SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) -- An annual event to honor first responders who lost their lives during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will be held at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel later this month.

People are invited to participate in the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb by climbing 110 flights of stairs, which is equivalent to the height of the World Trade Center. • Watch the interview with Sara Berns and Doug Nakama above.

According to Sara Berns, the executive director for San Diego Fire Relief Association and FirefighterAid, the stair climb is a living memorial to remember the 403 emergency responders and thousands of civilians who died on 9/11.

The losses included 343 New York City firefighters. Doug Nakama, a retired deputy fire chief with San Diego Fire-Rescue, was among those who flew to

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