He doesn’t mean to, but Bill Price inevitably scares people sometimes.

They arrive at Suffolk Family YMCA to find him sweating away on the stair machine in the alarming — given the context — outfit of a firefighter.

Fire-resistant pants and jacket. Helmet. Air pack. A 2-½-inch supply line folded and slung over his shoulder.

It probably all weighs about 110 pounds, according to Price.

Price said the scare factor was more problematic when he first started training for 9/11 Memorial Stair Climbs at the Y.

The other Y clients are more accustomed to it now, he said, but he used to leave folks wondering whether their lives were in imminent danger.

“The only thing I don’t wear are the boots, because I don’t want to wear boots on their equipment,” Price said.

Since starting the memorial climbs last year, Price said, he has done two in North Carolina and one in Richmond, and has a couple scheduled for this year.

“They give you a tag of somebody killed in 9/11, you wear it around your neck, and you essentially complete a climb that they couldn’t finish,” he said.

Price, 44, has been a firefighter since he was 16. He currently captains Naval Station Norfolk’s fire department.

Price said his godfather was a firefighter in New York on 9/11. When one of the buildings came down, he was “in a bucket 100 feet in the air.”

“He lost a lot of good friends,” Price added. “That’s how I got involved (in the climbs). He’s one of the guys who doesn’t want to talk about it.”

Price also wanted to improve his health. His father died at 62, and he and his wife have two young children together, 5 and 3.

“Wanting to see my children grow up was another motivation,” he said.

Of course, the brotherhood that firefighters share and that brotherhood’s loss in 9/11 are also up there with Price’s reasons for gearing-up and climbing buildings that are not on fire.

“When you see something like that — 343 guys killed at once — it’s devastating,” he said, adding he wanted to do something to honor them.

“Anyone can go and write a check,” Price said. “This you have to work at, and feel what it was like. This, you are taking time out of your day. You are holding something, you are wearing something.”

It’s not only firefighters that do the memorial climbs, Price said. He once saw someone give it their all in a bomb suit. “Then you have guys want to do it in gym shorts and T-shirts. That’s good too,” he said.

A memorial climb might be 80 or 100 floors and take 3 ½ to four hours, Price said, and he trains at the Y three or four times a week.

“I feel better,” he said of the effect on his health. “My blood pressure has dropped enormously. I’ve got pancreatitis, and since I’ve been going to the gym it’s been no problem.

“I feel better. When it’s been three or four days and I haven’t gone to the gym, I start feeling out of energy.”