On September 11, 2001, when thousands were fleeing from the World Trade Center towers, firefighters and first responders ran into danger to save lives. On 9/11, 343 firefighters and 71 law-enforcement officers lost their lives in the World Trade Center towers and on the ground. Another police officer was killed when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and 55 military personnel were killed at the Pentagon.
This year, Woodstock firefighters will join others across the country to commemorate their heroism. As part of the National Stair Climb for Fallen Firefighters, members of Woodstock Fire Department will climb Overlook Mountain at 8:46 a.m., the time when the first plane struck the towers. Some will be in full turnout gear with oxygen tanks, which weighs about 45 pounds without tools.
The climb up the mountain is equivalent to the 110 flights of stairs, or 2226 steps in the towers. The round trip is 9.11 kilometers, a symbolic distance recommended by the National Fallen Firefighters Association, the organization hosting the event.
“That’s really our goal, to bring awareness and to raise some funds for some of these families,” said Lt. Karen Pignataro, who organized the Woodstock event. The National Fallen Firefighters Association provides resources to families of firefighters killed in the line of duty. “The NFFA raises money and distributes it to programs, counseling services, and anything like that,” Pignataro said.
“Absent 9/11, this is money for the line-of-duty firefighters’ families, because they’re left without a lot,” firefighter Evan Holland said.
Locally, the firefighting community lost Mt. Marion Fire Department Captain Jack Rose, 19, when he was separated from his team while providing mutual aid to the Centerville Fire District fighting a chimney fire on Fel Qui Road in December 2015.
Seven Woodstock participants are committed to the climb, with more likely to join in the days closer to the event, Pignataro said. “It’s obviously personal for all of us,” added Pignataro. “It’s more personal for some than others. We just feel it’s our little way to pay tribute.”
It’s especially personal for Capt. Ignatius Burke of Company 3 in Lake Hill. He will be climbing for his lost friend, Tom Greaney, a retired lieutenant out of FDNY Ladder 175 in East New York. Greaney worked recovery at Ground Zero in the months following 9/11 and retired in 2003 due to health reasons. He moved to the Hudson Valley, and soon Burke befriended him and helped him build a home in Olivebridge. It was Greaney who inspired Burke to become a volunteer firefighter.
Several years later, doctors found a spot on Greaney’s liver, Burke said. Greaney died January 5, 2014 at age 60 from illnesses related to Ground-Zero exposure. The World Trade Center Health Program said that more than 2000 first responders who aided in the recovery efforts have died from 9/11-related illnesses.
Climbers can choose to honor any EMS responder, police officer or firefighter who was killed that day in the line of duty. “We’re going to have a little ceremony, climb the mountain, come back down, then come back here [the fire department] because we have a little memorial here and do the closing ceremony here,” Pignataro said.
“The fire departments, whether it’s New York State or anywhere, are really the underbelly of a community,” Holland explained. “It’s a really important thread that connects us all together. We show up on the worst days of people’s lives and put ourselves at risk to try to make things better, because that’s what a community does.”
Pignataro said it was important to raise community awareness that most fire departments are volunteer. “There are more volunteer fire departments than paid, and we have people doing this gig for absolutely nothing and putting their life on the line,” she said.
There are 1.1 million volunteer firefighters and 800,000 volunteer emergency medical personnel in the country who serve without pay, noted Holland. That might mean training sessions, sitting on duty shifts during a storm, or responding to a structure fire in the early morning hours.
Holland said the department’s participation in other fundraising runs were canceled this year due to Covid 19. “So there was a void, and this became even more appropriate,” he said.
Pignataro, who registered the local stair-climb team with little notice, hopes Woodstock’s participation will become an annual event with more participation, perhaps with teams from other departments in Ulster County.
Other volunteers besides those participating in the climb have worked to make this event happen. “We have so many volunteers .… People who can’t climb because of a physical limitation are going to drive our trailer there. We’ll have an ATV ready for us if there’s a problem. We’ll have water on the trail for us,” Pignataro said. “I think it’s a nice first-year effort, and we hope to make it a little bigger next year.”
Those who want to support the effort can go to firehero.com or send a check for the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation to Woodstock Fire Department, Attn: Lt. Pignataro, 242 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY 12498.
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