Two firefighters from South King Fire & Rescue will trade their step mills for the real thing this weekend, as they climb 69 flights of stairs in full bunker gear at the Columbia Center in Seattle.
South King serves Des Moines and Federal Way.
The annual stairclimb, which raises funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, is the largest individual firefighting competition in the world. The event is sold out, with 1500 participants from fire departments across the country and Canada.
Firefighters Dan Borg and Kris Lindahl will be outfitted in full bunker gear including Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), boots and helmets, all adding an extra 50 lbs. of weight as they trek up 1,311 steps. This will be Lindahl's second climb.
"The first year it took me over 20 minutes. This year my goal is to be under twenty minutes," said Lindahl. "The whole thing is hard, nothing about it is easy."
Lindahl will focus on controlling his breathing in order to make his air bottle last the entire climb, while other competitors change their smaller bottles in the middle of the climb.
The agony of the climb is well worth it, as Lindahl understands the reason he and the other 1499 firefighters are participating in the event.
"Our 10 to 20 minutes of hard work are nothing compared to that of the children living with this disease and fighting for their lives each and every day," Lindahl said.
This year's stairclimb honorees are Hunter Smith and Breonia Adam.
At 788 feet of vertical elevation, the Columbia Center stands as the second tallest building west of the Mississippi.
The Scott Firefighter Stairclimb supports the mission of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, raising money through sponsorships, individual and department fundraising, and entry fees. In 2010, the event featured over 1,500 firefighters from 247 different departments and brought in a record $780,000 for blood-cancer research and patient services.