BONNYVILLE – Some of Bonnyville’s finest firefighters from Station 5 will be making a trek to Seattle to compete in an international stair climbing competition that draws in 2,000 firefighters from the United States and beyond.
Four local firefighters, Coltin Batke, Avery Lachambre, Dakota Theroux and Craig Wenzel, will head south to climb all 69 floors of the Columbia Centre in downtown Seattle – a 788 ft. vertical elevation – to participate in the LLS Firefighter Stairclimb.
The four volunteer firefighters will be climbing 1,356 steps in full structural turn-out gear, weighing roughly 65 lbs., while using air supplied from an oxygen tank.
The group began conditioning for the challenge a few months ago, and have been carrying out exercises in full gear, says Station 5 fire chief and stair climb participant, Wenzel.
Carrying out the climbing competition while using a Self-contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) mask and pack, makes the Seattle climb unique and even more challenging than other charity climbs the local firefighters have participated in previously.
“We have a person on the 43rd floor that will be able to change our tank if we are running low, and then we continue on up,” explained Wenzel. “Apparently it is quite the view from the 69th floor.”
After the long and taxing trek up, firefighters will be able to take a more relaxing trip down on the building’s elevator.
“It’s a nice ride down in the elevator when we are exhausted - or I'll be exhausted anyway, I can't speak for the other three,” he said, with a laugh.
“A few of our members are looking to break the 15-minute mark. Some are just happy to finish... We challenge ourselves on the daily in the fire service. This is just one other way to be able to do it,” said the fire chief.
“I'll be extremely proud of the other three for finishing and doing it in a time that they're happy with.”
With the event taking place on March 13, the Bonnyville firefighters and their supporters will fly into Seattle on the Friday night before the competition takes place.
It’s “definitely nerve wracking now that it's getting closer,” admitted Wenzel.
The Bonnyville crew will be one of a handful of international groups competing in this year's event, with some groups travelling from Europe, South America and Australia.
And while the firefighters don’t have to qualify to take part, Wenzel says the hardest part is simply getting signed up. “It sells out immediately – within 12 to 15 minutes.”
This will be the first time that Bonnyville’s firefighters will get to attend the challenge in person.
“In 2020, there was a few of us from Bonnyville that decided to try and sign up for Seattle for the first time. I was the only one that actually managed to get in before the event sold out and when COVID hit they actually canceled the in-person (portion) about a week before the event,” said Wenzel, who ended up using the fire hall’s stairwell to compete virtually.
RELATED STORY: Bonnyville firefighter ready to make the climb
Last year, two fighters had also signed up to participate virtually. This time Wenzel and Batke took to Walsh Football Field to carry out the climb.
“Climbing that 112 times as opposed to going straight up is quite different. This should be quite a different challenge than the last two years that we've done it,” he said.
Climbing for a cause
The international firefighters' event is meant to raise money in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
“As much as I think this has been deemed a competition, it's more of a challenge,” Wenzel said, adding the main purpose of participating is to raise funds for a worthy cause.
“It's well known that firefighters can get cancer quite easily from the work we do. It's one of those things that we hold near and dear to our hearts. With cancer fundraising, it's very easy to want to help with stuff like that, when we know that there is a higher chance that we may get cancer as well throughout our career,” he noted.
In order to take part, firefighters must raise at least $300 as a registration fee that doubles as a donation for the charity. All other travel and accommodation expenses fall on those participating in the climb.
So far, the group has raised about $3,500, including contributions raised by the Bonnyville Legion in support of their commitment to climb.
“We have been very fortunate the local Legion had a fundraiser for us. They graciously offered that and were able to raise about $1,200 for the four of us to be able to go,” he said. “It's quite humbling... we try to support local groups in our community as firefighters and we appreciate the support that we get from other local groups.”
Legion rallies support for the climb
Jamie Beaupre, the president of the Bonnyville Legion, first heard about the local firefighters’ participation in the climb while listening to a radio station that operates outside the region.
The radio segment sparked an idea and while discussing it with other Legion members over a cup of coffee, they agreed to host an event to help support the local firefighters' trip south of the border.
To raise money, the Legion carried out five meat draws and auctioned off a hand-crafted jewelry box filled with unique trinkets, explains Beaupre.
“The biggest thing with the fire department is that they are our guys, and we want to support our boys and girls... As far as our Legion staff, we are pretty proud that it is our town and our people that are going to compete,” he said.
Legion members knew that the fire department had participated in events similar to the LLS Seattle Stairclimb before, and knew they were capable of it – “that was no secret” – but the fact that the homegrown firefighters are heading abroad to compete is quite breathtaking, says Beaupre.
The support and turnout for the Firefighter Jam Night fundraiser held on Feb. 26 was also overwhelming, he added.
