Twenty Years Later: Local Firefighters Keep The Memory Alive
Above, area residents participate in the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb held annually in Springfield in memory of 9/11 victims.
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Left to right, Firefighter, Kristin Schoester; Training Officer, Travis Littler; Assistant Chief, Derek Acheson; and Firefighter, Michael Correia, of the Cassville Fire Protection District, are shown during their participation in the 2018 Memorial Stair Climb in Springfield.
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September 8, 2021
Ezra DeVore
“For me, it’s about keeping the memory,” said Travis Littler, of the Cassville Fire Protection District, in reference to the ninth annual 9/11 Springfield Area Memorial Stair Climb, an event that expects hundreds of attendees for the twentieth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center Towers in New York City.
Several local firefighters, such as Littler, attend the memorial every year, and Sunday, September 12, will mark Littler’s seventh climb.
“Three hundred, forty-three [members of the New York Fire Department] died,” Littler continued. “All their families and friends had to deal with their loss of life.”
Littler is a training officer in Cassville, and a full-time firefighter in Bentonville, Arkansas.
“The crazy thing to me is now we have adults and teenagers who weren’t even born yet in 2001, so we just keep that memory alive,” he said.
Each year, children, adults, firefighters in full gear, military, law enforcement, EMS, and many others climb the stairs of Plaster Stadium at MSU enough times to equal the 110 stories the Twin Towers had. In 2020, the stair climb went virtual, and had over 250 participants. However, this year, organizers are excited to return to an in-person event.
The 2021 9/11 Springfield Area Memorial Stair Climb will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 12, at Plaster Stadium, 1015 East Grand Street, Springfield, on the Missouri State University campus.
All interested members of the community may participate.
Ezra DeVore
“For me, it’s about keeping the memory,” said Travis Littler, of the Cassville Fire Protection District, in reference to the ninth annual 9/11 Springfield Area Memorial Stair Climb, an event that expects hundreds of attendees for the twentieth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center Towers in New York City.
Several local firefighters, such as Littler, attend the memorial every year, and Sunday, September 12, will mark Littler’s seventh climb.
“Three hundred, forty-three [members of the New York Fire Department] died,” Littler continued. “All their families and friends had to deal with their loss of life.”
Littler is a training officer in Cassville, and a full-time firefighter in Bentonville, Arkansas.
“The crazy thing to me is now we have adults and teenagers who weren’t even born yet in 2001, so we just keep that memory alive,” he said.
Each year, children, adults, firefighters in full gear, military, law enforcement, EMS, and many others climb the stairs of Plaster Stadium at MSU enough times to equal the 110 stories the Twin Towers had. In 2020, the stair climb went virtual, and had over 250 participants. However, this year, organizers are excited to return to an in-person event.
The 2021 9/11 Springfield Area Memorial Stair Climb will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 12, at Plaster Stadium, 1015 East Grand Street, Springfield, on the Missouri State University campus.
All interested members of the community may participate.