Bigfork firefighters compete in Scott Firefighter Stairclimb

By FAITH MOLDAN

Bigfork Eagle

Tim Page and Katie Edwards began training for next year’s Scott Firefighter Stairclimb a few days after returning to Bigfork from this year’s climb in Seattle.

“We’ve already started,” Page, a first-time participant of the climb, said when asked if they planned on starting training earlier next year. Page and Edwards began training in December for this year’s event. “I would have trained differently,” Page said.

The stairclimb requires firefighters to climb 69 (1,311 stairs) flights of stairs in full gear as fast as possible. The climb took place at the Columbia Center, the second tallest building west of the Mississippi, in Seattle, March 4.

Page, who finished the climb in 21:01, said more long-term endurance training, which is more continuous and keeps the heart rate up, will be part of their training now. Page finished 482nd overall and 188th out of 414 men in his age division.

“I’m happy with my time now. You can’t breathe, or function really,” Page said of the climb and reaching the top. He had been a member of the Bigfork Volunteer Fire Department for six months.

In preparation for this year’s climb the Bigfork firefighters ran stairs at the fire station twice a week and worked out at the Montana Athletic Club four times a week.

Edwards’ finish time this year was a few minutes slower than her 28-minute finish last year. The Bigfork fire captain finished the climb in 30:52, placing her 33rd out of 40 women in her age division. She was 956th out of the 1,100 competitors from across the United States, Canada and New Zealand. Eighty-three women entered the climb and 81 finished. Three or more climbers are necessary to record a team time for the department.

Helping Page and Edwards during the climb was Summerlee Luckow. Luckow acted as the bottle changer on the 40th floor.

“She was pushing us in the right direction,” Edwards, who started the climb with three-fourths of a tank, said. “It went pretty smooth,” Page said of the bottle change, which according to Edwards should take no longer than a minute.

“I changed 150 bottles,” Luckow said. “I was supposed to change two. A couple of us just jumped in (to help others).” Luckow said many of the firefighters she changed bottles for came back down after their climb to thank her and others for their help.

That gratitude and camaraderie carried through as firefighters passed each other on the stairs during the climb.

“They’d pass you and pat you on the back and tell you to keep going,” Edwards said. “It’s quite the get-together,” she said. The Bigfork firefighters had a chance to talk to and meet firefighters from Kalispell and Missoula at the stairclimb. Other departments commented on how it was nice to see a volunteer department like Bigfork at the event, as the majority of the other firefighters hold paid positions.

The Scott Firefighter Stairclimb is the largest firefighting competition in the world and is also a fund-raiser for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The climb raised $355,000 last year. The Bigfork Volunteer Fire Department is still accepting donations.

“We haven’t tallied it yet,” Edwards said of the money they’ve raised. “We’re still getting donations,” Luckow added.

Anyone interested in donating money to the team should contact the Bigfork Fire Department.