NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – The 5th Annual Charleston Memorial Stair Climb event is meant to honor the first responders who died during 9/11, as well as the Charleston 9 and other local heroes.
A little after 8:46 a.m., first responders from around the country and volunteers began climbing the steps in the North Charleston Coliseum. That’s when the first plane hit the twin towers. Participants climbed 110 flights of stairs, which is the number of flights that were in the Twin Towers. Then they rang a bell and read out loud the name of the person on their lanyard that they did the climb for.
On the tragic day of Sept. 11, 2001, 343 New York Fire Department firefighters, 37 Port Authority police officers, 23 New York police officers, 8 EMS Workers, and 1 New York Fire patrol officer were lost in the line of duty. That’s a total of 412 first responders, with many dying afterward due to physical health-related conditions or mental health…