Fire Department members from Stanley, Thorp and Gilman stair climb at Oriole Park alongside members of the public

by Joseph Back

“Send everything you have to the World Trade Center!” the call came over dispatch one Tuesday morning twenty years ago as it became clear that an attack was underway. Of those who answered the call, 343 firefighters lost their lives. For those alive that day and who survived, the ‘where were you when moment is seared in memory.

In order to keep that memory alive with a now rebuilt and significantly stronger World Trade Center complex (engineering wise), the Stanley Fire Department joined together with the Thorp Area Fire Command and local residents, including some who weren’t alive that day twenty years ago, but still came to remember and make the walk Among these were high school students Janelle Schesel, Emme Felmlee, Alexa Liszewski, and Danis Numanovic. So what did the stair climb at Oriole Park entail from a exertion standpoint?

“Its 13 times around, up and down,” Fire Chief Korey Hagenson announced of the course marked with arrows. Participants started at the top and were led in by Hagenson, then ascending up and back down the steps before walking on the track below and returning back up again—thirteen times in a row.

“If your feel you won’t make it, just sit and rest,” Hagenson said of the physical labor involved. “There’s no sense in hurting yourself.” Starting out with a Legion color guard provided by Tony Goettl, Bruce Wozniak, and Ed Staib, the event opened with the national anthem and a song called ‘Mr. Red, White, and Blue’ for soldier sacrifices. The radio call from that day was played, with a pause at 8:45 a.m. when the north tower was hit followed by an announcement at 9:03 a.m. when the south tower had been hit, but without pause as the exertion was starting to

See MEMORIAL, page 3 make itself felt.

“I just heard a negative so we’ll keep going,” Fire Chief Hagenson said after announcing the time. Four minutes later came round ten, at 9:07 a.m.

“Three more to go guys, three more to go,” the chief said, with all members completing the stair climb by 9:41 a.m., as some had taken longer than others.

“So it looks like everybody is finishing up,” Hagenson said of the event as it wound down. With a group photo taken of both Stanley (in blue) and Thorp Area Fire (in red), an all-club CTSO from the school provided refreshments.