In Pictures: City Center Hosts 9/11 Memorial Tower Climb

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A very neat, albeit very solemn, thing happened a couple of weeks ago in Fort Worth that demands acknowledging.

City Center Fort Worth, the Class A office space in downtown, hosted more than 100 first responders Sept. 11 for a Memorial Tower Climb, including local police and fire departments, FBI agents, county sheriff deputies, and City Center Security, who climbed the stairs of the Bank of America Tower to honor first responders who died Sept. 11, 2001.

Participants climbed the stairs from the ground floor to the 27th floor, then returned to the ground floor and repeated the 27-story climb a total of four times to replicate the 110-story climb to the top of the New York World Trade Center. Each climber wore a lanyard with a photo and name of an original 9/11 First Responder.

“We were honored to have so many first responders from across North Texas join us,” said Johnny Campbell, president and CEO of City Center Management. “In addition to police and fire department personnel from Fort Worth and Tarrant County, we had men and women representing departments from Burleson, Flower Mound, Grand Prairie, Haltom City, Midlothian, and others. It was a solemn and significant occasion as we remembered the sacrifices made on that fateful day.”

Campbell made remarks at the event, as did City Center Security Chief Joel Glenn, Fort Worth City Councilmember Elizabeth Beck, Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Matt DeSarno.

Fort Worth Police Det. Kyle Harris played taps, followed by a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. to mark the time American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.

First responders began their climb at 8:47 a.m. when Fort Worth Fire Department Engine No. 1 sounded its siren. The Fort Worth Fire Museum also brought out a restored 1900s horse-drawn fire hose wagon and a bell from a 1940 Fort Worth Fire Engine.

Brennan Kane, a U.S. Navy chief petty officer from the USS Fort Worth (LCS-3), finished the climb first. “But,” he noted, “I wasn’t carrying a full pack like the firefighters.”

The first firefighter to finish wearing full gear was Preston Hornick, representing Parker County Fire Department. Preston’s father Kevin Hornick, who retired recently from the Southlake Fire Department, also did the climb.

Of the 2,977 victims killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, 415 were first responders, including 343 firefighters; 37 Port Authority and New Jersey police officers; 23 New York City police officers; eight private EMTs and paramedics; three New York State Court officers; one New York Fire patrol officer and one FBI special agent.

Over the course of three hours, 121 engine companies, 62 ladder companies and 27 fire officers were deployed to the scene. All off-duty firefighters were recalled — the first time the FDNY issued a total recall in more than 30 years.