Tradition and honor have become the goal of a few Alice firefighters as every year they proudly participate in the 9/11 Memorial Climbs. This year is no different.

Firefighters Robert Valdez, Kevin Figueroa and Matthew Epitallo traveled to San Antonio for the 10th annual San Antonio 110 Memorial Climb on Sunday, Sept. 11.

Valdez learned about the memorial climbs through his brother who is also a firefighter. Since then, Valdez has taken it upon himself to be a part of the ceremonies, always partnering with different area firefighters.

“It’s been over 20 years,” Figueroa who was only three when the tragedy struck America. Valdez was a sophomore at San Diego Independent School District on Sept. 11, 2001. He remembers being in Spanish class and seeing the events unfold.

Alice firefighters at the 2021 Memorial Climb representing the 343 fallen firefighters. Pictured are (LtoR) Kevin Figueroa, Matthew Epitallo and Robert Valdez. Submitted horrible events while he attended Corpus Christi ISD. He learned the history of 9/11 and saw first responders, especially firefighters, commemorate the fallen heroes.

9/11 is an American tragedy. Everyone knows where they were and what they were doing the day that four planes were hijacked and killed almost 3,000 people.

Two placed crashed into the World Trade Centers in New York, one plane crashed into the Pentagon in Virginia, and the fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

“It’s important to participate in these memorials because we keep the memory of the 343 firefighters who ran into the World Trade Center buildings. They never came out of those building alive,” Figueroa said. “We could easily forget, but it was a big mass causality, terrorist attack and a lot of our comrades sacrificed their lives for others.”

Valdez has been a part of the memorial climbs for eight years, Figueroa for three years and Epitallo for two years.

“It’s not easy, but we start training early. It’s brutal, but also exciting. It’s a tradition, a challenge, and most importantly, we honor those who lost their lives helping others,” Valdez said. “There’s an intensity as we are going in. We are going following a path that our (fallen heroes) went through. We’re just climbing. We’re not going to rescue someone, but we still get in a rush climbing the 110 flights of stairs.”

Every participant represents one of the 343 firefighters, 70 law enforcement officers and nine medical technicians killed. Climbers carry a picture and name tag around their neck while dressed in the full protective gear, just as firefighters did that day. As they climb each step up the stairs, they take encouragement from the photos placed along the walls of those they climb for.

“There’s photos to constantly remind you and when you get tired you look at the photos and remember what we’re there for. There’s a lot of motivation inside that those outside can’t see,” Valdez said. “The best part is when we set our P.A.S.S. (Personal Alert Safety System) device and It’s loud. This is done every time the towers hit a building (or a plane went down) and it gets loud.”

The P.A.S.S. device automatically goes off when the firefighter is inactive for 15 seconds or more. Valdez said the P.A.S.S. devices helped locate firefighters after the World Trade Center buildings collapsed.

“It’s pretty amazing. We get the chills when we activate them. Everyone on the stairs will come to a halt,” Valdez said. “We honor them be doing this for the firefighter and their family. I’ll never meet any of them, but it’s an honor.”

Alice firefighters will also honor one of their own at the ceremony. They will pin a badge for Firefighter Robert Liguez who passed from COVID-19 in September 2021 at the age of 52. He had been an Alice firefighter for 21 years.

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