Batesville, IN — Lucas Garvey and Donovan Imel, firemen with Batesville Fire and Rescue participated in the FDIC 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at the Southeastern Indiana YMCA in Batesville. Normally, the event takes place in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium, however, the FDIC 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb has gone virtual this year as the annual fireman conference was canceled, like many other events, due to the pandemic. This is the third time Imel has taken on this challenge. They were joined by YMCA member, Jim O’Rourke, who was formerly from New York City and lost four high school classmates on that fateful morning. O’Rourke joined in with the firemen to finish the challenge while at the gym.
Lucas and Donovan put on their department gear and set a goal to see who could finish first on the Y’s stair climbers to climb 2,200 steps. These steps symbolize the 110 stories of the World Trade Center Towers, the ascent that FDNY firefighters took on September 11, 2001, and the ultimate sacrifice that 343 first responders made that day.
