Mid-Columbia firefighters climb stairs in Seattle to save lives

Firefighters from across the Mid-Columbia climbed 788 feet of steps to save lives.

Only this time their battle was against leukemia.

More than 45 firefighters from across the region took to social media to share their experiences with the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb.

Firefighters don full gear and race to the top to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

The event brings more then 2,000 firefighters from across the world to climb the Columbia Center building in Seattle, the tallest building the Northwest.

The goal is to raise more than $2.65 million.

Benton County Fire District 2 shared a message on Facebook from an anonymous firefighter who was proud of his team’s accomplishment of raising more than $8,000 for the society.

“Let’s hope the 40-year-old ticker holds out,” the firefighter joked.

Pasco firefighters shared a post from Jimmy McGrath, who was overwhelmed by the donations and support

“On a personal level, last year I did the climb in 66 minutes, which is worthy of ‘at least you finished.’” he wrote on Facebook. “Those words don’t sit well with me.”

After training, he brought his time down to 27.5 minutes.

Franklin County Fire District 3, Kennewick, Richland, Benton County Fire District 4, Hanford and other departments also had firefighters climbing the stairs.

People can still donate money to their team or a firefighter through the stairclimb’s website, bit.ly/StairclimbDonation.

This story was originally published March 11, 2018 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Mid-Columbia firefighters climb stairs in Seattle to save lives."