Hundreds of firefighters climb Calgary's tallest tower to support cancer care
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Dongworth noted the climb also simulates real-life scenarios. 'We have to climb stairs at fires sometimes. We don't always rely on elevators. Sometimes elevators aren't there. There are no elevators or the elevators aren't working, so we often have to take a lot of gear upstairs already with our firefighting protective equipment on.'
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He described the 'hard climb' as a mental battle. 'I make a habit of not looking at the numbers of the floors,' he said. 'Because if you follow the numbers, it seems to take even longer.'
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In a statement, he added the event is a 'powerful reminder' of the health risks firefighters face, with cancer being the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths in the profession. 'It's an important way to give back and support organizations like Wellspring Alberta, who provide the care and resources so many need during the toughest times,' he said.
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This year's climb also featured a Challenge the Chief component, where non-firefighters attempted to race Dongworth to the top of the tower.
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Aime said the fundraiser continues to grow each year, bringing greater visibility to Wellspring's services and to the risks firefighters face in the line of duty.
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The Firefighter Stairclimb Challenge was inspired by Seattle's Scott Firefighter Stairclimb and was founded in memory of fallen Calgary firefighter Gord Paul by his sister, Kathy Blas.
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In addition to supporting Wellspring, a portion of proceeds go to the Firefighters Assistance Charitable Society, which offers peer support and resilience programming for firefighters in Calgary, Red Deer, Cochrane and Lethbridge.
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'It's firefighters helping firefighters,' said Marco Ficaccio, one of the directors of the Firefighters Assistance Charitable Society. 'People think that firefighters come, they do their job and then they go home. They don't really see like some of the trauma that we're exposed to. They don't see the hardships.
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CTV News
12 hours ago
- CTV News
Firefighters climb stairs at Brookfield Place to raise awareness and funds to fight cancer
One year ago Sunday, Tony Cianfarani, a member of the Stettler Fire Department, was in a bad place – in hospital, with Stage 3 colon cancer. 'I had very bad infection from the chemotherapy, and I was very close to actually dying,' Cianfarani said. 'I had a fever of 105. I spent three nights in the hospital, and I was on IV antibiotics.' Sunday, Cianfarani was one of 500 or so firefighters who climbed close to 1400 steps at Brookfield Place to raise funds to support Wellspring Alberta, an organization that helped him during his cancer treatment. 'I leaned on my firefighter family a lot when I was going through all this, and they were super supportive,' he said. 'I also leaned on Wellspring, and these programs are there for people like us, and definitely use them. 'Don't be scared to use them for sure.' Calgary fire chief Steve Dongworth was among the firefighters climbing stairs Sunday and said that cancer is a reality for firefighters. Steve Dongworth, June 8, 2025 Calgary fire chief Steve Dongworth participated in the Firefighter Stairclimb Challenge Sunday (Tyler Barrow, CTV Calgary) 'We have, you know, an ongoing toll of firefighters who pass away during due to occupational cancers.,' Dongworth said. 'We've had over 50 now in Calgary. It's unfortunately a number that keeps climbing. So there's a real recognition (that) the hazards of firefighting cause cause cancer, for sure.' Hundreds of firefighters from across Alberta, Canada and around the world joined the event Sunday to raise awareness and funds for Wellspring Alberta. And one of them was Cianfarani, one year to the day after nearly dying. 'it's just crazy that only a year later, I'm about to climb a skyscraper, and I'm in the best shape that I've been in in years since my 20s. 'So, yeah, it's just It's unbelievable that I'm actually here,' he added. 'And I don't think that the gravity of the of the events hit me yet, but I think when I get to the top of the stairs, it will. Dongworth took the challenge too –and finished the 57-floors of steps. 'It wasn't as much fun in the stairwell, but it's okay,' he said. 'It's a very great cause. It's great exercise. 'It's a great day.' All the support programs offered through Wellspring Alberta are free. For more about the Firefighter Stairclimb Challenge, go here. With files from CTV's Tyler Barrow
Calgary Herald
15 hours ago
- Calgary Herald
Hundreds of firefighters climb Calgary's tallest tower to support cancer care
Article content Dongworth noted the climb also simulates real-life scenarios. 'We have to climb stairs at fires sometimes. We don't always rely on elevators. Sometimes elevators aren't there. There are no elevators or the elevators aren't working, so we often have to take a lot of gear upstairs already with our firefighting protective equipment on.' Article content Article content He described the 'hard climb' as a mental battle. 'I make a habit of not looking at the numbers of the floors,' he said. 'Because if you follow the numbers, it seems to take even longer.' Article content In a statement, he added the event is a 'powerful reminder' of the health risks firefighters face, with cancer being the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths in the profession. 'It's an important way to give back and support organizations like Wellspring Alberta, who provide the care and resources so many need during the toughest times,' he said. Article content Article content This year's climb also featured a Challenge the Chief component, where non-firefighters attempted to race Dongworth to the top of the tower. Article content Article content Aime said the fundraiser continues to grow each year, bringing greater visibility to Wellspring's services and to the risks firefighters face in the line of duty. Article content The Firefighter Stairclimb Challenge was inspired by Seattle's Scott Firefighter Stairclimb and was founded in memory of fallen Calgary firefighter Gord Paul by his sister, Kathy Blas. Article content In addition to supporting Wellspring, a portion of proceeds go to the Firefighters Assistance Charitable Society, which offers peer support and resilience programming for firefighters in Calgary, Red Deer, Cochrane and Lethbridge. Article content 'It's firefighters helping firefighters,' said Marco Ficaccio, one of the directors of the Firefighters Assistance Charitable Society. 'People think that firefighters come, they do their job and then they go home. They don't really see like some of the trauma that we're exposed to. They don't see the hardships.
