Annual 9/11 memorial walk will be Saturday

SIKESTON — The Sikeston Professional Fire Fighting Association will hold its eighth annual 9/11 Memorial Walk on Saturday, Sept. 14.

Many first responders from southeast Missouri will take part in this year’s walk which ill begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at Fire Station No. 2, 506 North Main St., in Sikeston and will continue south to the Lowe’s store on South Main Street. 

“We will gather up in the Lowe’s parking lot where we will have all of our apparatus park there, and then we will allow people to come see the trucks, visit with the firefighters,” Sgt. James Whitley with Sikeston Department of Public Safety.

This year’s 9/11 Memorial Walk will feature the following agencies: Sikeston DPS, Morehouse Fire Department, Scott County Rural Fire Protection District, Matthews Fire Department and Miner Fire Department.

Whitley said additional departments may attend as well.

“Some of the fire departments there may have items to hand out, whether it be plastic fire helmets or stickers and things like that,” Whitley said. 

According to Whitley, this has been something the officers have enjoyed doing for a few years, and the event has grown significantly.

“The first year it was just Sikeston departments, but it has grown over the years,” Whitley said. “Now other departments from the area participate in it. We went from just doing a walk to now doing a rally at the end of it.”

Whitley said there won’t be only firefighters but also police officers, EMTs and paramedics. 

“All different types of first responders will be there,” Whitley said. 

Whitley said as of right now, AirEvac is planning to participate and land a helicopter as well.

According to Whitley, the memorial walk is an important event.

“You know, we started this walk after 9/11 as a memory of those who lost their lives during that 9/11 attacks,” Whitley said. “We still remember that day, and this has just kind of been a thing that’s not only for the first responders that day but to any first responders who have lost their lives over the years since that has happened.”

Whitley said they are asking any emergency service agency who would like to partake in Saturday’s activities to contact him at Sikeston DPS.“As in the years past, we ask any agency willing to walk or join the emergency vehicle rally to please contact us with the number of personnel walking and/or trucks to be in the parade and rally,” Whitely said. 

Any citizens who wish to line the route are encouraged to do so as long as they do not impede the flow of traffic, he said.