Renton firefighters raise more than $24,000 during Scott Firefighter Stairclimb

Josh Brown finished 14th overall, the highest finish for Renton climbers.

By Brian Beckley • March 11, 2013 5:22 pm

If you are ever trapped at the top of a lot of stairs while your home is on fire, Josh Brown is the man you want on your side.

This weekend Brown, a Renton Firefighter, posted the city’s fastest time up the Columbia Tower’s 69 flights of stairs to finish 14th overall at the annual Scott Firefighter Stairclimb to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Brown’s made it up the 788 vertical feet of stairs in 13 minutes and eight seconds, or about 12 seconds for each flight of stairs.

Renton Battalion Chief and Stairclimb veteran Stan Engler, who competed in the first climb back in 1992 and had the city’s fastest time last year placed first in his age group and first among fire chiefs, finishing seventh overall in the “master’s Division” with a time of 13:58, or an average of 13 seconds per flight.

Andrew Drobeck of Missoula (Montana) City Fire placed first, finishing the tower in 10:48, or 10 seconds a flight average. In fact, Missoula firefighters took the first three spots in Sunday’s climb. In total, 1,473 firefighters from 24 states and five countries competed int he fundraiser.

Firefighters must make the climb with full gear – at least 50 pounds – and using compressed air.

This year’s climb was particularly special for the Renton department, as they climbed in honor of former Chief Art Larsen, who in January lost his battle with lymphoma. Larson served 35 years in the fire service and for the citizens of Renton and King County Fire District 25.

To date Renton has raised more than $24,000 during this year’s climb and donations are still being accepted.

Seventeen Renton firefighters participated in this year’s climb.

Here are their results:

Josh Brown (Renton Fire) 13:08

Stan Engler (Renton Fire) 13:58

Robert Hyslop (Renton Fire) 15:31

Chuck Hawley (Renton Fire) 16:34

Chris Cline (Renton Fire) 19:07