By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

MONTGOMERY – Carrying on a tradition observed by many fire departments across the state, several Alabaster firefighters, their families and a member of the City Council climbed more than 100 flights of stairs on Sept. 16 to honor the memories of New York firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice on Sept. 11, 2001.

Eight Alabaster Fire Department officers and firefighters, Alabaster Councilman Russell Bedsole and their family members participated in the Alabama memorial stair climb at the RSA tower in downtown Montgomery.

During the event, firefighters from throughout the state climb the equivalent of 110 stories to represent the floor count of the World Trade Center towers in New York City, which were destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Because the RSA tower is 22 stories, participants climbed to the top of the building five times.

The firefighters who completed the challenge did so in full turnout gear.

Each participant in the event climbed in memory of one of the 343 New York firefighters who died while trying to save others in the wake of the attacks. Many of the FDNY firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11 were in the towers when they collapsed.

The proceeds of the state’s memorial stair climb benefits the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, which supports assistance to the surviving family members and coworkers of the firefighters who died on 9/11.

“On that day nothing else mattered besides helping those in need and coming together as Americans,” read a post on the AFD Facebook page. “Sometimes that is lost in the everyday hustle and bustle and all the arguing over politics. At the end of the day we are all Americans.”