{"id":432807,"date":"2026-09-11T13:06:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T13:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/432807\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T13:06:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T13:06:18","slug":"austin-fire-department-to-honor-fallen-firefighters-on-25th-anniversary-of-9-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/432807\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Fire Department to honor fallen firefighters on 25th anniversary of 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austin Fire Department personnel are marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks this week with a series of memorial events honoring the 343 firefighters who died responding to the World Trade Center and others who have died since from illnesses tied to their work at Ground Zero, including Austin Fire Battalion Chief Travis Maher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS COVERAGE | AFD Battalion Chief Travis Maher dies after fighting cancer<\/a><\/p>\n

The department is taking part in multiple tributes this year recognizing first responders who answered the call 25 years ago.<\/p>\n

The commemorations began Wednesday, when the Central Texas Public Safety Commission presented Austin Fire with a second ceremonial bell for its Honor Guard during a 7:30 a.m. ceremony at the Pleasant Valley Training Tower. The commission raised funds for the bell, which will be kept at the training tower.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Austin Firefighters Association will hold its annual 9\/11 Memorial at 7:30 a.m. at Buford Tower. <\/p>\n

The ceremony will include a presentation of colors by the Austin Fire Honor Guard, music from the Emergency Services Pipes and Drums Association, and a moment of silence at 7:46 a.m., marking when the first hijacked plane struck the World Trade Center’s North Tower. <\/p>\n

Also Friday, the Pleasant Valley Training Tower will host the Austin Fire 9\/11 Memorial Stair Climb. <\/p>\n

Organizers describe it as the longest-running memorial stair climb of its kind in the nation, tracing back to Sept. 12, 2001, when a class of fire cadets climbed under the direction of their training instructor.<\/p>\n

Participants are set to gather at 7:30 a.m. for photos and remarks, followed by a prayer from a command chaplain. <\/p>\n

Climbers will begin ascending at 7:46 a.m., working through stairs until they reach 1,368 feet, which is the height of the original World Trade Center. Many will complete the climb in full turnout gear with an air pack and hose bundle, adding about 50 pounds. The climb is expected to take about an hour.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the climb, a representative from H-E-B is scheduled to speak around 7:25 a.m. about the grocery chain’s support for the event and its donations to on-duty personnel through the H-E-B Helping Heroes Initiative.<\/p>\n

That initiative will also send H-E-B employees to more than 50 Austin Fire stations between 8 and 11 a.m. Friday to deliver individually wrapped meals and snacks to firefighters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austin Fire Department personnel are marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-432807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}