Amarillo firefighters relive 9/11 challenges by climbing 110 floors in tribute
Step by step, Amarillo firefighters simulate what it was like to climb the 110 floors of the Twin Towers on 9/11. (Dalton Williams/KVII)
AMARILLO, Texas (KVII) — Step by step, Amarillo firefighters simulate what it was like to climb the 110 floors of the Twin Towers on 9/11.
Captain Jose Garcia said he was in class at Amarillo College when the two planes hit the towers, after that, he dropped everything to join the Fire Academy.
"I felt this overwhelming urge to, I felt like I had to do something, they were showing the trucks running in, they were showing the guys running in and people being carried out, “ said Garcia. “There was this sense of, I'm young, I'm healthy, there's got to be something I can do."
He said now, all these years later he makes sure new recruits understand what this day means to firefighters across the country.
"They were born after 9/11, they read about 9/11 in the history books just like I read about Pearl Harbor and the Vietnam War," Garcia said. "So, it's important to tie these guys to who created the service that they're serving in today. After 9/11 the fire service did a 180 turn on how it operated on its day-to-day operations around the world."
That motivated probationary firefighter Marcos Del Fierro to take part in the tribute.
"I saw my uncle become a firefighter, my brother became one as well, hearing their stories, seeing what they do it made me go away from wanting to be a cop to wanting to be a firefighter," said Del Fierro. "Just seeing what they do and seeing what they sacrifice, hearing their stories and how they help people every day I knew that's something I wanted to do," said Del Fierro.
Del Fierro said when things got tough, he remembered what those brave men and women went through on 9/11.
"At about 70 floors in that's when I hit, I start thinking about those real guys who had to do this on 9/11. And they didn't just do the stairs they went up and had to go save people, had to put out the fires, this was just the beginning, just getting there," Del Fierro said. "So, that kept me motivated and knowing that people sacrificed their life."
