There is a tradition in fire departments — if any firefighter is to get their photo in the newspaper, that person has to buy ice cream for the whole crew.
Just ask Lynnwood firefighter Kevin Miller or Shoreline firefighters David Engler or Craig Overfield what they’ll have to do for the crew after their half naked bodies are pinned up on over 25,000 walls… in the form of the 2003 Washington firefighter calendar.
On Sept. 6, the three local firefighters along with 22 others from Washington (including two women) will be dancing and auctioning the shirts off their backs as a fund-raiser for the International Association of Firefighters Burn Foundation.
While the unveiling party and auction starts at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 6 at the Benaroya Hall in Seattle, the frenzy over these “regular guys and gals” is just beginning, said Shoreline firefighter Rod Heivilin, coordinator for the calendar and the executive director of the IAFBF.
“It’s 40 percent looks and 60 percent personality,” Heivilin said. “My advice to them about the judging and the attention is just be yourself and let your personality come through.”
Along with the pictures and fame comes a big time commitment. The 25 calendar firefighters give about 300 hours of volunteer time to promote the calendar and raise funds which are used to help fund burn research and public burn education.
One recent project was a virtual reality study, Heivilin said. It is a way for burn victims to get through the process of cleaning wounds with less reliance on narcotic painkillers.
The local firefighters chosen for the calendar say the notoriety is “strange.”
“I’ve never taken my shirt off in public before,” said Engler after a recent public appearance. “It was wild, all of the attention and the women all around.”
Engler, 50, said he decided to try out for the calendar because “they needed a senior citizen on the calendar. I stay in shape and I thought ‘what the heck.’”
Engler said that before September 11, firefighters in general were pretty invisible to the community. Since then, he said people come up all of the time to give their thanks and appreciation.
Engler, who is single, has worked for the Shoreline Fire Department for 21 years and the calendar isn’t his first charity project. He created the annual Firefighter Challenge, which benefits the local chapter of the Leukemia Society. The challenge draws more than 500 firefighters for a timed race to the top of the Bank of America Tower wearing full firefighting gear.
Miller, 27, said he already had fans before he was on the calendar.
“Gals would ask me while we were out on calls if I was on the calendar and my family (including his wife) and friends encouraged me to go for it, so I did,” Miller said.
Miller was raised in the Bothell area, graduating from Bothell High School. He has been a Lynnwood firefighter for over four years.
Miller said his wife, Robin, is excited to have her husband on the calendar and has been “easy going” about all of the attention. He said he has been in the limelight before, appearing twice on TV’s Toughman Show.
Overfield, 30, had the opportunity to help put together a past calendar and saw what a good time everyone was having and decided to try out.
“I didn’t try before, because you get a lot of harassment,” Overfield said, adding that a fire station is a major breeding ground for razzing.
The father of Overfield’s childhood friend was a firefighter, and he said he remembers “tons of laughter and smiles coming from his friend’s house anytime the firefighters got together. The impression prompted him to become a firefighter.
Overfield is single and has worked for the Shoreline Fire Department for eight years.
One of the many items to be auctioned off at the unveiling party on Sept. 6 is chance to be a judge for the 2004 calendar. Other examples of auction items range from an Alaskan cruise or an African safari to dinner for two or firefighter collectable figurines.
The 2003 calendars will be available for the first time at the unveiling party for $13.95. Tickets are $35 in advance and can be purchased www.firefightercalendar.com or through Ticket Master. Tickets at the door are $45.
The ticket includes hors d’oeuvres, free autographs and, Heivilin said, “The hottest party of the season.”
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