The following is written by the City of Enumclaw:

On Sunday, March 8th 2015, Nona participated in the Seattle Firefighter Stair climb fund raiser. This stair climb raises awareness and donations for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

It takes a certain type of person to participate in this fund raiser and we are proud to have Nona as a part of it.This event required her to climb 69 flights of stairs of the Columbia Tower Building in Seattle while wearing bunker gear and breathing through her SCBA gear and mask.

Nona completed the climb in 23 minutes and 43 seconds.

69 floors is equal to 1,311 steps.

She placed 35th out of 162 females and 4th place for her age group.

This fund raising event has been going on for about 15 years and Nona has participated for the past 9 years. Nona does not do this for recognition but for the charity that is involved.

Here are a few statistics regarding the Seattle Stair climb and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) to date:

– To date, LLS, has invested almost $1 billion for research to advance therapy and save lives.

– LLS research grants have funded targeted therapies and immunotherapy. Some of the therapies first approved for blood cancer patients are now helping patients with other types of cancers and other serious diseases.

– The Washington/Alaska LLS chapter funded over $500,000 in co-pay assistance and patient financial aid in 2014.

– In the last 15 years, the Stair climb has contributed $9.09 million to support the LLS mission.

The reason we are sharing this information with you is that over the past 9 years, Nona Zilbauer, is one out of the 1500 firefighters a year that participates in this fund raising event. Without her participation, and others like her, the above statistics would not be as they are.

The climb is incredibly taxing physically and pushed the climbers to their limits. Doing the math over 9 years, that’s 621 flights of stairs consisting of over 11,979 steps.

We are extremely proud of Det. Zilbauer’s participation in this event. Her representation of both the Enumclaw Fire Department as well as Enumclaw Police shows the high standards that are set.

Part of our City’s Mission Statement reads “… to promoting excellence in public service” and with Nona and all the FD 28 members who took part in this, represented the Enumclaw plateau area in an exceptional manner with a “job well done”.

You all make Enumclaw proud.