Firefighters to climb Canfield
Coeur d’Alene firefighter Neko Caballero uses a stairclimb machine to climb 1,356 steps. This weekend’s Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Firefighter Stairclimb at the Columbia Center in Seattle was canceled due to coronavirus worries. North Idaho firefighters will be making their way up Canfield Mountain, starting at 10 a.m. Sunday.
LOREN BENOIT/Press
Because this weekend’s Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Firefighter Stairclimb at the Columbia Center in Seattle was canceled due to coronavirus worries, North Idaho firefighters will be staging a climb in their own backyard.
They’ll be meeting at Shadduck Lane Park and making their way up Canfield Mountain, starting at 10 a.m. Sunday. The climb will be about 1.3 miles, with 900 feet of elevation gain. Firefighters will be wearing full gear, more than 50 pounds, as they charge up Trail 1. It’s both a fundraiser to fight cancer and a test to see who will be the fastest to the top.
The public is welcome to come out and watch and even climb alongside the firefighters, but without the gear.
Firefighters from Coeur d’Alene, Timberlake, Spirit Lake, Worley and Kootenai County Fire & Rescue may be there.
The annual LLS Firefighter Stairclimb is the world’s largest on-air stair climb competition and attracts about 2,000 entries. It covers 69 floors, or 1,356 steps, to reach the top of the Columbia Center in Seattle.
When firefighters heard the Seattle climb was canceled, they came up with their own challenging course, as they wanted to honor all the donations they received.