Fire department calendars exist in two distinct categories: beefcake and not-so-beefcake. It's the beefcake ones that most likely come to mind when you think of fire department calendars. Shirtless guys, maybe still in their firefighting bottoms and suspenders, smile at the camera holding axes and whatnot. The not-so-beefcake calendars show firefighters--fully clothed--battling flames on the job. You may like one type of fire department calendar, you may like the other, you may like both. You know who you are.

Fire Department Calendars Raise Funds

Fire department calendars tend to be sold to raise money for any number of charities. The 2004 New York City Fire Department calendar, for example, raises money for the FDNY Fire Safety Education Fund. The 2003 edition raised over $400,000 for that same cause--just a portion of the total calendar profits. That's not chicken feed.

Other popular charity recipients of calendar funds are the United Way, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and Toys for Tots. These are charities that only the most hardhearted among us will have a second thought about helping. Firefighters are revered as all-American heroes. Their choice of charities is unlikely to offend.

If it's clothed firefighters you prefer, there are several calendars like that available online. Especially popular are those calendars that depict firefighters during and after the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. One striking picture shows a group of firefighters walking toward the grey fog of debris that clouded New York City that day. Others would run away. That day, firefighters behaved like they do every other day. Instead of running from danger, they move toward it.