Calendar guy(s) ... Bonita firefighters' calendar to help local charities

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

By ERINN HUTKIN, echutkin~naplesnews.com

A shirtless Dave Brewer drops to the fire station floor. He begins doing push ups, like he is commanded by an invisible drill sergeant barking silent orders.

The 31 year-old Bonita Springs firefighter hops up a minute later. For now, only sweat makes his just-shaved chest glisten. They will oil him up later.

"That smells good," Brewer says when Debbi Redfield, the fire department's public education specialist, soon hits him with shots of baby oil from a squirt bottle.

Sufficiently buffed, sufficiently shaved, with sufficient wardrobe — or lack thereof — Brewer is ready for his close-up.

He is a tall, blonde firefighter with six-pack abs and ice-milk blue eyes. Fresh out of the fire station gym, oil-slathered with a Ken-doll tan, Brewer stands in yellow bunker pants, sturdy black boots and little else.

The waist of his pants is unzipped slightly and folded over, revealing the waistband of white Hanes briefs. He stands in front of a camera, a fire truck and hot lights. Using both hands, he hoists a heavy fire hose above his head. Veins bulge and wrap like wires around his biceps.

"Is it true, Dave, being a supermodel is hard work?" asks fellow firefighter Joe Daigle, an onlooker and heckler during a photo shoot for a calendar.

"Little did you know when you were in fire school ..." Redfield begins.

"It's what I trained for," Brewer kids.

Heat, smoke and flames — it comes with the territory of firefighting. Camera flashes and reflective lights — that is something they fail to teach in the fire academy. Yet this summer, 13 Bonita firefighters volunteered to bulk up, bare their chests and take turns as pinup boys as the union, Local 3444, compiled its first-ever calendar.

The 13-month display of Bonita beefcakes will raise money for charity. Half the profits from the $13 calendar will go to the Bonita Assistance Office. The rest will support other local service agencies, scholarships and families in need.

Starting today, 2,500 copies of the calendar will be available at a variety of Bonita businesses, as well as a Web site, www.firemenscalendar.com.

"It's for a good cause, it's for charity," said modest firefighter Mark Stirns, 33. "I'm a fireman. I'm not out there trying to make money off my photos."

Redfield, who coordinated the project, got the idea after seeing calendars from other departments. But once in Bonita, the effort soon took on a life of its own. The firefighter models did their part by working out. There was friendly competition to get in shape. They bantered and bet over who would get to be on the cover. They even begged for their pictures to run during the month of their birthdays.

The finished product shows bare-chested firefighters standing, sitting and leaning against fire trucks. Some are dwarfed by ladders or standing waist-high in blue Gulf waters or posing seriously against brick walls.

"I think (the pictures) actually turned out better than most of us thought," said firefighter Rich Scott, who will stand shirtless and smiling all August long.

Yet in its first year, the calendar endeavor involved experimentation.

To smile or not to smile? To flex or not to flex? Shirt on? Shirt off?

Redfield and photographer Lisa Krantz, a shooter for the Naples Daily News, arranged scenes and poses. The station garage served as the studio. Its beige brick walls, metal garage doors and red trucks provided a bounty of backdrops.

To beef up for the calendar, the firefighters — aged 24 to 41 — worked out in groups. Shaping up was a matter of one-upsmanship.

Together, they tackled the treadmill in the fire station weight room. They challenged each other to climb the most steps on the Stairmaster. They worked out on their days off.

They policed each other at mealtimes, enough to make Dr. Atkins proud. There was more cardio, fewer carbs. There were diet shakes for lunch; no ice cream after dinner. It was all part of what quickly became known around the station as the "calendar diet."

Sales at the station soda machine plummeted. So did waistlines. Most of the men in the calendar lost 10 or more pounds.

Some worked out right until the camera clicked. During a June photo shoot, firefighter Greg DeWitt lumbered into the station garage with a pair of 25-pound dumbbells, doing arm curls until stepping in front of the lens.

DeWitt, 33, posed beside the cab of a fire truck. He stood shirtless, exposing a tattoo wrapped around one bicep like a length of chain. The gray waistband of briefs poked purposely above his bunker pants.

He is the union president. In the calendar, he will be Mr. September.

Yet for some firefighters, going shirtless took a little getting used to.

"It feels funny. It feels awkward, like it ain't the natural thing to do," Brewer said during a June photo shoot, posing in the station that smelled of baby oil. "That light is hot."

"Not as hot as you, Dave," said a joking Daigle.

Despite his heckling, Daigle, 33, will appear on the calendar cover. He is pictured in front of an American flag, his piercing dark eyes staring straight ahead.

Redfield predicts if the calendar is a success, a sequel will be made next year. The joke around the station is that people hired for nine new firefighting jobs must look "calendar worthy."

"You know," Daigle said thoughtfully to Redfield, watching the shoot, "Every fire department in the county is going to have our calendar to throw darts at or draw funny faces on us."

"Yeah," she replied, "But at least they have to buy one."

Contact Erinn Hutkin at 213-6039 or by email at echutkin~naplesnews.com


ON SALE
The Bonita Springs firefighter's calendar will be on sale at the following locations:

Body Color Tanning Center, 3300 Bonita Beach Rd.

Ben and Jerry's at the Promenade

Bonita Mail Stop, 26831 S. Tamiami Tr.

Heaven Scent Flowers, 27515 Old 41 Rd.

Hayloft in Springs Plaza

Jean Nicole Hair Salon, 3300 Bonita Beach Rd.

Sprint Print, 28441 S. Tamiami Tr.

A calendar signing is set for Oct. 3 at Wiseguys, 15495 U.S. 41 N., North Naples from 10 p.m. to midnight. Calendars are $13, plus $3 shipping if purchased over the Web site at http://www.firemenscalendar.com

http://www.naplesnews.com/02/09/bonita/d809707a.htm