LOGAN — Residents joined local firefighters Thursday night in remembering the emergency responders and others who lost their lives September 11, 2001. The group of more than 200 ran up and down the stairs inside the football stadium at Utah State University.
Participants gathered at the south concourse, just as the sun was beginning to set. The memorial began with the Scotsman Drum & Pipes Corp, followed by a flag ceremony, students performing the Stars Spangled Banner and Taps, along with a moment of silence.
Logan City Fire Battalion Chief John Cox noted how the recent killings of Charlie Kirk, and Tremonton-Garland officers Lee Sorensen and Eric Estrada, have been hard to process emotionally, similar to the terrorists attacks. However, despite the horrific events on 9/11, in the days after, the nation came together like never before.
“I think you feel what we felt on 9/11,” said Cox. “If you look around, bad things happen but then there are a lot of good people doing a lot of good things.”
There was a total of 403 first responders killed on 9/11, 343 firefighters and 60 police officers. Each participant in Thursday night’s memorial was given a small card, with the name and photo of one of the first responders who died.
Cox also explained to the crowd some of the symbolism inside the stadium that is a reminder of 9/11. Local firefighters have trained both there and the Spectrum for decades. However, after the terrorist’s attacks 24 years ago, the training exercise became more reverential.
“In the World Trade Center,” said Cox, “there were 110 floors, 2071 steps. If you go up and down every single stair in this stadium, there is almost exactly the same number of steps.”
In addition to the stairs, it is estimated that emergency responders saved around 25,000 people on 9/11. That is close to how many people the stadium holds during a football game.
The participants were sent out in groups, or companies. They started in the far northeast corner of the stadium, climbing up and down each flight of stairs. At the end, they rang a bell, similar to the bells that are rung when a firefighter dies.
While most of the community members were dressed in running clothes, firefighting students from Bridgerland Technical Collage wore their turnout gear. They also took turns carrying hoses, oxygen tanks and other heavy equipment.