Bangor firefighters calendar set to return for 2005 Proceeds from sale benefit fire museum

BANGOR – A crumpled dollar bill fell to Andrew Emery’s feet as he posed around a fireman’s pole for a photographer Wednesday at Central Fire Station on Main Street.

“It’s well worth it, buddy,” a colleague and the source of the money shouted.

The laughter and catcalls were aplenty in the station’s garage as hunky Bangor area firefighters and paramedics showed some skin for the 2005 Hose 5 Fire Museum charity calendar.

After taking a break in 2004, coordinator and Bangor Fire Capt. Matt Costello decided to resurrect the calendar to raise more money for the museum, which features exhibits on firefighting history.

The first four calendars raised close to $100,000, most of which went into repairing the building’s roof and doing renovations in the basement, he said during the photo shoot.

“It’s been a fun thing to do,” Costello said about the calendar, which is in popular demand in the area and has been known to travel out of state.

Since throngs of women, and some men, will be pinning the finished product up in their homes and offices, the models were reluctant to reveal too many muscles. Emery, a firefighter-EMT with Holden Fire and Rescue, eventually unbuttoned his shirt, but covered himself up as soon as possible.

“It is kind of cold,” he said, as a fan was turned on to make his shirt billow in the breeze.

The calendar will feature 11 men and one woman posing in various locations in Bangor, including in the city’s three fire stations, downtown and on the waterfront.

With one of the department’s trucks in the background, Emery, who was on the cover of the 2003 calendar, mimicked sliding down a fireman’s pole, laughing as photographer Michael York of Old Town tried to get him to try different poses.

“I can’t slide down the pole this way!” the firefighter-EMT said.

York joked with the firefighters and treated them like supermodels as they posed, flexed, waggled their eyebrows and grinned, albeit sheepishly, for the camera.

“You’re working that pole,” he said to Emery, making onlookers and the bare-chested model laugh.

York has photographed every calendar since the original 2000 edition. Digital cameras have come a long way since then, making the sessions shorter as York and the models can look at the photos and decide if they want to keep those or take a few more shots. That was the case Wednesday when Emery was instructed to get back on the pole after a first round of pictures.

He needed to show more muscle.

Most of the Bangor firefighters would gladly choose to get in front of a burning house rather than a camera, which is why only 12 of the 80 or so officers in the department volunteered for this year’s calendar shoot.

“Some have to be coerced,” Costello said.

Those who braved the camera lens are doing it modestly, but for a good cause.

“The guys now are doing it because they want to,” York said.

This year’s format will be vertical, and the designers are focusing on putting the firefighters in simple settings with one or two props.

Like a fire hose. Or a Harley Davidson. And of course, the pole. Although she wasn’t being photographed on Wednesday, Mel Caldwell, a firefighter and paramedic with Bangor for the past three years, was on hand to help spray the models down with water and rub oil on their arms, making their skin shine.

Such girly tasks are not her favorite thing to do, she said, but she complied for the peace of mind of her colleagues.

“The guys feel weird with Cap [Costello] oiling them up, so they recruited me,” she laughed.

Costello plans to have the calendars ready by November, at which time there will be an open house at the Central Fire Station, where the models will give autographs. The calendars, costing $12.95 each, will be available at area businesses, including The Grasshopper Shop, Bangor Wal-Mart, Mr. Paperback locations and Borders Books & Music.