Several events around Northeast Florida to remember 22 years since 9/11 attacks
Monday marks 22 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks took the lives of over 3,000 innocent Americans.
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Innocent lives were lost at and around the World Trade Center in New York City, at the Pentagon in Virginia and in rural Pennsylvania.
To honor these lives, there are a few events happening around Northeast Florida.
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One event is being held at the YMCA on San Jose Boulevard, where Jacksonville firefighters plan to climb 110 floors in full gear.
The climb will be led by JFRD firefighter Nick Billups, who does this every year in solidarity. He, other firefighters and YMCA staff plan to use the Stairmaster to climb the same amount of steps many first responders took to climb the World Trade Center towers in 2001.
Billups and the others will gear up and begin their climb at 9 a.m. Monday.
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Naval Station Mayport will also be holding an observance ceremony at 8 a.m. Monday at base headquarters. Sailors and firefighters will gather to honor the lives lost during the terrorist attacks.
The event, however, will not be open to the public.
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Finally, the St. Augustine Fire Department will continue its yearly tradition and hold a “Ceremony of Remembrance” to honor the fallen firefighters and citizens. The ceremony starts at 8:30 a.m. and will be held at the St. Augustine Fire Department’s main station at 101 Malaga St.
The 15-minute program will include a multi-agency presentation of the colors by the St. Augustine Fire Department, St. Augustine Police Department and St. Johns County Fire Rescue, music and remarks by St. Augustine Deputy Fire Chief Chris Pacetti and St. Johns County Sheriff Robert A. Hardwick.
The ceremony will conclude with one minute of silence in observance of when the first plane hit the first tower of the World Trade Center in 2001, and the subsequent attacks on the second tower, the Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93.
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The Fire Department will conduct the traditional “Striking the Four 5′s” ritual by ringing its historic 1900 Fire Bell in four intervals of five rings each. This is a tradition that signifies the last alarm of a firefighter and will be performed in honor of the firefighters, law enforcement officers, military personnel and civilians who died on September 11, 2001.
The city’s first Ceremony of Remembrance was held just two days after 9/11 and has continued each year on the anniversary of the attack.
For those who can’t make it, the department will livestream the ceremony on its Facebook page.
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