MEMORIAL STAIR CLIMB honors those fallen
IMPERIAL — There has been no lack of remembrance for the September 11 attacks, as its 16th anniversary arrives tomorrow.
No support has been lost for those in the attacks either, as shown at the annual 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb and Walk at the Imperial Valley Expo on Friday night.
In its fourth year of existence, the memorial walk has acted as an outlet for many locals to come together for emotional unity in honor of the tragic attacks.
For Border Patrol agent Alessio Faccin, the event is a very heartfelt experience.
“9/11 was a tragic event. It left a scar in everybody’s conscious. It’s something that should never happen again. It’s something that hits home, as our job is to protect the United States from terrorists and weapons of mass destruction,” said the agent.
Faccin has participated in the memorial walk all four years, with his first two participating as a citizen and his last two years representing the Border Patrol as both a public affairs specialist and agent.
An opening ceremony held prior to the event is highlighted by a color guard, the singing of the national anthem and a large American flag hung on display between two fire truck ladders.
This ceremony before the walk is what Faccin finds the most meaningful.
“The climb afterwards is important. That’s why we’re here, but it’s also a combination of the ceremony. That moment is very somber. It makes you reflect on what we have lost. We’ve lost not just thousands of people that day, but we’ve also lost a little piece of mind,” explained the agent.
As opposed to Faccin, Katie Burnworth did not know what to expect as she participated in the event for her first year.
“My husband is a firefighter so I just feel like it’s good to give back. It feels important to remember those who lost their life on 9/11,” said Burnworth on her motivation to walk in the event for the first time.
“I think it’s a really good cause. It shows our small community can come together to work for a bigger cause and get everybody involved as a piece for a bigger puzzle.”
Faccin, Burnworth and a number of other participants climbed throughout the stairs of the Grandstands for an equivalent distance of 110 stories, which is the number of floors comprising the towers that fell Sept. 11.
A small group of local firefighters were also dressed in full gear while marching through the steps.
This year’s event was hosted by the Brawley Fire Fighters Association and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF).
In its first year, the memorial event was hosted by El Centro Fire Department, followed by Imperial County Fire Department and then the Calexico Fire Department, respectively.
“We were more than happy to take on the responsibility and help out the organizers put it together. It’s a big responsibility,” commented Brawley Fire Department Fire Captain Richard Jasso, who has personally walked in the event the past two years.
“It’s not easy. It’s definitely tough. When you start thinking about the pain and start getting tired, for me, it’s just having that mental picture of those guys going up those stairs and knowing if they did it, so can I,” described Jasso on walking in the event. “And they did it under extreme circumstances. It’s definitely motivating knowing that those guys did it, it pushes you more and makes you want to finish it.”
Participating in the walk is something personally significant to the fire captain himself.
“From a firefighter’s point of view, what those men and women did out there, trying to save people and making that ultimate sacrifice, it’s a big deal for us because those are the values we hold important to us in the fire service. Those people went in those buildings knowing they might not make it out. It was very honorable of them. We admire that,” expressed the fire captain.
Registration for the event was limited to 343 participants — a number set in respect to the 343 New York City Fire Department firefighters, including a chaplain and two paramedics, which were killed while responding to the attacks.
The $30 entry fee per person directly benefited the Fire Department of New York Counseling Services Unit and the programs provided by the NFFF to support the families of fallen firefighters.