Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the correct date for Saturday’s event.

Summit County will see two planned events to pay tribute to the heroic efforts and lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

110-story stair climb planned for Copper Mountain fire station

Summit Fire & EMS will host a morning stair climb Saturday, Sept. 10, at its Copper Mountain fire station to honor the 343 New York Fire Department firefighters killed in the line of duty on Sept. 11, 2001. Participants can pay tribute to those firefighters by climbing an equivalent of 110 stories’ worth of stairs. Each of the two World Trade Center towers struck by planes on 9/11 were 110 stories tall.

The event is open to all regional fire, EMS and law officers, as well as the general public, but is capped at 100 participants. Children under the age of 12 need to be supervised by an adult and should remain in close proximity to their guardian.

The first 50 applicants will receive a challenge coin courtesy of the United States Honor Flag. 

The climb will occur at Summit Fire Station 1, at 0477 Copper Road in Summit County, with on-site registration at 6 a.m. and an opening ceremony at 6:46 a.m. The climb will begin at 7:02 a.m. and will end by 11 a.m.

The event is free but cash donations will be accepted for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the U.S. Honor Flag.

Registration can be found through Summit Fire & EMS’s Facebook page.

First responders will hold ceremony for fallen peers at Riverwalk Center in Breckenridge

Red, White & Blue Fire Protection District and Breckenridge Police Department will host a short ceremony in the concrete pavilion next to the Riverwalk Center on Sunday.

The annual ceremony will honor the 343 first responders and thousands of civilians who perished in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

While Summit County is almost 2,000 miles from the sites of the attacks, emotional connections to the solemn moment in U.S. history are strong. 

“All I wanted to do was be there to help those people,” the ceremony’s organizer, Red, White & Blue Battalion Chief Jason Kline, said. He described his emotions on the day as a terrible feeling of helplessness.

The event will begin at 8:30 a.m. and feature a flag raising ceremony and a presentation of arms. The Riverwalk Center is located at 150 W. Adams Ave. in Breckenridge.

The event is free and open to all.