That's One Hard Climb

HOLLY SPRINGS: Firefighter goes higher than any ladder on Earth

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

November 09, 2008

Steve Pigott has taken his passion for firefighting to new heights.
Chief of the all-volunteer Holly Springs Fire Department in Cherokee County, Pigott climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, last month in 45 pounds of firefighting gear.
He had an objective. He wanted to make the climb as a tribute to fallen firefighters and as a reminder to his colleagues everywhere of the need for cardiovascular health and physical fitness.
“It was something I always wanted to do, and I knew I’d do it someday,” said Pigott, 37, who has been chief of the 25-member Holly Springs Fire Department for the last three years. “I’ve always loved the outdoors and always have done a lot of hiking.”
He started planning the trip in January and trained by hiking in the mountains of North Georgia and North Carolina. He also would go to Kennesaw Mountain after work at Lockheed Martin, where he is a manager involved with the C-130 cargo plane.
Pigott’s climb up Kilimanjaro started Oct. 8. He and four other hikers and their guides reached the summit Oct. 14 and then spent two and a half days making the descent.
Each day they’d climb 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Pigott was in full firefighter gear —- pants, coat, boots, helmet and a self-contained breathing apparatus.
In addition, he was weighed down by another 15 pounds of climbing gear and supplies.
“I’m absolutely certain it was tougher on Steve,” said Kevin Armstrong, a hiker from California who was making the climb with his father. “But he did a fantastic job with it.”
Pigott’s gear was always a conversation starter, especially when the group would meet up with other climbers at a campsite, Armstrong said. “That’s when you’d get the looks and stares,” he said.
The scenery on the climb amazed Pigott as it changed from lush tropical forest to desert and then finally snow caps. “It was just beautiful,” he said.
It wasn’t until Pigott was leaving Kilimanjaro and Tanzania that park officials told him he may have been the first climber to reach the mountain’s top in full firefighting gear.
It hadn’t seemed that novel a feat to Pigott. Firefighters, he said, are always encouraged to train in their gear.
In metro Atlanta, they participate in the annual Fit to Fight run, a 75-mile relay from the Georgia Fire Academy to the state Capitol, that’s done in full firefighter gear.
“In Cherokee County, firefighters are put through what’s known as a personal limitation drill,” Pigott said.
In those drills, the firemen climb stairs, drag rescue dummies, crawl and even do push-ups in their full gear until they can’t go on, he said.
“The idea is for each person to find their limit, and climbing Kilimanjaro was sort of my own personal limitation drill,” he said.
“I would encourage other firefighters to push themselves up to and beyond their limits so when that emergency call goes out, they’ll be ready to respond.”