Sacramento firefighters spent part of this week doing something most of us would never volunteer for: climbing 22 stories of the Esquire Tower in downtown Sacramento five separate times. That adds up to 110 flights, the same height as the World Trade Center towers. They weren’t training for anything. They were remembering.
Each firefighter carried the name of a person who died on September 11, 2001. At the top of the climb, they rang a bell and hung those name tags as a tribute to the fallen. Among the climbers was Pieter-Jan Suetens, a firefighter who traveled from Belgium to take part. He described the experience as humbling and said events like this don’t exist back home, which made being here feel even more meaningful.
The annual stair climb has become a quiet tradition in cities across the country, but it carries particular weight here in Sacramento, a city built on public service and community. For the firefighters on those stairs, the physical toll of 110 flights is real, but it’s a small tribute compared to what first responders faced that morning. If you saw them climbing this week, you watched a promise being kept. What does remembering 9/11 look like in your family or neighborhood? Let us know in the comments.
About the Author
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.
