McIntosh, 35, in his sixth year in Middletown after part-time stints with the Fairfield Twp., Liberty Twp. and Moraine fire departments, asked Chief Paul Lolli if he could wear his gear while exercising on the stepper at the Atrium YMCA.
He said the gear weighs about 40 pounds and the air pack weighs 30 pounds.
It took McIntosh about 40 minutes to climb the 110 floors. He was “gassed” after 30 floors, he said. But he was inspired to finish by watching the televised news reports and listening to his favorite worship songs, he said.
He called the exercise “one of the hardest things” he had ever done.
McIntosh, though, insisted what he did can’t comparison to the “incredible” firefighters who “paid the price” with their lives. He said 343 firefighters died that day, the largest firefighter casualty in history.
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