Kat's Page

Too tired to enjoy the view
Firefighters step up, and up, to benefit charity
Scaling 40 stories in gear leaves many exhausted
Sunday, February 24, 2008 3:27 AM
By Holly Zachariah

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

NEAL C. LAURON | Dispatch photos
Marysville Assistant Fire Chief Jay Riley recovers on the 40th floor of Downtown's Rhodes State Office Tower after climbing the 835 steps wearing 50 pounds of gear. The event raised $50,000 for the fight against cystic fibrosis.


Lt. Joe Daniels, on a landing at top, encourages others with the Marysville Fire Department on the 38th floor. "Don't stop now. You can do it!" he barked. "Go! Go! Go!"

Video
View an audio slideshow of the day's events at the Rhodes State Office Tower at Dispatch.com/multimedia.
The sounds of retching echoed off the walls of the concrete stairwell and drifted up several floors. You couldn't escape it.

The red buckets on the stair landings in the Rhodes State Office Tower indicated that the firefighters who climbed 835 steps for charity yesterday were in for a rough morning.

It's not an easy climb for anyone. But for the 125 firefighters -- who wore 50 pounds of gear, including masks and air tanks -- it was grueling.

The tower's 40th floor -- the end of the line -- looked like a war zone. Helmets and air masks and boots were thrown everywhere, ripped off in haste as the firefighters tried to cool off quickly. Some firefighters doubled over and gasped, others lay flat on their backs begging for relief. Some leaned on railings for support as sweat dripped from the ends of their noses.

"Did it kill me? I think it killed me. It must have killed me. I think I'm dead," said Johnie Myers, a 54-year-old firefighter from Marysville, as he struggled to catch his breath. He made the climb in nine minutes. His colleagues assured him that he was, in fact, alive. "But I may not be by morning," he told them.

The 27th annual Climb for a Cure raised about $50,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and its care center at Nationwide Children's Hospital. In all, 236 people ascended all or part of the steps in the Rhodes Tower. Climbers included the young and the old, the athletic and the not-so-fit. Even 40 members of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra climbed, wearing their concert clothes and carrying instruments.

Swarming the lobby, however, were the firefighters. Twenty departments, including the Columbus Division of Fire, were represented.

Marysville had the largest contingent -- 22 climbers -- though not all tried to make it all 40 floors, choosing instead to be part of a relay team.

Lt. Joe Daniels was Marysville's organizer. He was prepared this year, and made the climb seem almost easy. But last year's nearly did him in.

He was admittedly cocky back then, and jogged the first few flights. Then reality hit.

"There is absolutely, positively nothing more disheartening than giving it all you've got to go up those stairs and thinking you are about done and then looking up and seeing a sign that says '20th floor,' " he said. "It's the hardest thing I've ever done."

This year was different. He even had enough energy after his climb to run back down a few floors and take up position to encourage others who looked as if they were about to drop.

"Don't stop now. You can do it!" he barked. "Go! Go! Go!"

In the end, 15 Marysville firefighters went to the top. Their legs had turned to jelly, their chests burned with every breath, and their shirts were soaked with sweat. But not one of them stopped at a bucket. An odd bragging right, they acknowledged, but a big one nonetheless.

hzachariah@dispatch.com