Submitted by Alexander Urban Conrad.

The 29th annual Firefighter Stairclimb is March 8, and participants will climb 69 stories of the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle. Eight members of Orcas Island Fire and Rescue are joining the climb this year. Firefighters perform the climb “on-air” in full protective bunker gear weighing over 20kg. The 69-story climb takes 1,356 steps to complete and represents a vertical height of 240m. The eight members on this year’s OIFR team have been training to prepare for the event since registration in September.

The climb is a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. An estimated 1,345,123 people in the United States are living with or in remission from leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma. This event is the largest firefighter stair climb in the world and draws participants not only from our region but from fire departments around the world. The event raises over $3,000,000 each year for the fight against blood cancers.

This year, Team Orcas is climbing in honor of our friend, Jim Helminski. Helminski moved to Orcas with his wife Teresa Patrick after a successful career in federal law enforcement that culminated in the role of Chief Human Capital Officer and Deputy Assistant Director for the U. S. Secret Service. He currently serves the community as a member of the Fire Commission. Helminski was diagnosed with leukemia last year; he’s currently responding well to stem-cell transplant therapy.

The event team page for Orcas is here: http://bit.ly/38vYtty. Please consider a donation to support the Orcas Fire team and join the fight against blood cancers. Participants are representing the Orcas community as individuals; the stairclimb is not an official OIFR event.