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UVFD to lead 9/11 climb in San Antonio




Todd Dorris

Organizers of the annual San Antonio 110 9/11 Memorial Climb announced Thursday that the Uvalde Volunteer Fire Department will be leading first responders at this year’s climb.

As part of a video challenge held by the San Antonio organization to choose the 2021 lead agency, the UVFD submitted a video of their virtual climb, which began at 6 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2020, at the Uvalde Honey Bowl stadium.

UVFD assistant chief Todd Dorris, who helped host the event last year, said about 23 climbers participated, including civilians from Sabinal and Helotes.

“Every year, the climb in SA has picked a lead agency to be the first firefighters to go in and start the entire climb,” Dorris said, noting they used the video contest in 2020 to choose the leader for this year.

“In addition, it’s the responsibility of the lead agency to make and bring the traditional hose pack. We’ll handwrite all 343 names of the firefighters lost on the hose itself,” Dorris said. “The hose pack gets carried by first responders up the tower climb. UVFD then gets the honor of keeping/displaying the hose pack after the climb is over. All of this is a great honor and, to be honest, very humbling.”

Dorris said videographer Pete Luna of the Uvalde Leader-News created the winning compilation.

“The S.A. group had a contest. … I got with Pete Luna and asked him if he’d be willing to put something together for us, since he’s been doing similar videos for our annual banquet,” Dorris said. “Pete obviously said yes and made the video montage for us that I then submitted to the S.A. group for the contest.”

Honey Bowl climb

Participants climbed the home side of the bleachers at the Uvalde Honey Bowl multiple times.

Gene Ayala, longtime member of the UVFD and chief at the time, said downward steps didn’t count towards the total.

After three passes, participants walked across the home side and began the climb again, walking 1,982 upward steps to simulate the 110 floors of stairs in the fallen World Trade Center towers.

“The order is firefighters go first, EMS follows, law enforcement follows, and then from there civilians go,” Ayala said.

Ayala and Dorris have attended the San Antonio event since its inception in 2012, and the event was held virtually last year, with participants in various locations staging their own climbing events due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Dorris said there are already six members of the UVFD as well as three civilians planning to attend the September of 2021 event.

The San Antonio 110 9/11 Memorial Climb, which is held annually to pay tribute to those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center Towers in New York were attacked and 343 firefighters, 70 law enforcement officers and nine emergency medical service personnel died.