SPOKANE -- The Spokane Fire Department finished in third place out of 129 teams at the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb in Seattle Sunday. The department fielded a team of 30 firefighters in one of the world's largest individual firefighter competitions.
Each year, firefighters climb the 69 flights of stairs--- or 1,311 steps--- of the Columbia Center in Downtown Seattle in full gear. That's about 50 pounds of extra weight! Firefighters from across the U.S., Canada and New Zealand competed in this year's event to raise funds for blood cancers research, more the 1,300 firefighters in all.
Two of Spokane's firefighters placed in the top 20. Eric Ross finished 1st in his age group and 6th overall with a time of 12:57. Firefighter Jason Keen finished in 20th place with a time of 13:45. (Minutes:Seconds)
The Spokane Valley Fire Department finished 6th in the team competition.
The Spokane Fire Department has raised $12,960 for the cause so far this year. The annual event benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We're told $640,000 was collected so far altogether. Donations can still be made, check out the department's Facebook page for details.