CBC
15-04-2025
- CBC
Densification, population growth remain major challenges for Calgary Fire Department
Number of calls fell slightly in 2024, due in part to fewer opioid-related calls Image | Calgary Fire Truck Caption: The Calgary Fire Department responded to nearly 90,000 emergency incidents in 2024 — a slight decrease from the previous year, but still much higher than the 60,000 calls they used to receive, according to the fire chief. (Oseremen Irete/CBC) Although it saw a slight decrease in emergency calls last year, the Calgary Fire Department (CFD) continues to feel the pressures of working in a growing city, as densification creates new challenges for firefighters. That's according to CFD's annual report for 2024, which will be presented to Calgary city council's community development committee on Wednesday. The report says CFD responded to roughly 90,000 calls last year — half of which were medical interventions. That's down from about 93,000 calls in 2023. CFD Fire Chief Steve Dongworth attributes the slight drop to a 58 per cent decrease in opioid-related calls, which he said could be because of a change to the drug supply, wider availability of naloxone kits and programs such as the Calgary Drop-In Centre's on-site paramedics. "It certainly doesn't mean we're through the opioid epidemic by any means, but … if less people are getting into situations where they need our help as a result of opioids, that's a great news story for the community," said Dongworth. However, if you zoom out, the overall situation facing the fire department remains challenging, he said. CFD has seen a 50 per cent increase in calls since 2020, and Dongworth doesn't expect that to change anytime soon. "We know that we're going to be challenged moving forward, keeping up with the city that's rapidly approaching two million people…. [It's] obviously something that's going to have an impact on every service including the Calgary Fire Department." And creating more density to keep up with that growth comes with its own set of challenges, he added. 'A double-edged sword' The debate around density in Calgary intensified last spring when city council approved a blanket rezoning bylaw, which allows row houses and townhouses to be built on most residential lots. Dongworth said the push for more dense neighbourhoods is a big change from Calgary's legacy communities, where homes were generally built sideways on larger lots, making it more difficult for fires to spread from one home to another. "Even though there have been some attempts made through codes to restrict this, we still see a very rapid spread between homes that threaten the safety of both the citizens as well as our firefighters," he said. He added that denser communities are often in areas where CFD's response times tend to be higher. "It becomes a bit of a double-edged sword that becomes challenging for sure." But densification comes with important advantages for the fire department and Calgarians, Dongworth said. "It's an effective way to create a city where the services are more efficient, including the fire service, in terms of less sprawl." Francisco Alaniz Uribe, an associate professor at the University of Calgary's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape and co-director of the Urban Lab, argues densification can help keep fire services sustainable. He said the challenge with sprawl is that there's often an insufficient amount of people paying property taxes to keep up with the level of infrastructure they expect, resulting in increased response times. "Imagine that we have 10 people sharing one piece of infrastructure that is in a certain amount of land, and you bring more people into that amount of land — same size of land, but there's more people," said Uribe. "Now you have let's say 15 people, so you have five more people sharing into the tax base that can then provide a better quality of services." Dongworth added he'd like to see greater use of non-combustible materials in building new homes, even though it makes them more expensive — a tough pitch to make during an affordability crisis, he said. Feeling the strain At the Calgary Firefighters Association, which represents more than 1,600 local firefighters, president Jamie Blayney said his members are feeling the strain. "We're responding to more and more serious calls, and with the sprawl that Calgary is experiencing, it's just taking us longer to get there," said Blayney. Staffing has been able to keep up with the demand, he said, and he wants there to be a continued focus on recruitment and retention as the city grows. "We have some engines that are responding to areas that have upwards of 70,000 people in it. And we need to invest in those areas and we need to prioritize response times into those outlying communities," said Blayney. The Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, which represents roughly 3,200 fire departments across Canada, said these challenges are "endemic across the country" — especially as municipalities everywhere work to tackle a nationwide housing crisis. "Building three to five million new homes absolutely requires national planning and coordination for fire and life safety," said the association in a statement to CBC. The association is advocating for a national fire administration that would create better coordination between fire chiefs and federal departments to improve fire safety policies and ease the burden on fire departments.
