Northeast Georgia firefighters climbed the stadium steps at Stephens County High School Sunday morning. Loaded down with 65 pounds of gear, they trudged up 2,071 stairs, the equivalent of 110 stories. Each step was a tribute to the firefighters who died in the 110-story World Trade Towers al-Qaeda terrorists destroyed on September 11, 2001.
“Those firefighters were climbing to the top of the towers to save as many people as they could. They never came down,” says memorial stair climb organizer Susan Jordan. “If you can complete a mission for someone who gave it their all, there’s no better way to honor them.”
Promise kept
After the 9/11 attacks, many Americans vowed to never forget the loss, the sacrifice, and the unity they felt, but a lot has changed in 21 years. The deep political and cultural divides of a war-weary nation have given way to a general malaise. And while it may seem that many have forgotten, those who showed up at Stephens County High Sunday kept their promise to remember. They wore multiple lanyards around their necks and air packs, each bearing the name of one of the 343 firefighters killed at Ground Zero.
“It’s not just the firefighters and paramedics we remember; it’s their families too,” says Jordan. “9/11 changed their whole world.”
It changed the world.
The attacks on 9/11 led to decades of war in Iraq and Afghanistan and, closer to home, spurred significant changes in travel and public safety.
Loss and gain
“There’s so much in the fire service that we do now because of 9/11,” explains Jordan.
When the different agencies converged on the twin towers following the attacks, they used different 10 codes. That complicated radio traffic communication. As a result, “We have uniform call codes now,” Jordan says. “If we’re ok, we say we’re ok. If we’re trapped, we say we’re trapped. We don’t use 10 codes.”
The 9/11 attacks also resulted in accountability tagging systems. Now, when firefighters arrive on the scene, they’re required to ‘tag in’ so that command staff knows that they’re there. “So everyone who goes in, you know comes out.”
“For what we lost on 9/11, we also gained,” Jordan says, “but you can never replace what we lost.”
It is that loss and the kinship she feels with her fellow firefighters that keep Jordan determined to grow and expand the 9/11 memorial stair climb. Next year, she hopes more fire departments will participate and members of the public too.
“It’s just important not to forget what happened on 911.”
