Firemen stripping down to their
flame-retardant trousers for charity calendars is an
end-of-the-year tradition all over the country.
But it's never been done by the
brave fire-fighting women of Britain's emergency services. Until
now.
The ladies of the South Yorkshire
fire brigade have been even braver than usual, stripping off to
take part in a scantily clad photo shoot for a calender to raise
money for Cancer Research UK and the Fire Fighters
Charity.
The women from Barnsley,
Rotherham and Sheffield emergency services have stripped down to
their underwear for the first UK female-only fire fighter calendar,
Fire Girls 2013, which is being sold on eBay
for £6.
In the smoking hot photos the
women - Fleur Doyle, Jade Styan, Nicole Hallat, Claire Morton,
Frankie Salerno, Sally Stark, Sian Nortcliffe and Angie Thrope -
are seen posing in their bras holding hoses, leaning across laders,
fooling around in the fire foam, hanging out with Father Christmas,
wearing hard hats, drinking water and lounging across cars and
beside the fire truck.
Aged 23 to 54, the women admitted
they were nervous at first but now hope the calender will be the
first in a series. Miss August - Angie Thorp, 40, a South Yorkshire
fire service crew manager - said: 'None of us had ever modelled
before. But we all had a really good time.
'We hope it will be the first of
a series. We are planning to do a double sided calendar next year
with the men on one side and the girls on the other - and Christmas
cards. All of us were a bit embarrassed about posing. But the fire
men made us full of confidence and we had a lot of help form the
guys.
'Our husbands were also very
supportive and many of those buying the calendar are male
colleagues' wives who want it as a stocking filler for their
husbands. All of us did the race for life twice in full kit with
breathing apparatus and decided to do the calendar as the next
step.
'We are all fire fighters but we
are also all normal people doing a normal job.'
Despite obtaining permission
to film on fire service premises, there was no question of any pole
dancing or other no-hold-barred poses. To avoid bringing the fire
service into disrepute the women limited themselves to stripping
off their tunics to reveal their bras or opening up their coats to
show what they wear underneath - when not fighting fires or
checking smoke alarms.
To those who might consider
this way of raising money for charity undignified, the women said:
'We desperately wanted to raise as much money as we could but also
to maintain our dignity as well - because we have to come to work
after it all!'
With only nine girls and 12
months to fill three of the pages are group shots. But the the
calendar has caused such a buzz there should be no shortage of
female fire-fighting buddies willing to strut their stuff for the
2014 edition
Miss Thorp added: 'So many girls
are interested in taking part next year it is a shame there are not
24 months in a year.'We were all a bit nervous at first, but ended
up having a really good time and it has brought us closer
together.'
The first published 1,000
calendars are selling so well at £5 each the girls are confident of
raising £5,000 are a further print run is on the cards. The money
will go to Cancer Research UK and the Fire Fighters'
Charity.
Fire girl Fleur Doyle, 37, was
among the first to answer the call of duty. She blushed: 'At the
photo shoot it was a bit daunting to whip our jackets off and
expose ourselves in our bras. But once we relaxed the photographer
made us feel at ease. It was good fun and we've all become great
friends by doing it.
'All of us have friends or family
that have been struck by cancer and Cancer Research UK is such a
brilliant cause. And we have got colleagues who have been off
sick that have been burned in fires - and the Fire Fighters'
Charity does so much for them.'