WAUSAU (WAOW) -- Community members and firefighters walk in the footsteps of the 343 firefighters who gave their lives on September 11th.
Firefighter Phil Rentmeester remembers watching the events unfold ten years ago.
"They had to make a rescue, they had to make the attempt to get to those top floors to do whatever they could to help those people out," said Phil Rentmeester.
He and others climbed stairs wearing badges of the firefighters who never left the towers. He wore the badge of Martin E. McWilliams from Engine 22.
Rentmeester said Sunday's tribute was meant to mimic the steps members of the New York Fire Department fearlessly took.
People climbed and descended from the stairs, fourteen times. A total of 110 stories representing the number of floors in the twin towers.
Even though the Corporate Cove Tower did not compare to the height of the twin towers, Nancy Burkholder walked up and down the stairs to reflect on the people who climbed down the steps.
Nancy Burkholder said, "I think they were thinking about their families and their loved ones, and those around them. I'm sure there was a lot of fear going through their minds."
But while others fled the towers that day, firefighters rushed in.
A call to duty, Wausau Mayor Jim Tipple says our men and women in uniform answer to everyday.
"I just can't imagine going into a burning building, knowing that your never going to come out safe and a live, but I think that's a testament to the bravery of our firefighters and all of our emergency personal experience every single day," said Mayor Jim Tipple.
And as people finished the climb, they rang a bell as a thank you to those heroes.
Phil Rentmeester said, "It really gave you an appreciation of how difficult that really was for those folks at FDNY to do that work that they did."
Online Reporter: Christine Souders, Newsline 9
