Lake Hamilton firefighter Sam Wills joined dozens of other firefighters from around the state on June 12 for the inaugural Arkansas Fallen Firefighters' Memorial stair climb at the Hotel Hot Springs & Spa during the Arkansas Fire Convention.
Arkansas Fallen Firefighters' Memorial Chairman Shane Dallas said the event was to remember the 122 Arkansas firefighters they have records on who died in the line of duty. Those who registered were able to pick one of the names of firefighters from the memorial wall in Little Rock to honor with their climb.
Wills climbed the stairs in honor of the late Lake Hamilton Fire Chief Matt S. Simpson, who died of cancer in 2013.
"He was a great leader, very knowledgeable, always inspired his men," said Wills. "Good overall friend and great family to be around."
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The former chief's son, Matthew W. Simpson, who is also a firefighter at the Lake Hamilton Fire Department, remembers his father as someone to look up to.
"I lost him when I was 10, so I didn't get to really know all the finer details about him, but what I did get to know was the best person on earth," Simpson said.
He said his father also influenced his decision to be a firefighter.
"Just him being here opened up so many doors for me already and made great connections with my chief and a lot of the staff here at the fire department, and knowing these people growing up has also opened up so many doors for me to really pave my way to help other people in my future," he said.
Simpson called being a firefighter "the best profession there is."
Wills said it's a great job and brotherhood, and it's always worth serving the community.
"Outside of the military this is the biggest family I've ever had, and I love each and every one of them," said Wills, who also served six years in the Army.
He said he's planning on making the stair climb an event he regularly attends and hopes to see more people come out again next year.
According to Dallas, they had 50 climbers at the event.
"To do the entire thing, it was a 110-story event, but the premise was not necessarily to do 110 stories, it was just to get out and to remember somebody that's on the wall," said Dallas, mentioning that many did do all 110 stories.
He said the event was modeled after the 9/11 stair climbs that are done around the country. After the success of the event, he said they plan to regularly incorporate it as an event at the Arkansas Fire Convention. He said they want to make sure the firefighters' legacies are carried on throughout the years.
"As time goes on, sometimes we unintentionally forget about what people give to their community and give to the state, and by remembering the people that are on the memorial, we keep their contribution alive," he said.
Dallas said the Arkansas Fallen Firefighters' Memorial was created a few decades ago with the idea the state needed a location to go to in order to remember fallen firefighters. In March 2014, Dallas said they were able to construct the memorial wall in Little Rock with the firefighters' names carved into it.
Dallas said they dug extensively through records to ensure no firefighter was forgotten, with the first name on the wall being that of Julius Deiser, a Fort Smith firefighter who died in 1889.
According to Dallas, Simpson's name doesn't appear on the memorial because he died before the state recognized cancer as dying in the line of duty. Dallas said Simpson was a friend, and remembers him as a great man.
Since the state started recognizing cancer as a cause, many of the firefighters whose names have been put on the memorial died of cancer, he said, noting they're donating all funds from the event to the Arkansas Firefighter Cancer Relief Network Trust Fund.
The names of the firefighters who fell in the line of duty can be found at https://www.arfallenfirefighters.org/index.php/names-of-the-fallen.
