Seven firefighters from East Pierce Fire and Rescue stepped into their boots, put on their bunker coats and slipped on their breathing apparatus.

They weren’t getting ready to fight a fire, they were preparing to fight cancer. The East Pierce firefighters joined more than 1,500 firefighters from 225 fire departments throughout the country, to climb the 69-story Columbia Center in downtown Seattle as part of the 18th annual Scott Firefighter Stairclimb March 8.

With more than 50 pounds of gear on their backs, firefighters from Aberdeen to Woodland strapped their masks to their faces and sprinted up 1,311 stairs to the top of Seattle’s tallest building to help raise funds for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. A record $530,000 was raised this year to help fund blood-cancer research and patient services.

The East Pierce team, led by firefighter Will Poe and volunteer firefighter Ryan Shervanick, included firefighter Lori Eng and volunteer firefighters Matt Reinke, Kyle Mosher, Chris Connelly and Luis Szarko.

Poe said the challenge of the annual event keeps him motivated throughout the year. The firefighters work out on stair climb machines and climbed nearby Mount Peak to get in shape.

According to Shervanick, climbing the Columbia Center takes training and mental discipline. At first, the floor numbers can be demoralizing, he said, knowing how many are still left to go. As the firefighters near the top floors, the heat in the stairway is excruciating, he added, especially while wearing the heat-retaining firefighting gear.

“You just have to block it out and keep going,” he said.

At the 40th floor, an East Pierce volunteer firefighter assisted the climbers by swapping out the oxygen tanks. Then it was back to the climb.

Poe posted the fastest East Pierce time, climbing the 788 vertical feet in an unofficial time of 17 minutes, 43.4 seconds. Eng took 13th place among the females in the 30-34 age group.

Kory Burges, 27, of Missoula Rural Fire, finished first among all of the competitors with a time of 10:55.75, beating two-time champ Zach Schade, 41, of the Seattle Fire Department.

The fastest woman was Georgia Daniels, 41, of Graham Fire and Rescue. She finished with a time of 14:35.65.