PORT CHARLOTTE — It was probably the burpees that people didn’t expect.
After completing the climbing portion of the first Charlotte County Fire & EMS 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb, participants were asked to complete a handful of physical tasks. Ten pushups, ten overhead weight presses and ten burpees.
But few passed up the challenge. Firefighters in full gear had climbed the steps in Charlotte Sports Park on Friday morning in remembrance of those 343 emergency responders lost on Sept. 11, 2001 in the terrorist attacks on New York City.
It was the first time the event took place, with more than 200 people total taking part in a morning set to remember what most adults who were alive at the time will never forget.
Charlotte County Fire & EMS Deputy Chief Mike Seneca was among those taking part.
“It’s always a great way to honor those people who gave so much on that day,” he said.
He said the idea of dying in the line of duty is “always there in the back of your mind” when emergency responders start their day.
“You’re going to work, so, who knows?” he said. “And we take risk very seriously, so it’s something we always have to deal with. But for the most part, fire service, EMS, law, does that very well.”
He said he had thoughts about 9/11 while he was walking the stairs in the Rays spring training stadium.
“They had a lot more going on,” he said. “They were carrying it all — and it was just to think of what they were going through … it was a big, life-changing event.”
It was not a race and included emergency responders, county workers and community officials, along with dozens of other residents walking up and down the steps.
Nina and Eddie Masterson were among the local residents taking part. They wore FDNY Engine 54 shirts, the department that included a family friend — Probationary Firefighter Christopher Santora — who was killed that day.
Eddie Masterson worked about a half-mile away for the New York City Housing Authority at the time. He said he watched the second jetliner hit.
“After the second plane hit, we all decided it was an attack,” he said.
He and other workers started thinking about getting in contact with their families and doing what they could.
For the next six weeks, the Housing Authority brought over supplies to the workers at ground zero, he said.
“Whatever they needed, that we had, we got it to them.”
Nina Masterson spoke of Santora, who the family knew through their daughter’s school.
“He was a school teacher first; he went to FDNY where his father was a chief,” she said.
She spoke of Friday’s event.
“Everyone gets together … and no one has forgotten,” she said.
They both hope the event continues.
“It needs to keep on going, generation to generation, or they’re going to forget,” Eddie Masterson said.
DeAnn Wells, a Charlotte County Fire EMS employee, was on hand to support the firefighters and remember the fallen firefighters from 9/11, she said.
In her career, she has known many emergency workers
“You’re closer to those who protect our lives every day and put theirs at risk every day, so it hits your heart … it’s a family,” Wells said.
Tom Colvin worked for the Virginia Department of Transportation and assisted with traffic control around the Pentagon following the attacks. In the days following the attacks, he said, he had a tattoo on his arm. With imagery of the Twin Towers and Pentagon, it says “Never Forgotten 9-11.”
He praised the event and other remembrances.
“It needs to continue. The youth today have no idea … it changed the world.”
The morning included speeches from Charlotte County Commissioner Joe Tiseo, Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell and Charlotte County Fire & EMS Chief Matthew McElroy.
“We climb so that the world knows Charlotte County has not forgotten,” McElroy said. “We promise you that time will never dull; our gratitude to you will never waiver. Twenty-five years may have past, but our resolve has not waned. We will continue to reach and teach the next generation of firefighters — what it means to live up to the legacy of the 343 that died that day.”
Prummell spoke about Sept. 11, 2001, as well, denoting how emergency workers responding faced their fears.
“On that morning, duty mattered more; human life matter more; the safety of strangers mattered more; and service mattered more,” he said.