Mustachioed Kirkland Firefighters Win Eastside 'Movember' Competition

A group of mustachioed Kirkland firefighters celebrated a blazing “Movember” victory over their compatriots from Bellevue, Redmond and Eastside Fire & Rescue Wednesday night at the Wilde Rover downtown.

The crew of Kirkland first responders raised $3,634 for Movember, a global campaign and competition in which many men grow mustaches during the month of November, and raise money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong, the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

This year Kirkland and other Eastside firefighters officially joined the campaign, and for very good reason. Studies show firefighters are far more likely than the general population to suffer from prostate cancer, testicular cancer, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

More than 100 people from the region joined the Kirkland firefighters at the downtown pub, listening to the Eastside Firefighters Pipe & Drums band and giving and receiving awards for such distrinctions as creepiest mustache (a dubious distinction no doubt), best mustache and most money raised.

The latter award went to Kirkland Firefighter Evan Hurley, who raised $811.

The Kirkland firefighters thanked the community for its donations, and stoked the fires of next year’s Movember effort by planning a much bigger competition: all-Eastside vs. Seattle.