Firefighters from three North Olympic Peninsula fire departments have joined a bigger team for a different kind of fight.
Instead of a raging fire, they are battling cancer and getting help from their communities along the way.
Teams from Port Angeles, Sequim and Port Townsend will take part in the 24th annual Scott Firefighter Stairclimb on March 8 at the Columbia Tower in Seattle to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
At 788 feet, the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle is the second tallest building west of the Mississippi River, according to the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb website.
The staircase includes 69 flights and 1,311 steps, ending at an observation deck overlooking the city, the point to which participants will climb in full firefighting gear.
“This is my 13th year doing it. The first time I didn’t think I could finish. You want to quit after the first 10 flights,” East Jefferson Fire-Rescue team captain Patrick McNerthney said.
Firefighters raise money through sponsorships collected before the event, individual and department fundraising, and entry fees.
Donations can be made at participating fire stations or online at the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb website, www.tinyurl.com/PDN-Climb.
To donate online, click on the red “donate” button and search for local firefighting teams by department name.
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is the world’s largest voluntary, nonprofit health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services, according to its website.
More than 2,000 firefighters are registered for the 2015 climb.
The event is sold out for participants, but a waiting list is available at the Stairclimb website.
In 2014, the event featured 1,800 firefighters from more than 300 different departments, who raised $1.97 million for blood-cancer research and patient services.
Port Angeles
The Port Angeles Fire Department team is led by team captain Daniel Montana, a firefighter and paramedic.
His team consists of firefighter/paramedic Brian Doolittle, firefighter Andy Pittman, firefighter Simon Wilson and Lt. Kelly Ziegler.
They have raised $1,167 toward their $5,000 goal.
Training today
Port Angeles’ team will conduct training and fundraising at 3:30 p.m. today at the South Laurel Street staircase behind the Conrad Dyer Memorial Fountain.
In 2013, the Port Angeles firefighters dedicated their climb to Anne Edwards, then a third-grader at Dry Creek Elementary, who was battling lymphoma, Montana said.
In 2014, Edwards was pronounced cancer free and attended the climb as a VIP, he said.
Her father, Rob Edwards, began a new fundraising tradition of inviting local athletic groups to participate in the firefighters’ training climbs.
Firefighters climb the Laurel Street stairs 12 times in each session to equal the height of the Columbia Center.
“The community is coming together for this fundraiser,” Montana said.
The Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps physical training team from Port Angeles High School is among those who will train with the group today.
Participating youth teams and college athletic teams bring individual donations to join the firefighters’ training climbs.
“The message we are trying to give to these kids is that people are fighting battles with cancer every day,” Montana said.
“While you are climbing these stairs 12 times you may want to stop, but there is a kid out there your age who would give anything to be where your are right now, so find the strength inside you to complete the challenge any way you can,” he said.
Four athletic groups participated at the training session last Monday.
Port Angeles Swim Club members donated $106, members of the Port Angeles Impact Fastpitch donated $215, and the Peninsula College men’s and women’s soccer teams donated $163.
Sequim
The Clallam County Fire District No. 3 team is led by captain Brian Ouellette, a firefighter and paramedic.
The team members are firefighter/paramedic Shawn Evenhus, emergency medical technician Lee Forderer, firefighter/EMT Kelsey Horst, Lt. Michael McAneny, firefighter/EMT Lee Oman and firefighter/EMT Jared Romberg.
They have raised $3,625 toward a $10,000 goal.
The team does not have a fundraising event planned, but is accepting donations.
Evenhus said many of the Stairclimb firefighters wear photos on their helmets of loved ones impacted by leukemia or lymphoma.
Firefighters aren’t just in full gear. They are also in full mask, drawing their air from the tanks they carry, Evenhus said.
Halfway up, the climbers switch to fresh tanks with the help of other firefighters from their department, he said.
The equipment weighs 50 pounds.
“It gets hot, and by the time you get to the top, you’re exhausted,” he said.
He said he trains by climbing the department’s training tower, using a stair climber and by hiking and running in the hills above Sequim.
Port Townsend
East Jefferson Fire-Rescue’s team is made up of two firefighter/EMTs, team captain McNerthney and teammate Scott Pulido.
Contributors have donated $455 toward their $5,000 goal.
McNerthney has reached the top in each of his 12 years at the event, one foot after another up the 1,311 steps.
“It becomes mind over matter,” he said.
Now age 65, he said each year he gets a little slower than his best time of 25 minutes.
In 2014 he did the climb in 32 minutes.
McNerthney said he and Pulido do not schedule active fundraising activities, but each year there are generous friends and community members who donate after learning of the event through word of mouth or through personal letters.
“If I can get at least $1,500 I will do it again next year,” he said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
