Bend firefighters do well in Seattle stairclimb
On Sunday, March 9th, Bend firefighters competed in the annual Scott Firefighter Stair Climb challenge in Seattle. This event is a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and draws firefighters from around the world to Seattle to climb 69 floors of Seattle’s tallest building, the Columbia Center.
They do the climb in all of their protective gear including air tank and mask, more than 60 pounds of total gear worn as they climb the 1,311 steps.
Each of the Bend firefighters carried with him a photograph of Mechai Meadows, a local 12 year old boy who is currently battling leukemia.
The Bend team will be in the top 10 of fundraising, for the 4th year in a row, when all donations are tabulated at the end of the month! Deputy Chief Mark Taylor is 7th overall in fundraising as an individual with over $8,000 raised by himself!
Captain Scott Wyman placed 8th overall all out of over 1,600 competitors with a time of 12:47! That is a flight of stairs every 12 seconds! Bend Fire Department placed 7th as a team (top 3 fastest from a department added together to make the team time ) out of 188 teams competing.
Here are the results of all 12 BFD racers (overall place, name, time and rank out of overall):
8 Scott Wyman 12:47 8 / 1652
32 Andrew Norris 14:13 32 / 1652
121 Braydon Bigam 16:08 121 / 1652
140 Mitch Webb 16:24 140 / 1652
165 Mike Baxter 16:40 165 / 1652
257 Brandon Ladd 17:33 257 / 1652
315 Mike King 18:05 315 / 1652
324 Preston Prosser 18:09 324 / 1652
383 Don Segal 18:42 383 / 1652
420 Eddie Vahdat 18:57 420 / 1652
464 Brian Boyd 19:15 464 / 1652
930 Mark Taylor 23:13 930 / 1652
We STILL need your help! While all the firefighters have returned from Seattle, fundraising continues until the end of March. Please help the Bend Firefighters to fight cancer by going to the website www.firefighterstairclimb.org and clicking on the “Donate Now” tab. You can search for Bend Fire & Rescue there and donate on behalf of the entire Bend team, or individually for your favorite firefighter.
Each donation goes directly to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for blood cancer
research and patient services. Please help us make a difference in the fight against cancer!
