This Sunday 13 Valley Regional Fire Authority firefighters will climb to the top of the Columbia Center in Seattle. Despite being on-air and wearing full gear, there will be no fire to battle. The battle the Valley Professional Firefighters IAFF team fights is far crueler: blood cancer.
March 13, marks the 31st Annual LLS Firefighter Stairclimb. Held in downtown Seattle, this event is the world’s largest on-air stairclimb competition event. Since the climb in 1991, the LLS Firefighter climb has raised over $20 million to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Climbing for a Cause
To successfully complete the competition, a climber must race up the 69 flights of stairs and 1,356 steps, a 788 feet vertical elevation, to reach the observation deck. This climb, done in full structural turnout gear while on-air, is symbolic of what cancer patients endure. Though the climb is strenuous in its own right, it pales in comparison to patient’s taxing journey.
The Scott Firefighter Stairclimb is limited to career, volunteer, or retired firefighters only and sees climbers from all over the world.
The 13 members of the Valley Professional Firefighter IAFF 1352 team. “For three firefighters it’s their first climb: Rachel Labender, Joseph Parrish, and Shawn Bowen,” said team captain, Ryan Simpson. “Battalion Chief Gary Barker is doing his 21st Stair Climb and the rest all have multiple climbs: Travis Schade, Matt Kinnee, Jerry Montiel, Jeremiah Mushen, Cory Wallace, Guy Smith, Justin Erickson, Blake Laidlaw, and myself.”
Donations to the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb are tax-deductible and can be made online at the VRFA team page.
You can support the VRFA firefighters and their mission by making a donation to the team or one of the 13 climbers. There is presently (3/10) a matching donation, meaning your donation will be automatically matched. This match will last as long as the matching total is available.
Donate Now: Valley Professional Firefighters Team Page
Each climber is timed, and the results of the VRFA team will be posted after Sunday’s stairclimb.
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