'You're doing it for them': Tucson firefighter among hundreds walking for 9/11 victims

Early Friday morning, Dezess, who has participated in the challenge every year for 13 years, will pull on 70 pounds of his firefighting gear, including boots, helmet, full-face respirator mask and oxygen tank.

Then, along with hundreds of other participants at the Tucson Convention Center Arena, Dezess will set out to climb 110 flights of stairs: the height of the World Trade Center towers that were hit by hijacked planes during the 2001 terrorist attacks.

That's 2,071 steps, but Dezess, who is 60, said that rather than counting steps, he'll focus his mental energy on the bigger picture: recognizing the sacrifice of the first responders who lost their lives trying to save others that day.

"You kind of set your mind away from the terrible portion of it, and realize why you’re there and why you’re doing it," Dezess said. "They went up there, like any of us (firefighters) go into any burning building, without regard for themselves at that moment."

Dezess served in the U.S. Army for 21 years before enrolling in Tucson's fire academy at age 40, in 2006. He's been working at the Tucson Fire Department ever since.

For Dezess, wearing 70 pounds of gear for the 911 Tower Challenge is both about pushing himself to the limit, and it's also a way to show solidarity with first responders who ran into the Twin Towers.

"You can’t feel what they did unless you wear what they wore," he said. 

More than 1,300 people are expected to participate in this year's 911 Tower Challenge, either walking the stairs or walking around the arena's concourse.

Participants are each given a randomly assigned lanyard that displays the name and photo of someone who died in the Sept. 11 attacks. This year, Dezess will be walking for a New York City firefighter named Timothy McSweeney, who served with Ladder Company 3 and was 37 when he died in the attacks.

Dezess, who is also on a ladder crew in Tucson, said reflecting on McSweeney's sacrifice will be one of the most emotional parts of the day. During the pre-event ceremony, organizers also play a montage of news clips and emergency calls made that day.

"That always chokes you up a little," he said.

At the end of the walk, Dezess and other participants will ring a bell and say the name of the person they are walking for. 

"That guy is no longer here. He hasn’t been here for 25 years," Dezess said. "It's not just firefighters; it's everybody who passed away that day. You’re doing it for them."

In recognition of those who decided to enlist in the U.S. military after the Sept. 11 attacks, the 911 Tower Challenge now also includes the swearing-in of new military recruits, organizers say.

The mission of the 911 Tower Challenge Foundation — the nonprofit that runs the event — is to honor those who died on Sept. 11, 2001, to educate the public about the work and sacrifice of first responders and military, and to raise money for Southern Arizona charitable groups that support first responders and military personnel and their families. Similar events are held in Phoenix and Flagstaff each year.

Foundation President Josh Randall, who is also forensic division administrator with the Tucson Police Department, said in the last 12 years, the nonprofit has raised about $500,000, benefiting groups like Toys for Tots, local search and rescue groups and the "Boys in Blue" law enforcement motorcycle club.

In the days following the Sept. 11 attacks, there was a unity among Americans that’s hard to fathom today, Randall said.

The Tower Challenge event brings back a glimpse of that unity, said Randall, who has participated in the 911 Tower Challenge for eight years.

"People say, on September 12, the nation was drastically different. Everybody came together. We're all Americans," he said. "You kind of see that at our event. Everybody is there for the same purpose."

One of the images from 2001 that has stayed with Dezess was a photo of a dust-covered New York firefighter, who had been off-duty on Sept. 11. But after the man heard about the attacks, he went to the nearest fire station, grabbed someone’s uniform and went to Ground Zero to help.

Dezess said he understood the man’s instinct to run to the scene.

"Firefighters are a strange group," Dezess said. "They’ll put on SPF 5000 to go into the sun, but they will cross-body block each other to run into a burning building. I think that’s the type of people we are. I’m not saying we're better than anybody else. We’re just different than everyone else. ... You could talk to a firefighter from Chicago, or a firefighter from here in Tucson. Even though they’re two different places, the stories would be the same."

Dezess, who competes in triathlons, said for him, the hardest part of the 911 Tower Challenge isn't the weight he's carrying, or the number of steps — it's the heat. He's learned to grab some ice cubes from the water stations set up in the arena and put them under his helmet, he said.

Dezess's preparation for climbing 110 flights of stairs consists of adding bi-weekly workouts on a stair-stepper into his routine, in the weeks leading up to the challenge. He starts with just five minutes on the stair-stepper, wearing a 50-pound weight vest, and works his way up from there.

Randall said some people register as late as the night before the challenge, although there are no same-day registrations for the Friday event. Supporters can come to watch and cheer for participants, and anyone can donate through the event's website, before or after the challenge takes place.

Dezess said he plans to retire next year, so this year is his last time doing the 911 Tower Challenge in Tucson, though he'll look to see if a similar event is planned for his retirement destination in Mississippi.

He encourages anyone to try the challenge, even if they end up unable to complete all 2,071 steps on the first go.

"Just sign up and give it a shot," he said. "It's a good organization, and they do good things with the funds they raise. ... So what if you don't make it? Do it again next year."