Enumclaw Fire Set for Stairclimb Contest Sunday

Whether it was at the local Starbucks or the Wine & Chocolate Festival last month, you've likely seen announcements around town that members of Enumclaw Fire (and one representative of the Police Department), are taking part in this Sunday's Scott Firefighter Stairclimb event in Seattle, raising money and awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In 2010, the event featured over 1,500 firefighters from 247 different departments and brought in a record $780,000 for blood-cancer research and patient services.

With less than two days left, Enumclaw has raised $12,886.92, inching ever so close to its $13,000 goal, according to the team's website.

This year's event holds special meaning for our local participants. The Enumclaw community lost a beloved member of the Police Department in January when after being diagnosed, less than a week prior, with acute myeloid leukemia.

"The police and fire departments and family and friends all have been deeply affected by his sudden death," said a team statement. "He was a great person and dedicated police officer. He will be missed greatly throughout the community."

The Scott Stairclimb event is intended for firefighters, but when Fire Chief Joe Clow was sidelined by a pulled muscle while skiing, he left an opportunity too good to pass up. Team captain Maryn Otto offered the spot left vacant by Clow's injury to Police Officer Chuck Hauswith, who is taking full advantage of this chance to honor the life and career of the colleague he lost in January. "I was unaware that leukemia could take a person so fast," he said in a statement. "My friends at the Enumclaw Fire Department got special permission for me to participate in the Stairclimb this year, in Steve's memory."

The Scott Firefighter Stairclimb is a timed race up the stairs at the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle in full fire gear and SCBA. There are 69 flights of stairs, 1,311 steps, and 788 feet of vertical elevation. 

This year's team, headed by Maryn Otto, includes 13 representatives from Enumclaw:

• Maryn Otto (team captain)
• Lyle Bellah
• John Bloomer
• Jeri Freeburg
• Sheree Good
• Chuck Hauswirth
• Andrea Huizenga
• Patrick Kelly
• Steven Lentz
• Joseph Otto
• Lucas Racey
• Darius Vaitkus
• Nona Zilbauer

Otto, who competed last year just six weeks after having a baby, is aiming for a time under 30 minutes. Why does she do it?

In her web updates, she describes that every few flights of stairs, there is a picture posted of a patient who has lost their fight. "It sends chills down my overheated body. It makes me catch my gasping breath, if only for a moment. It gives me that extra ounce of energy to haul my feet up a couple more flights. And when I come to the next picture, or even better, a real cancer-fighting patient who is cheering ME on, I find the motivation, amongst this insanity, to keep taking the next step, just as they are. What is one more step when you think of what they are going through? They can't just quit.  I won't either. ... That's why I climb." 

Click here to read more about this year's Enumclaw team, and to make a donation.

Note that on Sunday, March 20, the public will tackle the same Columbia Center steps at the 25th annual Big Climb, which also benefits LLS. To date, we know that is sending a team to this event, which is now sold out.

Read more about here on Patch.