'In a heartbeat' | Crescent City California News, Sports, & Weather ...

3 local men training for Stair Climb

The fire escape stairwell at the Surf Apartments provides the vertical training ground for local firefighters. Del Norte Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

Even when not battling blazes, local firefighters race to save lives. Three men from the Crescent City Volunteer Fire Department are training for the 2012 Scott Fire Fighter Stair Climb, a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

The March 11 event in Seattle will see 1,500 firefighters from the U.S., Canada, Germany and New Zealand race up 69 flights of stairs wearing 50 pounds of gear and breathing with oxygen tanks.

More than $930,000 was raised in last year?s climb up the 1,311 steps (788 vertical feet) of Seattle?s Columbia Center, the second-tallest building west of the Mississippi.

Blaine Hurley, team captain of the local firefighters who are competing, learned of the event while doing construction on the Conoco-Phillips building in Anchorage, Alaska, in 2004. Firefighters were using Alaska?s tallest building to train for that year?s stair climb event.? Seven years later, a newscast reminded Hurley of the competition.

?I thought, ?I?m on the (fire) Department now. I?m going to go do that,?? Hurley said.

Hurely asked fellow firefighter Heath Schaad, who was already training for a half-marathon, how far he was willing to take his training and if he wanted to compete in the climb.

?At the time, I didn?t even know that Heath was a survivor of leukemia,? Hurley said.

When Schaad was 19, he was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, an aggressive form of the disease, and told he had just weeks to live. After years of treatment, he beat the cancer. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society helped Schaad?s family offset hundreds of dollars in transportation costs when he was driving to Eureka from Smith River five times a week for treatment.

Hurley recalled Schaad responding to the invitation by saying, ?I?ll do it in a heartbeat.?

Firefighter Dan Borges also signed up for the event, rounding out the team. In November, the volunteer firefighters secured a spot in the competition ? registration filled up in 65 minutes. The local team is the only Northern California team participating outside of the Bay Area.

?We?re working hard to get a good time,? Schaad said. ?We want to put a good showing on for our town and put Crescent City on the map.?

Firefighters Heath Schaad, left, and Blaine Hurley after a training session. Del Norte Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

In a short-stacked city, the next hurdle was finding a good set of stairs to practice. Mary Berry, manager of the Surf Apartments, the tallest building in town, was delighted to offer the building?s staircase. Residents of the senior housing facility consistently cheer on the firefighters as they scramble up the seven-story set of stairs 14 times a day, three times a week.

Hurley recently asked an elderly resident if she needed help, because she was staring at them.

?No, I just like looking at firemen,? Hurley recalls her saying.

?If it wasn?t for the residents letting us use their facility, we?d have a hard time finding a place to train,? Schaad said, adding that outdoor steps to Pebble Beach become too slippery from moss.

Hurley and Schaad said the hardest part of training is dealing with the heat in their full gear.

?You just feel the heat building up,? Schaad said.

The firefighters have set up? collection boxes where donations can be dropped off at 6 Degrees of Celebration, Crescent Uniforms, Del Norte Office Supply, La Fiesta, Northwoods Restaurant and Sun Seekers tanning salon.

The fundraising goal for the 21st annual climb is $1 million, and Beth Rosapepe, manager of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, said it is on track to meet the goal.

?The money that firefighters raise also benefits patients all over the U.S.,? Rosapepe said.

People affected by blood cancers have come out of the woodwork while the local team has looked for donations.

Hurley was fundraising at the local VFW hall and met Geraldine Brady, who was being sworn in as the new president of the VFW Ladies Auxillary. Brady is currently fighting leukemia and Hurley told her of the financial assistance available from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society for her treatment. The firefighters will have images of Brady on their helmets during the race and a poster of her will grace the stairwell of the Columbia Center.

?I think that?s really nice of them to do that,? said Brady, who will turn 90 in March.

A poster depicting Schaad, who is also a survivor, will also hang in the stairwell.

Schaad explained the stair climb to his co-worker?s sister and found out she survived the same type of leukemia as Schaad. She promptly donated $150.

While the team inquired about placing a donation box at Safeway, they were surprised with an $80 donation from assistant manager Bonnie Weaver, who is also a cancer survivor.

?This community is huge when it comes to giving for things,? Schaad said. ?The outpouring we?ve received from this community already has been phenomenal.?

The team has collected $2,130 for the fundraiser so far.

At this year?s event, ?we?re just getting our feet wet,? Hurley said, adding the climb is ?something we?ll do every year? with more extensive fundraising in the future.

Debra Wakefield, Fire Chief Steve Wakefield?s wife and the unquestioned ?mom? of the crew,? said when it comes to giving back to the community, these firefighters don?t think twice, even though ?they?re modest about it.?

Reach Adam Spencer at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Source: http://www.triplicate.com/News/Local-News/In-a-heartbeat

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