PLACERVILLE, Calif. — Each September, the parking structure at Red Hawk Resort & Casino takes on a different character.
The usual traffic of guests and vehicles gives way to firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical technicians and other first responders gathering for a solemn purpose: to remember the men and women who ran toward danger on Sept. 11, 2001.
The Red Hawk 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb is an annual tribute to the first responders who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.
Rather than simply standing at a memorial, participants climb.
The physical effort is intentional. It provides a symbolic connection to the firefighters and other emergency personnel who climbed the stairs of the World Trade Center towers as they responded to the unfolding disaster.
Red Hawk announced the 2025 event as a gathering specifically for firefighters, law enforcement officers, EMTs and other first responder personnel. Registration was scheduled for 7 a.m. Sept. 11, with the climb beginning at 8 a.m. in the resort’s parking garage.
A tradition with roots in Placerville
The event is not new to the Placerville area.
City of Placerville records from 2018 already noted a memorial stair climb at Red Hawk Casino involving local first responders. During a Sept. 11, 2018, City Council meeting, the minutes recorded that Commander Nida reported on the Red Hawk memorial stair climb for 9/11.
That history underscores the event’s place among El Dorado County’s annual remembrances of Sept. 11.
The climb also has a direct connection to the county’s firefighting community. In its September 2025 chief’s report, the El Dorado County Fire Protection District specifically recognized firefighter Tyler Ott for coordinating the 9/11 Stair Climb at Red Hawk Casino.
That acknowledgment offers a glimpse of what makes the event different from a conventional public ceremony. The people participating are not simply spectators to the history being remembered. Many work in the same profession as those being honored.
Remembering the 343
The Sept. 11 attacks killed 2,977 people, including 343 members of the New York City Fire Department.
For firefighters, the number 343 has become inseparable from the story of that morning.
The World Trade Center attacks transformed an ordinary workday into an unprecedented emergency. Firefighters, police officers, paramedics and other emergency personnel entered the towers while thousands of others were desperately trying to escape.
Many never returned.
The memorial stair climb turns that history into a physical act of remembrance.
With each flight, participants confront the exertion and uncertainty associated with the response. The climb is not intended to recreate the tragedy but to honor those who continued upward when circumstances demanded that they run toward the danger.
More than a ceremony
For El Dorado County’s first responder community, the Red Hawk event also represents camaraderie.
Fire service is built around teamwork. Crews depend on one another during structure fires, vehicle crashes, medical emergencies and wildfires — situations familiar to communities throughout California.
The same bonds are evident during the memorial climb.
Red Hawk described the event as both a personal and communal act of remembrance, bringing first responders together through a shared physical challenge representing the journey, camaraderie and resilience of those who served on Sept. 11.
That message resonates particularly strongly in a county where firefighters routinely face another form of large-scale danger: wildfire.
El Dorado County’s geography, from the foothills around Placerville to communities farther east toward the Sierra Nevada, means emergency personnel regularly operate in difficult and sometimes rapidly changing conditions. The Sept. 11 remembrance provides an opportunity to look beyond local emergencies and recognize the broader tradition of public service.
Never forgotten
More than two decades after the attacks, Sept. 11 remains a day marked by remembrance across the United States.
In El Dorado County, that remembrance takes many forms. At Red Hawk, it is measured in flights of stairs.
There is no finish line in the traditional sense.
The point is the climb itself — one responder alongside another, carrying the memory of people who made the ultimate sacrifice.
For those taking part, the message is simple and enduring:
Never forget.
Source note: Publicly available reporting confirms the 2025 Red Hawk event details and El Dorado County Fire Protection District’s recognition of coordinator Tyler Ott. I found historical confirmation of the Red Hawk stair climb dating to at least 2018. I did not find a publicly posted 2026 Red Hawk event announcement in the sources available today, Sept. 3, 2026, so I have not presented 2026 registration times or participation details as confirmed facts.
