Firefighters from Gibsons, Sechelt, Roberts Creek and Port Mellon climbed their way up 48 storeys of the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel in Vancouver March 1 — in full turnout gear — to help raise funds for the B.C. Lung Association.
The Sechelt team of Dagan Benner, Shane Mackay and fire Chief Bill Higgs raised nearly $5,000 in pledges, which was more than any other firefighting team registered in the province.
Higgs said fundraising wasn’t difficult because “no one ever really said no.” He’s thankful for the support, noting lung disease is a real concern for those in the fire service.
“I started in the fire department 30 years ago and we didn’t use a lot of personal protective equipment back then,” he said. “We had turnout gear, but we only had about four air packs, so we hardly ever used them because we had no way to fill them afterwards. We did a lot of damage to our lungs, I know we did.” Higgs said he has several friends from the fire service who now suffer with lung problems.
“So I wanted to support the B.C. Lung Association to further their research on lung disease and in particular how it affects people in the fire service because people in the fire service are highly affected by the environment they work in.”
The Stairclimb for Clean Air saw firefighters from around B.C. take part, raising well over $50,000 for the B.C. Lung Association.
In addition to the team from Sechelt, Dylan McLeod and Chris Danroth from the Roberts Creek fire department and Port Mellon firefighter Keith Shannon also took part.
Gibsons also brought a team of six competitors: Greig Soohen, Neil Donovan, Adam Vanderwoerd, Fred Jurock, Chris Whyard and Travis Young, while firefighter Erin Walsh took part in the non-competitive category.
The Gibsons team raised about $1,800, Roberts Creek raised nearly $1,500 and Shannon raised $50.
Donations can continue to be made online for any of the climbers at www.bclung.ca until April 1. Look for the Stairclimb for Clean Air campaign under the “Campaigns & Events” tab to donate.
