Firefighters Raise $500,000 in Scott Firefighter Stairclimb

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Why would a firefighter don 50 lbs of gear and run up 69 flights of stairs? For a worthy cause. Teams from 256 different departments in the United States, Canada, Germany and New Zealand traveled to Seattle, Washington to climb the Columbia Center Sunday in what is believed to be the largest individual firefighting competition in the world, according to the Seattle Times. They ascended the tallest building in the city in the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb to raise money for the local chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

"I've never had a workout hurt as much as this. My legs hurt, my lungs hurt, my back hurts, even my arms hurt. Pretty much everything hurts," said Kory Burgess, 27, of the Missoula Rural Fire Department after finishing his sixth Stairclimb. For the second year, Burgess won. He was the first of 1,555 firefighters to reach the 73rd-floor observation deck after 1,311 steps. He did it in 11 minutes, 01:35 seconds good enough for First Place, but not beating his winning time last year of 10:55:75, according to the paper. "You kind of forget the pain throughout the year," Burgess said.

Burgess told the newspaper he trains for the event at home in Montana by climbing Missoula's tallest building's 10 flights of stairs, 10 times or by hiking Mount Sentinel, both while wearing his turnouts, SCBA and face mask, just like in the competition.

Missoula firefighters also took second and fourth places, while third place was won by a firefighter from Spokane, Washington.

Firefighters lined up outside the building, waiting to begin their turn at the 788-foot climb. Climbers were staggered at 15-second intervals and began their official time by tapping their wrist bands to a sensor. On the 40th floor they paused to swap out oxygen tanks and on the 73rd floor, they tapped another sensor to record their finishing times. Some stumbled and fell to the floor, others peeled off their face masks and ripped open their jackets but all were greeted by cheering volunteers and a team of medics, according to the Times.

"It's hot, you feel like you can't get enough air and your legs are burning the whole way," said Ben McCafferty, of nearby Bainbridge Island Fire Department. "I think floor 25 or so is the worst because you're no way near the halfway point but you're suffering plenty already." McCafferty, 39, told the paper, he is not one of the fastest climbers so he focuses on raising as much money as he can and this year he raised $2,000 in pledges.

"You've got 375 minutes of firefighters; that's a constant six-hour procession, which is an amazing show of force for this cause," McCafferty said.

Firefighters raised money for the charitable event through sponsorships, individual and department fundraising, and entry fees.  "We just hit the $500,000 mark for this year, but our volunteers will be counting for two or three weeks to come," Mike McQuaid, an event spokesman told the newspaper.  

Since the climb started in 1992, firefighters have raised $2.7 million for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Ten percent of those firefighters that competed were women, like Georgia Sans Daniels, the top female finisher 11 of the last 12 years. The 41-year-old is a 15-year veteran of the Graham Fire Department in Pierce County, Washington and the only woman in the first "battalion" of 41 elite runners who began the climb. She finished in 14:51:90, taking the women's title and was the 54th finisher overall, according to the Times.

"Every year is like this — it's horrible, but you forget," she said. "When you're in the tower, you definitely think, 'I'm never doing this again.' "

For all the results, both individual and team, visit: http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_page.adp?item_id=6012 and click on 'results'.


Author:Barbara Brooks - FDNNTV.com