Firemen's staircase challenge honours 9/11 heroes

Two firefighters will climb the equivalent of 110 floors on stair climbing machines in full uniform to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York in 2001.

Sam Hayward and Jonathan Freeman, from Colchester, will take on the challenge on Wednesday afternoon.

The pair, who both work at Bethnal Green Fire Station in east London, hope to make it an annual fundraiser for the Fire Fighters Charity.

Mr Freeman, 40, estimated their uniforms weigh at least 15kg (33lb).

Some 2,606 people, including 343 firefighters, died after Islamist suicide attackers seized US passenger jets and crashed them into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers skyscrapers on 11 September 2001.

Another hijacked plane was crashed into the Pentagon near Washington DC, while a fourth jet crash-landed in field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back.

"We want to make it as hard as we possibly can to simulate what the firefighters in New York had to go through," said Mr Freeman.

Mr Hayward, 35, started fundraising for the charity last year, when he arranged for a group of firefighters to climb the height of one of the World Trade Center's towers using London Fire Brigade ladders.

"There's quite a lot of people I speak to in the fire brigade who were born after it happened and don't really know much about 9/11, so I think it's important that we pay our respects," he explained.

He said it was especially important for him to honour the heroes of 9/11 because he first met his wife while taking part in a charity run inspired by an off-duty firefighter who ran across New York in full fire gear to support his colleagues.

"From such a tragedy, some good came from it as well," he added.

Mr Hayward and Mr Freeman have practised their challenge out of uniform.

They hope to finish their climb in less than an hour.

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