Waikaia firefighter Scott McKee was the first Southlander to finish this year's Firefighter Sky Tower Stair Challenge on Saturday.

It took Mr McKee eleven minutes and 50 seconds to climb the 51 flights of stairs in full fire gear, making him the first Southlander to the top and giving him a top 25 ranking.

The annual race puts firefighters from across New Zealand and abroad to the test, and in doing so raises funds for Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand.

Teams from across Southland raised funds leading up to the race. The Waikaia team also placed in the top three for its fundraising category, raising more than $18,000 for the cause.

The importance of the race hit home for Te Anau's participating team, who visited Auckland's Starship Hospital and Ronald McDonald House the next day.

In addition to visiting a former Te Anau resident receiving care at the hospital, the firefighters were also given a tour of the Ronald McDonald house from children who had leukaemia. 

Firefighter Dave "Hedgehog" Den Hertog said the experience was a "massive eye-opener" for the team, something that was difficult to explain. 

The team felt the difficulty of the stair climb was "minimal" compared to seeing what the children they visited were going through. 

"It was pretty special knowing that you've done something and hopefully made an impact to make life easier for those kids and for their parents," he said.

More than $1.3 million was raised overall from this year's challenge.