Inside Chase Bank in downtown Columbus, hundreds of men, women and children came out to remember the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

The Annual Memorial Stair Climb honors the first responders who answered the call on that horrific day and raises money for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

“We’re doing this not just to remember the 343 fallen firefighters but everybody who perished on 9/11,” said Kenneth Burson, a firefighter who was climbing the stairs with his family. “These days it seems like it’s awfully convenient to forget what happened that day 17 years ago, and it’s also to teach the next generation about what happened that day.”

Burson, his wife Tina, and their 5-year-old son Isaac climbed the stairs at Chase Bank together. I

Kenneth Burson, his wife Tina and 5-year-old son Isaac climbed the stairs together.

“Last year, I carried him on my back and he asked me a very important question,” Burson said. “He asked me, ‘Dad why do we have to do this?’ and I said, ‘We don’t have to do it, we want to do it,’ and by the end of it he said next year I want to do it myself.”

Each person participating in the climb has a badge with name and photo of the fallen first responder for whom they are climbing.

“I’m climbing for the captain on Rescue 5 Special Operations and my son is climbing for Chief Charles. He was a Special Operations Command battalion chief,” Burson said.

Burson has participated in a climb like this every year since Sept. 11, 2001, and has a personal connection to the aftermath of the attack.

“I spent my birthday at Ground Zero working so I very a personal connection to that day,” he explained.

He shared photos of Ground Zero and said that even though the climb today may seem tough, it’s nothing compared to what he experienced after getting to New York to help two days after Sept. 11.

“We’re doing it in an air-conditioned building with a lot of supporters that are climbing with us,” Burson said. “On the day of 9/11, that tragedy, the New York City Fire Department and Police Department, and Port Authority, and EMA…they were all trying to make that climb with 10,000 people coming down the stairs with the top of buildings on fire. This is a walk in the park compared to it.”