Volunteer firefighter sits in ladder for 50 hours for charity

Mark Burgess remained perched high in the sky for most of the weekend as part of an annual fundraiser called Ladder-A-Thon, which raises money and awareness for Muscular Dystrophy.

“Really, it’s a complete privilege to be able to be the centre-point of this great event to raise money for MD,” said Burgess, who has been a volunteer firefighter for the last two decades.

“We understand where the money goes, we see the difference it makes in people’s lives. There’s a competition to be able to sit up here because everybody understands the value of it.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We understand where the money goes, we see the difference it makes in people's lives. There's a competition to be able to sit up here because everybody understands the value of it."

The event is now in its 27th year and is run by volunteers.

“I sat in 1991, 25 years ago. This project has been one of those things every year we look forward to doing,” said Derrick Harty, a firefighter.

Burgess had to stay in the ladder for 50 hours. Supplies like food, water and sunscreen were placed in a bucket by fellow firefighters.

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“We use the Guinness book of world records just as a guideline for washroom breaks and we check him medically throughout the weekend so five minutes per hour. So he’s up there for 50 hours in that bucket to raise attention and get support for the community,” said Harty.

Dealing with the warm weather over the weekend made things a little challenging for Burgess.

“It has been a long haul. A couple nights up here, a couple days. I have a beautiful wife and a two and a half year old at home that I’m super excited to see in a few hours,” he told Global News while in the ladder.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It has been a long haul. A couple nights up here, a couple days. I have a beautiful wife and a two and a half year old at home that I'm super excited to see in a few hours," he told Global News while in the ladder.

The Ladder-a-thon has raised more than $700,000 since it was first held.

“That’s the easy job up there, right. Everyone else down here is working, collecting road tolls and barbecues and various other things to pull this project off,” said Harty.

“This project generally will do $20,000. We’re hoping to raise that again this weekend. We’ve raised as high as $26-27,000 in previous years.”

At 2 p.m. on Sunday, the fundraiser was officially complete. Burgess was slowly lowered to the ground and greeted by an excited crowd of community members.

Probably the happiest person to see him back on his feet was his young daughter, who leaped into his arms when she saw her father.

“I loved being up there, loved what we were doing, loved the money we were raising but I’m happy to be done,” said Burgess.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I loved being up there, loved what we were doing, loved the money we were raising but I'm happy to be done," said Burgess.