The Fight for Air Climb took place Saturday November 3, 2012, at the Bank of America Building in Orlando, Florida. This is a special fundraising event sponsored by the American Lung Association in which teams and individual participants race to the top of 20 flights of stairs. The American Lung Association Climbs are a wonderful way to show support for someone who has been diagnosed with a lung disease or as a memorial to someone who has passed away.
Team Deltona consisted of 14 members of the City of Deltona Fire Department as well as two of their wives. The Deltona Fire Fighters Association sponsored the 14 firefighters and paid $100.00 per member to participate in the event. Members also raised additional money to the cause by obtaining additional sponsors who made pledges to the cause and raised a total of $1,925. During the event, Team Deltona Firefighters donned full protective firefighting gear, including air packs, tacking on an additional 50 pounds to make the challenge a little tougher. Overall Team Deltona placed first in the Firefighters Division. For the first time they had a female firefighter take part in the challenge. Engineer Paramedic Katy Christman turned in a time of six minutes and 43 seconds.
Team Deltona members were Firefighter Jason Pratt and his wife Heather, Firefighter Connor Beverly and his Hannah, Lt. Daniel Bowen, Firefighter Michael Drew, D/E Katy Christman, Firefighter John Fleemin, Firefighter Terry Freeman, Firefighter Ryan Hanley, Firefighter Tony Jacinto, Firefighter CJ Johnson, Lt. Rick Paine (Ret), Firefighter Aaron Quarberg, Lt. John Sabia, and Lt. Josh Sievert.
The team was presented with the traveling trophy this past Monday night at the City of Deltona Commission meeting. The trophy was presented by Betsy Sheffield of the American Lung Association and the City Commission. Congratulations to Team Deltona Fire.
