Firefighters raise money for stair climb event
Six Polson firefighters will travel to Seattle to participate in the 2016 Scott Firefighter Stair climb March 6, a fundraising event for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
But before they can test their grit by racing to the top of a 788-foot tower wearing full firefighting gear, Polson firefighters must get into shape as well as raise money to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
To raise their $5,000 goal, Polson volunteer firefighters set up a stair-climbing machine, donned their full 50-pound structural firefighting gear pack and practiced stair climbing at various locations while collecting donations.
Racing to the top of a Seattle skyscraper is particularly important to Polson team members because for the past few years, the team was raising money that went to kids like Bella Allred of Polson who was three years old when she was diagnosed.
“In the summer of 2013 our daughter was diagnosed with leukemia,” said Bella Allred’s mother Jessica Allred. “As if the shock wasn’t enough, our nephew was diagnosed with lymphoma but a mere month prior.” Jessica Allred said the past few years proved extremely difficult.
“It’s amazing how so much good can come from so much bad,” Jessica Allred said. “LLSWA has given us an incredible amount of strength. We realized we were not fighting our battles alone. There were and still are so many strangers, family and friends fighting for our children. They are fighting to fund the research that will one day bring a cure.”
On event day, the 2015 stair climb winner will begin the race, followed every 12 seconds by another participant.
Firefighters representing communities around the Pacific Northwest will take part in the stair climb.
As firefighters work their way up the tower, volunteers will stand watch on various stairwell landings to offer support.
In 2015, a team of 10 Polson firefighters attended the event along with the family of Bella Allred, now 5 years old.
To reach the top of the Columbia Center building in downtown Seattle, the second tallest building west of the Mississippi River, participants must wear and breath through Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBAs) used when fighting fires. To reach its observation deck, and the end of the course, each firefighter must take on 69 flights of stairs, 1,311 steps.
In 2014, Polson Fire Department donated $4,264.21 to the cause. In 2015, the department donated $5,825. This is their fifth year of competition.
During its 16-year history of the Scott Firefighter Stair climb, organizers contributed about $12 million to support the LLS mission.