CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. – We all remember 9/11 differently and honor it differently.


What You Need To Know

  • Citrus County firefighters pay tribute to 9/11 first responders

  • A team, in full gear, climbed 110 flights of stairs

  • Saturday marks 20 years since the 9/11 attacks

“It changed my life. It changed the fact of how we had to think as firefighters,” Citrus County fire chief Craig Stevens said.

Stevens joined a few of his team as they took on the challenge. Driver and engineer Colin Beagan was among the the few.

“Just remembering our brothers in New York City that made the ultimate sacrifice that day,” he said. 

Twenty years later, in full gear, they still climb 110 flights, a task not many can accomplish. 

“The heat that stays within the gear, it can’t exit anywhere so that’s where stress involved with it comes in,” Beagan said.

Heat leads to exhaustion and oxygen runs out quickly. But regardless of how tough, they want to do it because 2001 firefighters had to.

“Umm showing resilience, showing respect for the firefighters that gave everything. They gave it all,” Captain Anthony Seguin added.

It’s a sacrifice, these firefighters say they will be forever thankful for and as they climb with that memory etched in their mind, they say the last climb will always be the most reflective. 

“That’s the one that accentuates the fact that they were at the end of their climb, they met what they were going to meet," flight, driver engineer Chase Howard said. "That’s where it meant it was actually time to go to work and they knew exactly what they were up against.” 

They made a note on the wall of the number of flights they completed and wrote 343, a number they will never forget.