Firefighter Andrew Lynch

Published on: Wednesday, September 08, 2010

By Jaimee L. Joroff

Choosing a career as a firefighter comes with inherent and obvious challenges and dangers—there is a risk of injury and death on every call for help to which you respond.

However, there are also many benefits and rewards of being a member of such a noble profession—to be trained to help others at possibly the worst moment in their lives and the feeling of accomplishment that accompanies that.

For those reasons, it is important for firefighters to maintain their physical and mental well-being by resting and participating in enjoyable activities on days off.

Many firefighters enjoy such off-duty activities as playing softball, playing hockey, skiing, fishing, cooking, gardening, coaching youth sports and traveling. Some firefighters attend classes in hopes of completing advanced educational degrees.

Courtesy photos. Firefighter Andrew Lynch, climbed to the top of Mount Rainier—the mountain, not the city wher he works.

But for one Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department firefighter, he choose to use his time off to conquer one of the most challenging activities imaginable: To ascend and reach the top of Mount Rainier— the 14,410-foot active volcano, not the city near where he works.

Firefighter/Medic Technician Andrew J. Lynch successfully completed this tall task on his second attempt this year with a friend who resides in Washington state.

Mount Rainier is known as a brutal and difficult climb with dangers that equally challenge the novice as well as the most experienced mountaineers. The most heavily glaciated peak in the continental United States, Mount Rainier offers an exciting challenge to the mountaineer.

Reaching the summit requires a vertical elevation gain of more than 9,000 feet over a distance of eight or more miles. Climbers must be in good physical condition and well prepared. Proper physical conditioning can offset the effects of fatigue that lead to mistakes and injuries. Weather, snow and route conditions can change rapidly, making the difference between a pleasant, rewarding experience and tragedy.

Lynch first attempted the summit in May. The trek to the summit is typically a three day approach and it was on the final day that his team encountered severe weather and avalanche conditions forcing them to turn back. While reaching the top might seem like the ultimate challenge, their return to base camp was the real struggle for survival as Lynch and his team trekked through darkness, blinding snow, driving ice and 80-miles-per-hour wind gusts.

Lynch and his team safely made it back to base camp. A week later, another climbing team would not be so lucky, becoming caught in the same conditions and buried in an avalanche. Of that team, several climbers went missing and one died.

Lynch returned to Deale, where he lives with his wife, Heather, and resumed his normal work routine. Life went on knowing he almost made it to the top.

Perhaps it is that firefighter spirit of “never-give-up” that drove Lynch to remain determined to finish what he had started. He returned to Washington last month. Joined by his friend Owen McGrane, a military doctor stationed in Seattle, who had attempted the first climb with Lynch, the two rejoined a climbing team and took on the mountain for a second go. This time, persistence and preparation trumped weather conditions and the team reached the elusive Summit of Mount Rainier.

Lynch, a 10-year member of PGFD, is assigned to the Bunker Hill Fire Station 855, which covers the areas of Brentwood, Cottage City and ironically, Mount Rainier.