Firefighters to travel to US for 9/11 stair climb

A group of firefighters from the North West are preparing to travel to the United States later this year to take part in a memorial stair climb for the 25th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks.

Firefighters from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) will join colleagues from across the UK and Ireland for the event in Atlanta, Georgia, on 5 September.

They will climb the equivalent of 110 floors, matching the height of the World Trade Center towers in New York, which were destroyed in the attacks killing thousands of people.

Most of the 343 firefighters who died were killed when the towers collapsed.

The climb will take place at the Atlanta Braves stadium, where firefighters from the United States, including some whose families were directly affected by the attacks, are also expected to take part.

The group are raising money for different charities.

To prepare for the challenge, the group has been training inside Manchester Arena, climbing flights of stairs while wearing full firefighting kit.

Lancashire firefighter Jamie Oldfield said the event reflected the close ties between fire services in different countries.

"We're doing this as part of the firefighter family with ourselves in Lancashire and Greater Manchester and also other fire services around the UK."

He said the recent warm weather had made training more demanding but would help prepare the team for conditions in Georgia.

"The training has been hard, especially this week because of the heat.

"This is one of the reasons why we're doing it at the arena, just to try and simulate the best we can for the conditions that we're going to face when we are in Atlanta."

Firefighter Matthew Calderwood, based at Leigh with GMFRS, said: "We're expecting it to be incredibly hot and humid.

"By doing training like this we're getting ourselves ready for what will be a hard challenge in honour of this event."

Lancashire firefighter Samuel Davis, who was already serving when the attacks happened, said taking part carried particular significance.

"I watched firefighters go into the building and realised their fate once those buildings came down.

"It touched me quite a lot as a young man, so it's a real honour at this stage of my career to go to Atlanta and pay tribute to them."

The firefighters are raising money for three charities at the Memorial Stair Climb event.

The Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund supports firefighters and their families in the United States.

The Fire Fighters Charity provides support for serving and retired firefighters in the UK, and the Blue Light Card Foundation, which supports the wellbeing of people working across the emergency services, social care, health sector and armed forces.

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