VRFA Firefighter Dean McAuley will travel to New York City this weekend to accept an award recognizing his fundraising efforts for “Tunnel to Towers,” a 5-kilometer run-walk honoring firefighters lost on 9-11 and benefiting the children of fallen firefighters.

On Sunday, following the seventh annual run, McAuley and his teammate, Orting firefighter Matt Emrich, will be presented with the “Brother to Brother” award to recognize their fundraising efforts and continued participation. The ceremony will take place at 10:40 a.m. at the World Trade Center site. Representatives from the New York Fire Department will present the award.

McAuley’s team, “Washington State Firefighters,” is made up of firefighters from the Valley Regional Fire Authority, and from the Kent, Everett, Orting, Renton and East Pierce fire departments. They have raised $12,000 over the past two years by selling custom T-shirts and hosting car washes.

The Washington State Firefighters team will be running again in this year’s event.

The “Tunnel to Towers” run was organized to honor New York Firefighter Stephen Siller and other firefighters who perished on 9-11.

Siller was on his way to a golf game with his brothers when he saw planes crash into the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. He turned his truck around and headed for the towers, only to be stopped in traffic. He abandoned his vehicle, put on his firefighting gear and ran toward the chaos, where he later died.

Each year firefighters honor the memory of Siller, along with the other 342 firefighters who died that day, by running his path from the Battery Tunnel to the Twin Towers site in lower Manhattan.

The Siller Foundation, a charity that assists the children of the fallen 9-11 firefighters, receives and distributes the funds raised at the event.