Everett Firefighters to take on Columbia Tower

Published 1:30 am Thursday, February 26, 2026

EVERETT — Each year, dozens of Everett firefighters travel to downtown Seattle in an attempt to save lives in a different way.

For the 35th time, firefighters from around the world will climb a stairwell to the top of Seattle’s tallest building — the Columbia Tower — in full gear on March 8 to raise funds for Blood Cancer United, an organization formerly known as the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The Everett Fire Department typically leads the fundraising charge at the Firefighter Stairclimb, and crossed the $1 million career mark (since 2000) over the last few days. The event has raised nearly $30 million since it began in 1991, including over $60,000 by Everett Fire so far this year.

Blood Cancer United has set a lofty 2026 fundraising goal of $3 million for the organization that supports blood cancer research, patient support and advocacy. The 2026 total sat at over $1.7 million as of Thursday.

The popular event has become part of the Everett Fire Department’s culture.

“I think Everett Fire Department attracts unique individuals with just a real determination to get the job done no matter what it is, whether it’s a house fire or a medical call or a car wreck or fundraising for the stairclimb,” said Capt. D.J. Neyens, who is currently battling multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. “The people at Everett, they just respond with full effort and just really have an attitude of ‘Get the job done.’

“We want to be the best fire department in the world, and we want to be the best fundraising team in the world, too.”

Despite the difficulty of climbing to the 73rd floor of the Columbia Tower, the event registrations typically fill up within a day, according to Stephanie Hall, Campaign Development Director for the Pacific Northwest region of Blood Cancer United. A total of 2,328 Firefighters from 317 departments across 28 states and three countries are scheduled to participate this year.

Some firefighters are drawn to the event to support the cause. Others want to test themselves on the stairs. Many train year-round. Most are in peak physical condition, young and athletic.

This year, a 54-year-old, out-of-shape sports reporter will join them.

The good news is — as I attempt to climb 1,311 stairs in 50 pounds of heat-sealing “bunks” wearing a bottle of compressed air on my back that I inhale through a mask that I clumsily operate — I’ll be surrounded by first responders.

I may need them.

While I have participated in the sister event called Big Climb Seattle, the level of heat while stumbling up 69 flights of a stuffy stairwell in full gear is going to be quite a test.

It’s not just the heat that gets you. It’s the humidity.

A firefighter’s turnout gear is designed to keep heat out. The downside of the lifesaving gear is that it keeps a person’s body heat and perspiration in. It is a challenge for even the fittest of all firefighters.

Amazingly, there are typically a handful of climbers who finish in under 12 minutes. Burnaby (British Columbia) Firefighter Craig Smith holds the record with a time of 10 minutes, 3 seconds set at the 2025 climb.

While the main focus for Everett is fundraising, it’s also a competition among a bunch of young, physically fit individuals who spend a lot of time together. They support one another while striving to beat each other’s times and fundraising totals.

Few are more competitive than Brent Molsberry, 46, a former event winner who will climb for the 26th year.

Molsberry’s best time is around 11:15, he said. He began participating in the climb as a volunteer firefighter for Chuckanut Fire before eventually joining Everett for a full-time career.

A competitor who participates in and organizes multiple types of fitness events, Molsberry admits he had a somewhat unhealthy relationship with the Columbia Tower early on.

“It used to be that this event — and that tower — would loom over me,” Molsberry said. “Any time driving through Seattle, just looking at that building, I would get butterflies in my stomach.”

As he prepared to enter the profession, Molsberry moved into an apartment just a few blocks away from the skyscraper while attending paramedic school at Harbor View Medical Center.

And it was the Tower that gave Molsberry an unscheduled visit to Harbor View. As he pushed for his best time, the heat built up in the turnout gear.

“I don’t remember the last five floors of the climb,” he said. “I do remember crossing the finish line and hearing the little ding — and then just collapsing, and I couldn’t get up. They ended up transporting me up to Harbor View and put a bunch of fluids in me via IV.”

In the early stairclimb days, Molsberry would drive partway up Chuckanut Mountain, jog back down to the fire station, put on his full gear, and run back up to his vehicle.

“And I absolutely dreaded it, and was just miserable the whole time,” he said. “So I eventually realized, I’ll just do the stuff I like to do. I enjoy mountain biking and trail running and backcountry skiing. All of these things basically replicate a very similar motion to going up a bunch of stairs with some weight.”

When the climb was canceled in 2021 due to Covid-19, Molsberry hiked in full firefighting gear to Mount Baker’s Artist Point and skied back down as a fundraising alternative.

Everett Firefighters use various training methods to different degrees. Each station contains fitness equipment, including stairclimbing machines. Some focus on finding outdoor stairs to climb, though there’s no way to exactly replicate the event. The longest staircase in the Puget Sound area is located at Howe Street, a 388-step staircase that connects Seattle’s Capitol Hill and Eastlake neighborhoods.

Others use more common fitness activities, while some just show up at the Columbia Tower and ascend the best they can.

Though most strive for their best times, raising funds remains the most important part of the climb.

“When you see what people go through when they deal with cancer, going up a flight of stairs as fast as I can with some gear on, is nothing,” said Everett Firefighter Zack Greenberg, 35. “… They’re fighting, and they’re working hard, so I need to give it my best effort to show them that’s how much it means to me.

“I want a fast time, but I also want to push myself in solidarity with how hard this is for them. If this is the one thing I can do to be like, ‘I’m here with you, pushing myself in a different way. I know it’s hard.’ I’m going to do this as best I can, put my best foot forward and raise as much money as I can, and what I can do as one person. That’s how I think I see it, and I think that’s what gets a lot of people to the top.”

Though the stairwell is the same, this will be quite a difference from the shorts and T-shirt I’ve donned during my 13 Big Climbs, which is open to all and held annually two weeks after the Firefighter Climb. Though I’ve felt a kinship with climbers brought on by tragedy, a shared hatred of cancer and general disdain of climbing stairs, I’ve noticed that it’s just different with Everett Firefighters.

They seem more like brothers and sisters than co-workers or friends, wanting to beat each other’s times and fundraising goals while showing total support for one another.

While firefighters from across the country vie for top times, I just hope to get to the top — eventually. Let’s just say I don’t think climbers like Smith and Molsberry need worry much about me chasing them down.

Assuming this old sports reporter reaches the Columbia Tower’s observation deck, it will be quite an honor to climb with brave people who found yet another way to be heroic.

To donate to the Everett Fire Department’s fundraising page, go to https://pages.lls.org/events/wa/firefighterstairclimb26 or click HERE.