Local firefighter steps up to a challenge for cancer awareness

On March 12, Whitefish Firefighter Jamison Smith will head to the Columbia Center, the tallest building in Seattle, and run up the stairs as fast as he can while wearing his full structural turnout gear which weighs about 60 pounds.

To add to the challenge, he will use his self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) as he ascends the 1,356 steps and hopes to reach the top with just one tank of air.

He is competing in the 32nd Annual Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Firefighter Stairclimb. Smith won’t be alone, as the event attracts 2,000 volunteer, career and retired firefighters from across the country and around the world.

The event is the largest on-air stair climb competition in the world. The first responders will ascend 778 feet of vertical elevation during the 69-floor climb to raise money for blood cancer research. Blood cancers include leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma.

This will be Smith’s first time at the stair climbing competition. He said firefighters from the Whitefish Fire Department have participated in the past but this year, schedules did not allow for others to join Smith at the competition. That doesn’t stop them from helping the cause.

“Everything with the fire department is a team effort,” Smith said. “So, my training and workouts, we’re all up there together working out. It's all a team effort.”

According to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society website, firefighters are at an increased risk for different types of cancer due to the smoke and hazardous chemicals they are exposed to in the line of duty.

“It's something that hits close to home with all firefighters. It's an occupational hazard,” said Smith. “On almost every shift we are talking about ways to reduce exposure to carcinogens. So it's a very real thing that people deal with every day.”

SMITH WAS born and raised in Whitefish and wanted to be a firefighter since he was a young boy.

“My dad was a logger and he would, in the summertime, fight fires and that was what I wanted to do,” he said. “I wanted to fight fire.”

His route to becoming a firefighter was not direct. He had his own horse training business when he was 17 years old, so he failed to see the need to graduate from high school.

“I really wanted to be a firefighter but I didn't have my diploma,” he said. “So I started my own wildland firefighting company and did that for 16 years.”

Eventually, he earned his GED. Three years ago he became a paramedic and was hired on to the Whitefish Fire Department.

“Dream came true,” he said. “Just a roundabout way of doing it.”

His wife, son and daughter will accompany him to Seattle for the race to lend support.

FOR TRAINING, Smith has been in the gym and on the stair climber at the fire station. He also runs the stairs of the department’s training tower which is about three stories high and located on the grounds of the Whitefish Emergency Services Center.

With the event only about a month away, his physical fitness is right on track. Now he is working on the breathing aspect of the challenge. He is trying to balance his exertion with his air intake and has been practicing by wearing his SCBA when working out on the stair climber.

Smith said the goal is to regulate his breathing so he doesn't run out of air too soon, because participants who remove their masks during the climb fail the event.

Competitors are allowed one bottle change if they are running out of air but the change takes time, so many racers try to finish the race with one bottle.

“No matter how much you control your breathing, 16 minutes is going to be about the max on one bottle working this hard,” he said. “So that’s right about where I'm at.”

The astonishing record time for the event is under 11 minutes.

“I know I won't be able to beat the record but I’m trying to do it on one bottle because, for me, nothing is done half,” he said. “It’s all in or nothing.”

By taking on this difficult physical challenge, Smith hopes to help the cancer society get a step closer to a cure. He says this competition’s fundraising element is definitely for a worthwhile cause.

“The message with this is… life is pretty fragile. It changes in a second. And if there’s anything we can do to make life better for people… it's a good cause,” he said. “So I just think… we can just do what we can to keep things moving in the right direction.”

All donations made to the LLS Firefighter Stairclimb are 100% tax deductible with proceeds directly benefiting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

To donate visit LLSWA.org and look up Jamison Smith.