Melbourne Firefighter Stair Climb: community invited to participate for first time

Ballarat Fire Brigade's Chris Sharam and Cayden Darge are two of the firefighters from across the district who will be participating in this year's event.

This is the fourth year Mr Sharam will be participating in the event and the fifth for Mr Darge.

September 12 would have seen hundreds of firefighters and other emergency service personnel step up for mental health, by climbing the 28 floors of the Crown Metropol Hotel while wearing 25 kilograms of turnout gear and breathing apparatus.

While the event cannot proceed in its usual manner this year, it will be hosted virtually.

And for the first time, the whole community is being invited to participate. With mental health an underlying crisis of the COVID pandemic, the event will not only serve to raise awareness of depression, post traumatic stress and suicide within the emergency services and defence force, but within the wider community too.

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Mr Darge said he had seen firsthand how firefighters could be affected by the traumatic incidents they respond to.

"Mental health is a big aspect of emergency services and not many people know how badly it affects people," he said.

"But there is always the burden of things you've seen in the past... it sort of creeps up on you when you least expect it. It affects anyone - not just the weakest link. It could be the person that seems the strongest in the team but they can fall down pretty hard, pretty quickly."

But in a difficult year with not only an extreme bushfire season but also a pandemic, that has resulted in social restrictions being put in place, there have been increased stressors for many Australians.

As 3046 Australians died by suicide in 2018, participants are asked to climb at least that many steps each for a month from September 10 - RUOK? Day - until October 10 - World Mental Health Day.

"We'll find our own stairs - whether at home or down at the local park, to get to just over 3000 steps over the month," Mr Sharam said.

The aim is to raise $500,000 for Lifeline, the Black Dog Institute and the 000 Foundation to improve support services, fund research and raise awareness of mental health issues. All fundraising will take place online.

"Don't be afraid to speak up if you're suffering from any sort of mental health issue because it could happen to anyone," Mr Darge said.

Mr Sharam said it was a good feeling to contribute to such a worthy cause.

For more information and to donate, visit: www.firefighterclimb.org.au

Lifeline 13 11 14.

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