Hundreds climb stairs at Arrowhead Stadium to honor 9/11 firefighters

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Step by step, with each breath becoming more difficult, hundreds of people climbed the lower level of Arrowhead Stadium on Wednesday. They did so to honor the 343 firefighters killed on September 11, 2001.

For about an hour, people walked up and down the stairs 30 times, which is the equivalent of the 110 floors that made up each of the Twin Towers.

“I hope we never forget it. I hope we always do something like this in honor of those who gave their lives trying to save people, so I hope we always do it,” said Franklin Bohr, a volunteer firefighter with the Easton, Missouri Fire Department, which is a small town of a few hundred people outside of St. Joseph.

Despite having a hip replacement nine months ago, Bohr put on rough 70 to 80 pounds of gear in the Kansas City heat to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

“That’s what they had to do. So, if I’m going to do it in their honor, I have to do it the same way they did it or the best I can,” he added when asked why he chose to wear the heavy gear.

Around his neck he wore a lanyard bearing the name and image of one of the firefighters killed that day.

Each of the roughly 500 people at the event wore one, including first responder John McLaughlin.

“Even though I’ve been in the fire service 15 years and the military for 16 years, coming to this day never gets easier. Just remembering everything they sacrificed, everything they pushed their bodies to do that day, it’s incredible,” said McLaughlin as he scaled section 130 with friends.

A local fitness business, Lexi J Wellness, put on this event for the first time. Owner Lexi Johnson wanted to do something special since her father and brother are firefighters. So, she called up Arrowhead four weeks ago and got the approval. She’s spent the last few weeks visiting 40 different fire departments to get the word out.

“When we remember 9/11 you think not of the tragedy so much as the response from the nation and the community coming together. That’s what’s happening right here. We’re coming together,” Johnson said.

All proceeds from the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb are going to the local charity SAFE , which is the Surviving Spouse and Family Endowment. It supports the families of first responders in Kansas City who’ve died in the line of duty.

“I would love for everyone to finish but it’s not a race. It’s one of those things where the participation and the gesture itself is really special,” Johnson added.

The hope is that this becomes a yearly event, to put into focus what we lost on that fateful day 23 years ago.

“Never forget. I don’t want that memory to ever be forgotten,” McLaughlin said.

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