Firemen raise nearly $20,000 for yearly cancer event

Firefighters and their families collected donations during Saturday's fundraiser at the local Wal-Mart.

The Mountain Home Fire Department raised more than $12,000 Saturday for the battle against leukemia and lymphoma.

The money being raised will be included in the total that eight members of the department will take with them to the 23rd Annual Scott Firefighter Stairclimb at Seattle's Columbia Center.

After Saturday, the team sits second in total donations raised by firefighter teams from across the country and first in per capita donation.

During Saturday's event at Walmart, customers to the store donated $5,660 and Walmart itself donated $5,000. During that night's Chamber of Commerce installation banquet, the firemen raised another $1,520, bringing their total so far to donate at the stairclimb to $19,370.

The stairclimb event, which will be held March 9, features firemen climbing to the 69th floor of the Columbia Center, a total of 1,311 steps up the stairwells of the facility. The firemen make the climb in full turnout gear, with their breathing masks and bottled air tanks on. Half way up, they stop long enough to swap out their air bottles. The gear they will carry to the top weighs about 50 lbs.

More than 1,800 firefighters from 27 states and six different countries, representing 300 different departments, are expected to take part in the stairclimb.

Almost all of their expenses for the trip will be paid by the firemen themselves, although about $3,000 from the department's training budget will be used to help the firemen get to the competitions. "They're going to be in the best shape of their lives," Fire Chief Alan Bermensolo said, "so we're looking at this as a training event."

Members of the Mountain Home team that will be competing in the stairclimb are: Chris Corbus, Chuck Garvey, Chuck VanMeer, Justin Baldwin, Ron Bergh, Danny Downen, Eugene Rogers and Hank Patrick.