Most people would balk at the idea of climbing 61 flights of stairs, but the firefighters of Dartmouth’s District 3 are a hardy bunch.

For the first time, six firefighters from District 3 are participating in this year’s Climb to the Top Boston on Saturday, March 7.

The event, a fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, is described on the society’s website as “an indoor vertical 5K.” 

Participants will start in the basement of Boston’s Hancock Tower at 200 Clarendon St. and climb 1,200 steps to the 60th floor.

The website notes that the fastest racers finish in as little as eight minutes, while most participants take 20 to 30 minutes to complete the challenge.

As if the task wasn’t intimidating enough, according to firefighter Devin Madeira, the District 3 team plan on doing it in full turnout gear.

It was Madeira who first proposed the idea to form a team within the department. 

He asked several individuals after he found the event online, and after receiving a few affirmative responses, he sent out a department-wide email to garner support.

One participant is member Richard Racine-Martin, who is currently living with MS, a disease in which the immune system attacks the protective covering of the body’s nerves.

“Some of the motivation behind [this] is, Richard was diagnosed with MS,” said Madeira. “And then, myself and a couple [of] other members are friends with a Falmouth firefighter who has MS.”

Four other firefighters will participate: Julie Giusti, Joshua Grenier, and brothers Nick and Jacob Livesey. 

Madeira noted that the department has many events locally, like their annual pig roast, summertime car washes and scholarship fundraisers. 

But he saw this as an opportunity to change things up. “[It’s] something just to get members to do something outside of the department and to just get together in general,” he said. 

Madeira added that he and the rest of the team are feeling excited ahead of Saturday’s event. “It’s for a good cause,” he said.

Those wishing to make a contribution to the fundraiser can do so on the MS website, nationalmssociety.org. 

The team is listed under “Dartmouth Fire Department District 3.” Donations can be made under a specific team members name or just to the team in general. 

Thus far, the team has surpassed their original $600 goal; as of March 3, $956.10 had been raised.