This past weekend St. Leonard Volunteer Fire Department members Chris Sleeper and Blake Hosselrode participated in the annual Scott Firefighter Stair Climb located at the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle, Washington.

At 788 feet of vertical elevation, the Columbia Center stands as the second tallest building west of the Mississippi, and the tallest in Seattle. It takes 69 flights of stairs and 1,356 steps to reach the highly acclaimed observation deck overlooking the city. The Scott Firefighter Stairclimb is the world's largest on-air stairclimb competion. The money they raise through sponsorships, individual and department fundraising, and entry fees directly supports the mission of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This consistently sold-out event is the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's annual fundraiser open solely to firefighters who must compete in full structural turnout gear while on-air. Completing the climb is a physical triumph in itself, but it is also symbolic of, yet pales in comparison to, the strenuous journey that all cancer patients endure. As firefighters race to the top of the tower, they keep in mind that every step forward is representative of moving toward finding a cure for all those battling a blood cancer. In 2017, the event featured 2,000 firefighters from over 330 different departments and 9 different countries. This group of phenomenal climbers brought in a record $2.4 million for blood cancer research and patient services.

To date, LLS has invested over $1 billion to develop cancer therapies and advance the production and application of many drug treatments. Now in it’s 27th year, this event has raised almost $15 million for LLS.