Firefighter honors her grandmother with stair climb

When Lisa Defenbaugh races up the stairs of Seattle’s tallest building, dressed in a firefighter’s heavy pants, jacket and rubber boots, there is a moment when the exertion of wearing 50 pounds of safety gear to climb more than 1,300 stairs becomes nearly overwhelming.

It’s at these moments that she thinks of her grandmother, Madge Salter, who helped raise her and whose example taught her to “suck it up” — to always persevere. Defenbaugh’s grandmother died of leukemia in 1989 at age 70.

Sunday marked the fifth time Defenbaugh, a Lake Stevens firefighter, participated in the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The annual event is held at Seattle’s Columbia Tower.

Defenbaugh, 42, placed fifth among women over 40 in the event on Sunday. She made the climb in 26 minutes, 33 seconds.

“I’m happy with it. It felt good this year,” Defenbaugh said Sunday afternoon. “I had one year when it was beyond brutal.”

Defenbaugh was one of 84 firefighters from Snohomish and Island counties participating in Sunday’s stair climb. Overall, a record 1,446 firefighters, some from as far away as New Zealand, participated. Of those, 579 finished — 530 men and 49 women.

Finishing times ranged from 11 minutes, 37 seconds for Zach Schade of the Seattle Fire Department to 1 hour, 12 minutes.

This was Defenbaugh’s second-best time of the five, her previous best being a little over 25 minutes. She hadn’t trained any harder this year than before, she said, but believes not having to spend much time behind a desk recently may have helped.

While Defenbaugh was happy with her time, “that’s not what it’s really about for me. It’s about raising money to make it better for other people.”

Defenbaugh participates in memory of her grandmother.

“I think about her very vividly and what she would think,” Defenbaugh said before Sunday’s race. “I’m hoping and praying that what I’m doing will make other people’s experience less devastating.”

There’s a sense of pride among firefighters in completing the event, Defenbaugh said, as well as a sense of competition.

But halfway up, “you’re already exhausted,” she said. “You go beyond sweating,” Defenbaugh said of how it feels like to run up 69 stories in a firefighter’s bunker gear. “I feel totally depleted when I’m done.”

She trains for the events by putting on a weight vest and sweatshirt when before hitting the step machines at the gym.

It barely raises an eyebrow among those working out nearby — many are firefighters, too. “Oh you’re doing the stair climb,” they say.

Defenbaugh led a nine-member team from the Lake Stevens Fire Department, which also dedicated the climb to fellow paramedic Kurt Middleton. He was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, the second most common type of skin cancer, last year. He has just returned to work.

Defenbaugh said she’s had a lifelong interest in being a firefighter. Her dad often took her to the fire station in Surrey, B.C., where he was a volunteer.

“My dad tells me I was always in awe of fire trucks,” she said.

But it wasn’t until 2002, then a single mom with two children, that she began working part-time at the Lake Stevens department.

For three and a half years, she balanced that part-time job with full-time work elsewhere. In August 2006, she got the call offering her a full-time position with the fire department.

Sunday’s event won’t be the last time Defenbaugh ascends the Columbia Center tower this year.

On March 16, she plans to participate in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s stair climb as part of a team that includes the wives of three firefighters. That fundraiser is open to the public.

“I just want to see how much easier — well, maybe I should say different — it is without all the gear,” she said.

Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.

Other participating firefighters

Everett Fire Department’s Brent Molsberry and Snohomish County Fire District 1 firefighter Melissa Reimer were the top Snohomish County-area finishers at Sunday’s Scott Firefighter Stairclimb at Seattle’s Columbia Center.

Molsberry, 28, who lives in Bellingham, climbed 1,311 stairs — 69 floors in 12 minutes, 11 seconds for fifth place overall. Jack Murrin, 38, an Everett firefighter who lives in Arlington, climbed to the second best area time of 13 minutes, 38 seconds. He finished 13th overall.

Reimer, 27, of Everett finished in 21 minutes, 47 seconds. She finished 680th overall.

Eighty-four firefighters from Camano Island Fire, Edmonds Fire District, Everett Fire Department Local 46, Hat Island Fire Department, Lake Stevens Fire, Marysville Fire District, Mukilteo Fire Department, North Whidbey Fire and Rescue, Snohomish County Fire District 1, Snohomish County Fire District 17, Snohomish County Fire District 4, and South Whidbey Fire and Rescue participated in the annual climb.

On the Web

For more information on the 22nd annual Big Climb, a public fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at Columbia Center in Seattle, go to www.bigclimb.org.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.