Kitsap firefighters participate in annual stairclimb fundraiser
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Blood Cancer United, formerly the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, hosted its 35th firefighter stairclimb March 8 at Seattle’s Columbia Tower. Blood Cancer United’s annual stairclimb is the largest on-air stairclimb for career, volunteer, and retired firefighters.
Firefighters from the Bremerton Fire Department, South Kitsap Fire & Rescue, Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue, and North Kitsap Fire & Rescue participated to raise money for Blood Cancer United. In total, there were roughly 2,000 firefighters from departments worldwide at the fundraiser. They climbed 69 flights and over 1,300 steps of stairs in full gear to the 73rd floor of the Columbia Tower.
SKF&R passed their goal of $12,876 and raised $20,658 for Blood Cancer United. 21 firefighters participated in honor of Ken Laha, who is a paramedic for SKF&R and was recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
BFD had seven firefighters climb the tower in honor of former firefighter and paramedic Jimmy Hendryx, who passed away in 2017 from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. His illness was presumed to have been caused by his line of work, making it BFD’s first line-of-duty death in its 114 years of operation. BFD raised $3,128 to help Blood Cancer United.
CKF&R had nine participants in the climb, with $3,383 raised and NKF&R had six participants in the climb, with $4,194 raised.
In total, Blood Cancer United raised $2.4 million with donations still open and rising after the event. The organization not only uses the funds for blood cancer patients and research, but also for other forms of cancer, per their website.
