Saturday’s 10th annual Columbia Memorial Stair Climb at the Hearnes Center drew 273 participants, which is one of the biggest turnouts they’ve had.
The climb’s mission was to honor those who died during the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Boone County Fire Protection District Chief Doug Westhoff was on-hand to thank every participant. Chief Westhoff tells 939 the Eagle he’s grateful to mid-Missouri for the great turnout:
“To see these people coming out (at the Hearnes Center) as you said, young and old, everybody in between, everybody with the same motivation, the same remembrance of the events of September 11, this is a beautiful day,” Chief Westhoff says.
Saturday’s participants climbed the equivalent of the 110 stories of the World Trade Center while carrying the name and photo of a fallen first responder. The climb was established to honor the 343 New York firefighters, 70 law enforcement officers and 9 EMS professionals who were killed on 9-11.
Chief Westhoff led Missouri Task Force One’s deployment to New York City’s World Trade Center after 9-11 and served as Saturday’s guest speaker at Hearnes. Chief Westhoff teared up while speaking to 939 the Eagle during the climb, saying serving as guest speaker was quite humbling:
“It was a struggle to get those words on paper. It was very emotional but thank goodness I had that script so I could stay on script. If I tried to do that off the cuff I’d have been standing up there crying,” Chief Westhoff says.
Saturday’s event also recognized the 13 local first responders who have died in the line of duty over the years. In addition to the 273 participants, the climb also drew a large turnout of community members who cheered the climbers at Hearnes.