South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
5K race honors 9/11 victims
Firefighters gear up, join others in annual 5K race to support foundation for veterans care
Firefighters in rescue gear join others in Fort Lauderdale to honor first responders.
It was 90 degrees in downtown Fort Lauderdale — and a lot hotter under 35 pounds of firefighting gear — but that didn’t deter hundreds of firefighters from participating Saturday morning in the Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk.
They, and others, made the annual trek from Huizenga Park through the Henry E. Kinney Tunnel and past the towering buildings on Las Olas Boulevard to honor a New York City firefighter whose sacrifice on Sept. 11, 2001, inspired similar events nationwide.
Stephen Siller was off duty and planning a round of golf with some buddies on that Tuesday morning, but when he heard two commercial aircraft had hit the twin towers, he pulled on 60 pounds of gear, drove as close as he could get, then ran nearly two miles through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to Manhattan’s World Trade Center to join his firefighter brothers.
New York Fire Battalion Chief Jack Oehm was there that day.
“[Siller] joined in the rescue effort that morning and Stephen unfortunately died along with 342 other New York City firemen,” he told the
crowd in Fort Lauderdale. “Stephen was only 34 years old.”
The money raised through this event goes to the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation to build specially equipped homes for catastrophically wounded war veterans.
Besides the good deeds and the exercise, there are also the bragging rights.
Medals and trophies were awarded to the top three finishers and teams in each class. Some trophies were composed of steel from the ruins of the World Trade Center.
A fully equipped 10-member team from Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue won the run for a third straight year, completing the course in under 29 minutes, said Broward firefighter Todd Lleras.
“We train very hard for this,” he said. “We go into burning buildings, so we know how to work hard
with our gear.”
A seven-member team from Hollywood Fire Rescue was unaware that they had won in their class.
“I didn’t know they were timing us in full gear,” said first-timer Dan Martinez. “It’s an incredible honor to be here and participate.”
He was not the only newcomer to the event. Rhoda Mae Kerr — who
was named Fort Lauderdale’s fire chief in June — also completed the course with fellow firefighters and civilians from all over South Florida.
“It was my first Tunnel to Towers but not my last,” she said.