A firefighting family from South Florida recently participated in a race that unites domestic and international emergency personnel in honoring the more than 400 first responders who died on Sept. 11, 2001.
Rick, Jeff and Daniel Cook joined 340 fellow firefighters and 68 other emergency workers at the base of 4 World Trade Center on Sunday, Mar. 19, for the third-annual New York City Memorial Stair Climb. Each climber represented a specific rescuer who perished during the 9/11 attack.
Jeff and Daniel, who climbed the year before, were joined this year by their father, Rick, who ascended the 72-floor building with them.
Their non-firefighter brother, Kevin, accompanied them on the trip in support.
“Being from Miami, you don’t get to see buildings like you do in New York,” said Jeff, who in October celebrates 10 years with Coral Gables Fire Department. “Those [9/11 first responders] were going up 70-80 flights before they even started going to work. To do that in their memory is an honor.”
For the second consecutive year, Jeff represented Scott Davidson, a 33-year-old former all-star high school and collegiate basketball player from Ladder Company 118 in Brooklyn Heights. He left behind a daughter and son, Casey, now a basketball player at Marist College, and Pete, a cast member on Saturday Night Live.
“I did some research on Scott, read his story and it’s kind of like God lined me up with him,” Jeff said. “Two kids, like myself. An athlete; loved sports. It’s awesome to keep his name alive and let the family know we’ll never forget his sacrifices.”
Daniel, a former Major League Baseball player and three-year firefighter with the Hollywood Fire Department, also represented the same man he did last year — Edward James Day of Engine Company 28 and Ladder 11 on the Lower East Side. Remembered for his infectious cheerfulness, Day, 45, left behind a wife, brother and mother.
“Any job, when you do it for 10-20 years, you can take for granted,” Daniel said. “But it’s much bigger than yourself. Every day I go to work, our captain says, ‘Alright, guys — today let’s all go home safe.’ It’s one of those things that’s just thrown in there, but when you get up there and see the reality, that you might not go home safe, it’s a bond only the people there really understand.”
Rick, a fire chief who retired in 2008 after more than 33 years with the Coral Gables Fire Department, spent three months with his sons preparing for the climb. He represented Lieutenant Michael A. Esposito of Squad 1, Fire Department New York. Esposito, who died at 41, was a first responder after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and during the North American Ice Storm of 1998. His two sons are now both FDNY firefighters.
“Michael had a history of doing whatever was needed to get the job done,” Rick said.
New York City had a wintry sheen on the day of the climb — an outside temperature in the low 30s and approximately an inch of snow blanketing the ground that just over 15 years before had been covered in ash. Inside the 4 World Trade Center stairwell, however, the heat was oppressive.
But despite the two hip replacements he received in 2013, neither Rick nor his sons stopped once during the climb, the proceeds from which benefit two nonprofit organizations: Friends of Firefighters, which provides firefighters and their families with long-term support through counseling, wellness services and other assistance; and the 9/11 Tribute Center.
“It’s humbling; until you do it — until you’re there, see the people, talk to the New York firefighters, go the museum and do the climb — it’s hard to imagine,” he said. “We passed probably about 10 people who were holding onto the wall. They had to wait a few minutes. We just went right by them.”
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