SCFD Firefighters and civilians climb the Finish Tower at Nathan Benderson Park during the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. Photo by Dylan Campbell

Each step meant something. As the sun poured down over Nathan Benderson Park last Friday, September 11, the venue’s Finish Tower was populated with hundreds of people, not there for a regatta, but something else. Nathan Benderson Park was hosting a 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb and Day of Remembrance, presented by Lakewood Ranch Medical Center—the hundreds of participants included everyday citizens and local firefighters and first responders, were climbing the Finish Tower’s six flights of steps to honor those lost during the tragic terrorist attack.

A total of 2,977 victims died during the 9/11 attacks, with 343 firefighters from the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) perishing in their efforts to save the lives of those in the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center. For the firefighters of Sarasota County, who have sworn an oath to protect, remembering the sacrifice of those in the FDNY is of the utmost importance.

“I went to the Fire Academy in 1996, so I was a young firefighter when this happened,” says James Mattera, a Battalion Chief with the Sarasota County Fire Department (SCFD). “It’s a very significant day in the fire service. For the police officers and firefighters who ran in to help, I feel that some of them knew they were not coming out. I don’t ever want to have a September 11 when we’re not doing something for them.”

The 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb included four bell rings and a moment of silence, along with a dispatch radio call honoring the North Tower’s collapse. For firefighters such as Chris Kelly, a firefighter training specialist in the training division of SCFD, the physical feat of what the FDNY firefighters did—climbing to the 78th and 83rd floors of the Twin Towers—is something that he marvels at. “What those guys and girls did on 9/11, to make it up those towers while carrying all of that equipment and still having breath left to do the job, it’s a feat,” says Kelly. “We train for that on the tallest buildings that we have downtown— to be able to get all the way to the top and still be able to do what we need to do.”

SCFD Firefighters and civilians climb the Finish Tower at Nathan Benderson Park during the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. Photo by Dylan Campbell

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