First Tunnel to Towers climb event at World Trade Center
NEW YORK (WABC) -- The first-ever Tunnel to Towers stair climb at 1 World Trade Center was held Sunday morning.
Stair climbers climbed up 90 floors, or 180 flights and 2,066 steps.
Proceeds go toward building high-tech homes for veterans of war.
The event is presented by the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation and Captain Billy Burke Foundation.
Firefighter Siller and Captain Burke were killed on 9/11 trying to rescue people from the World Trade Center.
Burke, after seeing the south tower fall, entered the north tower to the 27th floor, and told his colleagues to get out as he stayed behind with a wheelchair bound person.
"Today, to me, is God Bless America, God Bless New York also," said John Hodges of the Tunnel2Towers foundation. "It's just that simple, look at what we have been able to do."
The organization has built 30 homes for veterans, with over 40 more under construction.
Among the finishers was triple amputee Bryan Dilberian, a veteran of the Afghanistan war, who lost both legs and an arm in an explosion and climbed the stairs on prostheses.
