About Us

We're a small group of firefighters and emergency service workers with a big dream: to build a lasting UK remembrance event for 9/11, and to take firefighters to the USA to climb in solidarity with the ones who never made it out.

343 firefighters from the New York Fire Department climbed into the towers on 11 September 2001 and never got the chance to come back out, and that's the day most people remember. What a lot of people don't know is what happened afterwards, because the dust that settled over Lower Manhattan was pulverised concrete, asbestos, jet fuel and everything else that had been inside two 110 storey buildings, and thousands of firefighters spent weeks working in it with barely any protection. Twenty five years on, more FDNY members have lost their lives to 9/11 related illness than were lost on the day itself.

That risk hasn't gone away either. Every fire still puts something into your lungs and onto your skin that shouldn't be there, and it's not just a fire service problem, police officers work contaminated scenes and paramedics treat casualties breathing the same air. None of that stops mattering once the shift ends. That's why we've opened this up to every emergency service rather than keeping it to firefighters, because whatever uniform you're wearing, the people who run into danger deserve support long after the job is done.

And that's not only about what's in the air. Climbing 110 floors is a serious physical challenge, the kind of thing that takes months of training to get through, and that's part of why we do it this way rather than just holding a collection. It's a way of putting your body through something hard, on purpose, for people who had no choice in the matter. Fitness and mental health go hand in hand in this job, and the climb is our way of backing both.

Everything we raise is for charity, supporting firefighters and emergency workers across the UK and US. Three charities do the often unseen work of looking after our services and their families once the job is done: The Terry Farrell Foundation, Blue Light Card Foundation, and The Fire Fighters Charity. Every donation is split equally between the three.

You don't have to climb a single stair to be part of this. A donation, big or small, goes straight to three charities that'll put it to good use. If the emergency services have ever helped you, or you just want to stand behind the people who'd come for you on your worst day, this is where you do it. Because the people who run into danger deserve support long after the job is done.