towers thanks to the Thomasville community.

“Never forget” is a short phrase used in comparison to one of the most tragic events in American history, but for the community of Thomasville, participating in this stair walk is a way to ensure that we will truly never forget.

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