BONNYVILLE – On March 13, four firefighters from the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority (BRFA) headed south of the border to take part in the 31st annual Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Firefighter Stairclimb at the Columbia Centre in downtown Seattle.
Starting on the fourth floor of Seattle’s tallest building, firefighters climbed in full structural turn-out gear up to the 73rd floor.
Climbers got a minor break halfway up while a designated helper swapped out the competitors’ oxygen tank, but as Station 5 Fire Chief Craig Wenzel noted, the break wasn’t quite long enough.
“We also had a phenomenal bottle changer on the 43rd floor who had us changed out and back on the stairs in under a minute,” explained Wenzel, referring to his wife Seanna.
“I think she was more nervous than us the day of the climb. She didn’t want to slow us down – little did she know we wanted a break and she didn’t let us have one,” he said, adding “I have to give props to my lovely wife for being the best pit crew boss ever."
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With the fastest time in the Bonnyville group, Dakota Theroux completed the 69 floors in 19 minutes and 17 seconds.
Wenzel finished the climb in 26 minutes and 5 seconds. Just over a minute behind was Coltin Batke finishing the climb 27 minutes and 33 seconds.
Batke was followed by Avery Lachambre who completed the 1,356 steps climb in 32 minutes and 41 seconds.
With the support of the community and the BRFA, the group of four raised just over $6,000 CAN for the charity challenge.
Overall, the 31st annual event raised 1.93 million USD for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
