PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Some of the city's firefighters are gearing up for the 10th annual BFit Challenge.

 

Every year, members of the department travel to Boston to climb the stairs at TD Garden in support of the New England Fire Cancer Fund. First responders, military members, and other community members each raise $300 to participate in the event, powered by National Grid and hosted by the Boston Bruins.

 

This year's challenge set for Jan. 26 has already raised more than $1 million.

 

For the second year in a row, Jason Smegal, owner of J Smegal Roofing and Gutters, donated $10,000 to support the fund.

 

"We designate our funds that we raise to firefighter cancer that goes through the PFFM, which is the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, and 100 percent of the funds go directly to either supporting the cause, pre-screening ...," said Capt. Robert Leary.

 

This is Leary's sixth year participating. He said the fundraiser is important and that hits close to home donating to PFFM, recognizing how his colleagues have been affected after 29 years as a firefighter.

 

Firefighter are at risk of being exposed to toxic chemicals such as fuels, burning materials and particulate matter which may be carcinogens.

 

"It's a major impact on us right now, and it's affecting a lot of our guys and brothers and sisters across the state," said Leary. "So the more we can get out there and try to get ahead of it, get some of the pre-screenings done and get it taken care of early, rather than later, we can have better outcomes and better success for it."

 

Firefighter Katie Medders has done the event for four years. While she can't make it this year, she said it's a great way to have fun and also to challenge yourself. 

 

"It's really a challenge against yourself, because you could walk, run or jog the entire thing. But if you do have a competitive side, a lot of people compete against each other and just see how fast they go or beat their team from last time. So it is definitely much more of a fun event," said Medders.

 

Participants begin at the ice level of TD Garden and go through the stadium to the concourse level, which is about five levels, to the promenade. Over the years, it has been expanded to go six full flights up to the Verizon Tower, where corporate offices are.

 

The fastest time is 18.28 minutes to manage the six flights; the slowest is 1 hour and 4.15 minutes. The average time about 41 minutes. 

 

The fastest Pittsfield team members completed the challenge in about 22 minutes. They have about 10 members going this year.

 

Leary is excited for this year's turnout and said the atmosphere at TD Garden is great.

 

"Just a fun in the atmosphere down there to be with all military, law enforcement, EMS and fire, it tends to be a pretty good time," he said. 

 

The department raised around $25,000 last year and expects to raise around $13,000 this year.

 

A lot of the donations come through the department's annual boot drive. Medders said Smegal's donation is a great boost as it can be difficult for the firefighters to fund raise.

 

"It's just a huge thing to where it's hard to raise money ourselves, and again, as Capt. Leary said, the boot drive really yields around three grand, and with each member needing $300 themselves to actually participate," she said. "So it's just a huge help having sponsors and him wanting to help out the local fire department, so that's just a huge help for us."

 

Donations can still be made to the Pittsfield team on the BFit website.