Northwest remembering fallen firefighters, 9/11 terrorist attacks

The Northwest Missouri State University community is invited this week to remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and pay tribute to the 343 firefighters who climbed 110 stories of the World Trade Center towers and perished that day.

In honor of the fallen firefighters, Northwest will host a “9/11 Stair Climb” from 7 to 11 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, at Bearcat Stadium.

Community members may participate in a 2,071-step challenge as an individual or a team of five. The event will begin with a short program to include the National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, brief remarks and a moment of silence.

Interested participants and teams are encouraged to pre-register by clicking here. All participants will receive an “I stepped up” sticker.

Additionally, Northwest will play footage of 9/11 on the Bearcat Stadium videoboard, and two spotlights will project in the air to symbolize the World Trade Center’s twin towers. A display will feature items firefighters carried as they climbed the buildings.

Northwest also will commemorate the anniversary of the terrorist attacks during the morning of Friday, Sept. 11. The Memorial Bell Tower, located at the center of the University campus, will chime at 8:46 a.m., 9:02 a.m., 9:37 a.m. and 10:03 a.m., marking the times that each of the four planes crashed that morning. Flags on the campus also will fly at half-staff.

On Sept. 11, 2001, militants hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States, flying two planes into the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York City, a third into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. A total of 2,996 people died during the attacks, including 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers who were attempting to evacuate the buildings and save others who had been injured.