Bellevue Fire Fighter Camari Olson a Top Finisher in Tower Challenge

Editors note: An earlier version of this story had incorrect information based on incomplete information posted to the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb website Sunday night. This story is now corrected.

Bellevue fire fighter Camari Olson was the fastest female firefighter in her age group - and 16th fastest female firefighter overall -  to take on the Columbia Tower on Sunday in the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb. 

It took Olson a little more than 20 minutes to climb the 1,311 steps of Columbia Tower.

Four other Bellevue fire fighters were among the top third finishers in the overall male categoy of the stair climb.

This year, the Bellevue firefighters made the climb in honor of .

The Bellevue Fire Department raised more than $2,500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, according to the Big Climb website. More donations are expected to come in this week, said team captain and Bellevue firefighter Mike Williams.

 About 1,500 firefighters climbed the 1,311 steps of Seattle's Columbia Tower in full gear. Williams said that firefighters participated from all over the nation and from other nations, including New Zealand and Germany.

"It's truly become a nationwide, worldwide thing," he said.

Each firefighter was allowed to use two bottles of oxygen on the climb, and the bottle changers are staged at specific levels of the tower to help them switch out their tanks. Bellevue Fire provided one of the pieces of equipment that refilled the air tanks.

Last year, the event raised $780,000 for blood cancer research and patient services and this year's event sold out. The public stair climb, Big Climb Seattle, will be on March 20.

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• Eric Pedeferri
• Mike Williams
• Brian Regalado
• Camari Olson
• Chief Warren Merritt
• Scott Symons
• Ted Erb
• Rich Burke
• Chris Archer
• Paul Hyatt
• Eli Lehmann
• Corky Thoreson