Blue Ash Firefighters 9/11 Memorial Run/Walk & Stair Climb

The Blue Ash Fire Department, Blue Ash Firefighters Local 3203, and The City of Blue Ash welcome you to sign up for the Blue Ash 9/11 Memorial Run/Walk at Summit Park. The event will kick off at 9:00am under the colorful awning at Summit Park Thursday, September 11, 2025, will begin with a touching remembrance ceremony at 9:00 a.m. at Summit Park, 4335 Glendale Milford Road. Included in the ceremony will be the Presentation of the Colors, Taps, and a 21-gun salute by the American Legion Post 630, an invocation from the Blue Ash Fire Chaplain, and additional tributes to the individuals that lost their lives in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

As you approach the colorful Summit Park Canopy on the morning of September 11, 2024, you will be greeted with tributes to the many individuals that lost their lives during the terrorist attacks 23 years ago. There will be 2,977 flags on the Great Lawn representing those who lost their lives as well as a walking path timeline of the events that tragic day, pieces of recovered steel from the World Trade Center on display by The Goodtimers Foundation & Cincinnati Fire Museum, a 25ft American flag held up by the Blue Ash ladder truck, a tunnel with the names of the 343 firefighters who died at ground zero, and planned fly over provided by the Cincinnati WarBirds.

The tunnel and 2.2 mile run/walk is in remembrance of New York Firefighter Stephen Siller. Siller heard the radio call for all Fire Department New York firefighters to report for duty after getting off his shift earlier that morning. Unable to return to the station, due to the closed Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, he got out of his personal truck and ran the two-and-a-half miles through the tunnel in his full firefighter’s uniform to the site of the Twin Towers. Stephen Siller was one of many firefighters whose remains were never recovered, having given his life for others on September 11th, 2001.

Event will kick off at 9:03am, when the South Tower was hit on 9/11, and will consist of two main events...the 2.2 mile run/walk, open to anyone to participate; and the 110 floor stair climb, open to sign ups for firefighters, police and law enforcement, and members of the military (active or retired). Two laps around Summit Park loop will equal a total of 2.2 miles for the run/walkers, and 10 times up and down the tower will equal 110 floors for the stair climbers. The run/walk and stair climb will finish by going through a makeshift tunnel near the main park awning, to signify FDNY Firefighter Stephen Siller's run to Ground Zero on September 11th in which he passed under the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in NYC. Water stations will be present along the way, and members of the public, runners, walkers, strollers, and service members/firefighters/police officers are all welcome to participate and in gear if so choose. Any member of the public who is not participating in the run/walk is also welcome to attend the event and opening ceremony. We hope to see you there, and help us honor all those who lost their lives and helped save others on September 11th, twenty-three years ago.

If you can, we are asking for a donation upon sign up on Eventbrite of $9.11 for the run/walk and stairclimb. All proceeds will go to The Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Similarly, if you or your company is interested in becoming a sponsor for the event, please reach out to the contact below.

Please direct any questions or concerns through Blue Ash Firefighters Local 3203 Facebook page, or to Blue Ash Lieutenant Scott Reed at (513)745-8533 -or- [email protected].

Host or Publisher Blue Ash Firefighters Local 3203