WFR completes ‘Staircase Challenge’

In their own form of Sept. 11 remembrance, Watertown Fire Rescue paramedics and firefighters, along with students from Lake Area Technical College’s Law Enforcement and Med/Fire Rescue Program spent the morning of Sept. 12 climbing 110 flights of stairs.


Every year, millions of Americans take pause the morning of Sept. 11 to remember those that were lost in the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. 23 years ago.

In their own form of remembrance, Watertown Fire Rescue paramedics and firefighters, along with students from Lake Area Technical College’s Law Enforcement and Med/Fire Rescue Program spent the morning of Sept. 12 completing the “staircase challenge”—which is now a 22-year tradition amongst firefighters and first responders—challenging first responders to climb 110 flights of stairs in remembrance of those who stormed the two towers of the former World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 to do whatever they could to save lives.

A total of 343 FDNY members made the ultimate sacrifice that morning, the largest loss of firefighters in history.

In honor of their sacrifice, 32 members of WFR and their partner agencies gathered at the Watertown Stadium and spent their morning climbing an intense number of stairs in full turnout gear—no easy feat as the oppressive gear weighs about 45 pounds—all while thinking about the sacrifice those firefighters made and if they would have to make that choice themselves one day.

“We do this to honor the pride and tradition of firefighters,” firefighter and paramedic Alex Defea said. “Those firefighters on Sept. 11 knew what they were charging into that morning, and they went in anyways. This is to honor those brave souls.”