FIREFIGHTERS CLIMB FOR A CURE

After months of strenuous workout routines, watching their diets, and many trips into Portland to practice on the stairs at the US Bank Corp Tower, the hard of our firefighters work paid off last weekend in Seattle.  On Sunday, March 10,  the efforts of teams of firefighters from Forest Grove and Cornelius culminated with the annual Scott Firefighter Stair Climb up the sixty-nine floors of stairs of downtown Seattle's Columbia Center and in the end all of the hard work was for a good cause.  In total over $20,000 was raised by the teams from Forest Grove and Cornelius that will go directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society which is the benefactor of this annual event billed as the largest firefighter competition in the world. 

The intimidating Columbia Center loomed over I-5 as the team entered Seattle

Team Results for the Forest Grove Team

Keith Baas  17 minutes 52 seconds finished 318th overall

Jay Edwards 20 minutes 8 seconds finished 607th overall

Robert Webb 21 minutes 17 seconds finished 748th overall

Ivan Bratchuk 21 minutes 18 seconds finished 750th overall

Will Murphy 27 minutes 4 seconds finished 1141st overall

Tony Carter 29 minutes 11 seconds finished 1218th overall

Emmett Middaugh 29 minutes 59 seconds finished 1243rd overall

Cassie Knierim 33 minutes 57 seconds finished 1325th overall

Nick Chan 34 minutes 35 seconds finished 1336th overall

The Stair Climb Teams from Forest Grove and Cornelius get ready to go to work

Team results for the Cornelius Team

Phil Duncan 15 minutes 46 seconds finished 115th overall

James Callahan 17 minutes 36 seconds finished 286th overall

Colin Scott 18 minutes 33 seconds finished 403rd overall 

Robert Conrath 19 minutes 25 seconds finished 511th overall

Michael Davis 19 minutes 52 seconds finished 570th overall

Mark Patterson 20 minutes 13 seconds finished 625th overall

Thomas Schilling 21 minutes 55 seconds finished 819th overall

Garth Culbertson 22 minutes 28 seconds finished 874th overall

Andrew Jensen 22 minutes 33 seconds finished 884th overall

Trevor Storms 25 minutes 5 seconds finished 1041st overall

Derek Cardelli 28 minutes 5 seconds finished 1180th overall

Jason Lawson 28 minutes 47 seconds finished 1202nd overall

Byron Steinke 33 minutes 37 seconds finished 1315th overall

Steve Black 34 minutes 48 seconds finished 1341st overall

Kevin Ritcheson 42 minutes 34 seconds finished 1416th overall

Cornelius Captain Steve Black's helmet with the photos to motivate him to climb

FGF&R Volunteer Jay Edwards was the first to start his climb up Columbia Center, the tallest building west of the Mississippi River and much taller than anything in Forest Grove or Cornelius