An uphill battle for a cause

Moscow volunteer firefighter Brett Case lost his cousin to leukemia.

For the second straight year, the 19-year-old University of Idaho student will climb 69 flights of stairs and dedicate his performance to that cousin at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Firefighter Stairclimb next month in Seattle.

Case and about 25 other members of the Moscow Volunteer Fire Department will participate in the 29th annual climb March 8 at the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle.

More than 2,000 firefighters from across the U.S. and the world will ascend the second-tallest building west of the Mississippi River as fast as possible this year, according to the event’s website. Participants must complete the ascent in full gear, which Dean Walker, MVFD captain and team captain for the climb, said is about 75 pounds and includes a breathing apparatus.

Walker said the Moscow volunteer firefighter contingent will be the largest turnout since the department started sending a team to the Seattle at least five years ago. The group also has exceeded its $10,000 fundraising goal it set for this year’s event with $17,747 raised as of Tuesday afternoon — 17th most of the roughly 340 participating departments.

“It’s just one little way that they can give back to something bigger than themselves,” Moscow Fire Chief Brian Nickerson said.

Walker said 10 to 12 members from Moscow typically participate and they raise $4,000 to $5,000. Each participant must raise at least $300 to participate.

Walker said the increase in participants is part of the reason for the fundraising increase. He said participants hosted a couple fundraising events this year and have asked for donations on Facebook.

Walker said some of the MVFD climbers know a person who has battled or is battling leukemia or lymphoma, which is part of the reason for the dramatic increase in participants.

“Some of these folks, you provide ’em with a good cause and a good reason and they kind of step up,” Walker said.

Sometimes the department will sponsor a person battling lymphoma or leukemia. Last year, it sponsored Thomas Harner, a Moscow boy who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia days after his birth. He died in April at the age of 2.

Case said he dedicated last year’s climb to his cousin and Harner.

Case, who is a part of MVFD’s Resident Firefighter Program, said a couple of his fellow resident firefighters encouraged him to participate in last year’s climb, claiming it would be one of the greatest experiences of his life. The connection he had to leukemia through his cousin was a huge factor in deciding to climb.

It turned out to be one of the coolest experiences of his life, but also one of the most difficult things he had ever done.

“The climb sucks,” Case said.

He said a battalion of about 25 people will start the ascent, with one of the 25 going up about every 30 seconds to limit crowding on the stairs.

He said he climbed past quite a few firefighters last year and that seeing one ahead of him on each flight of stairs lit a fire in his heart to continue upward.

“I’d see a new face and it’d make me push harder,” Case said.

He said he gave a fist bump to each firefighter he passed on the stairs.

Walker said the last four weeks he and his fellow firefighters have been climbing the University of Idaho’s Theophilus Tower in full gear and “on air” to prepare for next month’s uphill battle. The Pullman Fire Department also participates every year.

Pullman paramedic and Moscow native Steve Potratz-Lee won the competition in 2018, climbing to the top of the tower in 10 minutes and 55 seconds, according to a 2018 story in the Lewiston Tribune. Potratz-Lee is a regular top-10 finisher in the event.

Nickerson said the first goal is to finish the climb and the second goal is to finish with the best time possible.

“I think most everybody that goes over there is competitive,” he said. “They want to do well.”

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.