Firefighters make it to the 30th floor of the Hilton Bayfront Hotel. (FILE photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego)
FirefighterAid Saturday hosts the 2025 San Diego 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel, where hundreds will complete a climb meant to symbolize scaling to the top of the World Trade Center’s twin towers.
FirefighterAid is a San Diego-based nonprofit managed by the San Diego Fire Relief Association that provides charitable assistance to firefighters and their families in crisis, and promotes awareness of firefighter health and safety issues and their impact on families and communities.
At Saturday’s event, up to 1,000 people will climb stairs at the hotel from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. to celebrate the 343 FDNY Firefighters, 37 Port Authority Officers and 23 NYPD Officers who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001. A total of 2,977 people died in the attacks that day.
Teams and individuals will climb 110 flights of stairs, the same number as in the Twin Towers, wearing the name of a fallen Emergency Responder whose life was lost that day.
This year’s event will feature keynote speaker Alfredo Fuentes, a retired FDNY captain and a survivor of the collapse of the towers. Fuentes will share his story and have signed copies of his book, “American by Choice,” available at the event.
— City News Service