Connected by catastrophe

PLATTSBURGH | February of 1998 is a time many people still talk about to this day. Those who were too young to remember, or weren't even born yet, grew up hearing about the horrors of the ice storm. Over 2,000 power poles were lost during the storm leaving residents all over Clinton and Essex County without power for up to a month. It's no wonder why a state of emergency was declared, nobody was expecting the level of damage that occurred. Fire Department City of New York Deputy Chief Raymond Downey Sr. was in charge of a special operations command that brought New York City FireFighters to both Clinton and Essex counties to help the community recover from the damage the ice storm caused. Downey, along with several of the other firefighters that he brought up to assist during the ice storm, was amongst the 343 Fire Department City of New York firefighters to die during the attack on the twin towers. In response to 9/11, several of the local fire departments went to New York City to help with the aftermath of the attack. "So our area was pretty much involved in 9/11 afterwards helping them, because they gave so much to us when we were in need," Scott Ewing, Deputy Chief of District 3 Volunteer Fire Department said. In honor of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Plattsburgh Professional Firefighters and District 3 Volunteer Fire Department teamed up to create an event that honors those lost during 9/11. The 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb is taking place at 8:30 a.m. at the Kehoe Administration Building located at 101 Broad St. At 8:46 a.m. a moment of silence will take place in recognition of when the first plane hit the tower. The Kehoe Administration Building is a 10 story building, so participants must climb it five and a half times to complete the full 110 stories. SUNY Plattsburgh sorority Theta Phi Alpha will be helping out with registration day of, will be the escort for the stairwells, and provide monitoring for the stairwells as well. There are currently 25 people pre-registered for this event, but organizers of the event expect most people to register the day of. The cost of registration is $30 and comes with a tee-shirt while supplies last. "Well it's ten stories high and it kind of resembles, you know it's our largest building in the county, but in the same token, it kind of resembles one of the towers such to say," Ewing said on the decision to us Kehoe Administration Building. Proceeds from registration will be donated to Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a nonprofit created in memory of Stephen Siller, a firefighter who lost his life during 9/11. Tunnel to Towers Foundation honors military and first responders who have been injured in the line of duty. "As much as we can get" President of Plattsburgh Professional Firefighters Local 2421 Jamie Schwartz said on their fundraising goal. All are encouraged to participate in this community event Ewing said, "We want to make sure that people understand that this is just not for firefighters, it's for community folks that want to come and contribute to the cause and also walk the stairs and they don't have to do all 110 stories up and down 5 and a half times of a 10 story building. They can come and walk one story, come out and ring the bell, you know in memory of the firefighters that were lost and police officers, and basically first responders that were lost that day." In the future, they hope to grow this event and host it for milestone anniversaries such as 25 years. "A lot of younger folk now weren't even around at that point so to keep the memory of that going, what happened that day, and what our brother firefighters lost that day, and gave up that day is important," said Schwartz. To find out more about this event visit the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb event page on Facebook and to preregister visit https://tinyurl.com/6h9yc2u4.

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