Volunteer Firefighters Complete Charity Stair Climb

Submitted release

The Simsbury Volunteer Fire Company and Friends team of 84 members competed in the 2012 Fight for Air Climb, a fundraiser for the American Lung Association, and raised almost $20,000 for the charity. They raised the most money, were the largest team of firefighters and the largest team overall.

Two team members, Ken Boudreau, Main station, and Tracy Saperstein, Simsbury Volunteer Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary, were the top two individual fundraisers, raising $3,165 and $2,133 respectively. Donna Anderson, also of the Ladies Auxiliary, was fourth, raising $1,350.

Tim Zeilman came in a lucky 13th place in the individual firefighter climb competition, in a time of 7:04. John Epstein, in 19th place, completed the climb in 7:11. Both are out of Simsbury Volunteer Fire Company’s West Simsbury station. Simsbury’s team came in third among firefighter teams, with a time of 39:18, consisting of the total time of the top five team racers.

Firefighters were required to compete in NFPA compliant structural firefighting gear, which meant climbing with the weight of full firefighting gear, including boots, helmets and breathing apparatus.

The stair climb is 34 floors (686 stairs), held in one of Hartford’s tallest buildings, Hartford 21. The event raised over $151,000 to fight lung disease.

The American Lung Association is the leading organization working on improving lung health and preventing lung disease, according to its website. Founded in 1904 to combat tuberculosis, they are the oldest voluntary health organization.