City of Greer Firefighters participated in the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at Fluor Field over the weekend.
“In remembrance of those who died on 9/11 and gave the ultimate sacrifice and tried to save others,” Firefighter Ben Tomlinson said.
“For me I mean it’s a pretty powerful event to go to and while you’re climbing they play the radio transmissions in real time of what was going on that day,” Tomlinson said.
For Eli Basnight, it was his first year climbing those steps.
“Just to hear those calls. To hear those men in there shouting through those calls and communicating with each other it’s going to be really surreal to hear all that and hear what really happened,” Basnight said.
Both say the climb is an emotional one.
“You know they were doing their jobs and they were going up there to save lives and that’s what it was all about for them ,” Tomlinson said.
“That’s when you separate those who really love this job and those who are just doing it to say they’re a firefighter. And those people who went in there they definitely loved their job and they cared about serving the community and protecting those who needed to be saved,” Basnight said.
Saying the stair climb is an important way to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
“I believe those people definitely should be remembered for their heroic acts,” Basnight said.
“They gave the ultimate sacrifice and we should absolutely respect that and remember it,” Tomlinson said.