St. Cloud First Responders Retrace 110-Flight Climb on 9/11’s 25th Anniversary

(KNSI) — Local police, EMTs, and firefighters are climbing 110 flights of stairs today to mark 25 years since the September 11th terror attacks. The 110 flights match the number of stories in each of the Twin Towers.

It’s part of the first statewide 9/11 Stair Climb Challenge, organized by the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association. When the idea came up to do something to honor and remember the more than 400 first responders who were lost that day, Stearns County Sheriff Steve Soyka says the community did what it does best: Answer the call to help.

“All told, there’s probably about 80 [participants]. We have a representative from the VA medical police, St. Cloud police, St. Cloud fire, Mayo Ambulance, and our Drug Task Force is out here.”

Soyka was a deputy on September 11th, 2001, but was off duty that day and at home. He said when it came on the TV, “I just stopped and couldn’t look away. Then, it was disbelief. After the fact, coming back to work in a patrol car, the amount of people who would just say thanks or give you a thumbs up. Just a real appreciation for public safety in general and the fact that people gave their lives trying to rescue others.”

St. Cloud Police Chief Jeff Oxton is also doing the challenge and adds, “As we look back 25 years, we need to do everything we can to really remember what happened that day. I think sometimes the physical challenge of understanding what those people faced when they had to go up all those stairs is a great way to remember it in a way that’s a little different.” He adds, “It’s an honor not to just walk steps, but every step to be thinking about those people that gave the ultimate sacrifice that day to help others, knowing they probably weren’t going to return.”

Oxton was an investigator at the time and was in the briefing room when he got the news. He made his way to the dispatch center where he knew there would be a TV. He started watching, thinking it was an accident, but “I watched as a second plane flew into the building, and we knew at that point it wasn’t. It was a horrific day.”

Members of the St. Cloud Fire Department, some of them in full turnout gear, are walking as well. Chief Matt Love says the participation is rewarding to see and feels it’s a great way to commemorate what it was like that day, when the fire crews had to climb all of the stairs before they got to the work of fighting the flames. Love says it’s heartwarming to see members of the department who were either very young or not yet born, suiting up alongside the veterans to remember and honor their fallen brothers and sisters. “They’re all here paying a tribute to it and recognizing what it took.” It’s also bittersweet. “It’s a rough day, too, to think about 343 New York City firefighters passing away and how many police officers, first responders, and civilians. That never, never lessens.”

Love was a firefighter in Colorado Springs that day and was just coming on duty when the events began to unfold. The city is surrounded by seven military institutions, including the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD. “There was a heightened sense of awareness of ‘something could happen here as well,’ so it was a sobering reminder that when things like this happen, we are all affected across the nation, and first responders as well as our military and the folks that have to get called into action in an event like that made it real, and it made it real fast. Watching the towers fall, you just had this pit in your stomach, and you watched fire company after fire company, police officer after police officer go in, and you knew what had just happened, even though you didn’t see numbers, and you didn’t see reports right away, there was no doubt in anybody’s mind what had just occurred, and it was almost hard to make reality out of that.”

Both Love and Oxton thanked Sheriff Soyka for his efforts to put the event on.

That day, 422 first responders died in the line of duty. It breaks down to 343 firefighters, 71 law enforcement officers, and 8 emergency medical technicians. Fifty-five military personnel were killed at the Pentagon. Master Sergeant Max Beilke of Pipestone was working there when it was hit. Beilke was on board the last plane to leave Saigon in 1973. Just over 2,500 civilians also lost their lives. Two Minnesotans died in the World Trade Center, including Gordy Aamoth Junior who grew up in Minneapolis, and St. Paul native Gary Koechler, who were both killed in the South Tower. Koechler was working on the 84th floor, which took a direct hit. Bloomington native Tom Burnett Junior was among the passengers who fought back against the hijackers aboard United Flight 93 before it crashed in Pennsylvania.

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