TWO Millicent Country Fire Service volunteers will step up to fight mental illness by climbing up 28 floors wearing 25kg of turnout gear and breathing apparatus next month.
Millicent second lieutenant Paul Smyth and Ryan Jellesma will join 500 firefighters from across Australasia and the world to compete in the fourth annual Melbourne Firefighter Stair Climb on September 2.
The event will see career and volunteer firefighters ascend 28 flights of stairs in full structural firefighting protective clothing while wearing self-contained breathing apparatus.
The pair will start at street level before climbing to a finishing line on the 28th floor of the Crown Metropol Hotel.
This year, the Firefighters Charity Fund aims to raise $500,000 to improve support services, fund research, remove stigma and raise awareness of depressions post-traumatic stress disorder
and suicide within the emergency service and defence communities.
Mr Smyth said his primary motivation was to raise awareness of the personal and workplace stressors surrounding first respondents.
“It’s just about raising awareness of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the effects on us the community don’t realise,” he said.
“There are times we get out of bed at 3am to go see things that aren’t very pleasant and we deal with that for weeks to come.
“It’s a very rewarding job, but it can also be very detrimental to people’s mental health and wellbeing.”
Since the inaugural climb in 2014, the event has raised almost $730,000 for the Alfred Hospital Burns Unit, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
Second year participant Mr Jellesma said this year’s event was personal for him after losing friends to mental illness.
“Mental illness is something that is really important to me and something that is really important across all emergency services,” he said.
“There are a lot of people who deal with depression and PTSD in these areas and it’s important for us to support them and remove the stigma attached.”
