PHOTOS: Estero firefighters ablaze with goodwill as they preview new calendar

Estero Fire Rescue firefighters Eliel Blanco and Fred Gonzalez. Firefighters from Estero Fire Rescue took the stage Saturday at a charity calendar party at the Hyatt Coconut Point. The calendar preview party is part of a series of upcoming fundraisers to benefit Partners in Breast Cancer and the Estero Safety Fund. Kevin Merritt / Special to the Daily News

Firefighters from Estero Fire Rescue took the stage Saturday at a charity calendar party at the Hyatt Coconut Point. The calendar preview party is part of a series of upcoming fundraisers to benefit Partners in Breast Cancer and the Estero Safety Fund. Kevin Merritt / Special to the Daily News

Estero was a few degrees hotter than the rest of Southwest Florida on Saturday.

The Estero Fire and Rescue firefighter charity calendar party served as a preview of the calendar that will debut in the fall.

Several firefighters took the stage to promote the department’s first calendar. Some went shirtless, wearing nothing but suspenders and pants.

The event began at 11 a.m. and continued until 4 p.m., featuring music, barbecue and a fashion show. Attendees participated in a silent auction and raffles throughout the day. All the action happened poolside at the Hyatt Place Coconut Point as attendees mingled with several members of Estero Fire and Rescue.

“The calendar is for a good cause, and we wanted to provide something fun for the public,” said Eliel Blanco, a firefighter and EMT for Estero Fire Rescue. “We’re glad the community will be able to see us both as firefighters and as the average people we are. We’ve never done a calendar before so we’re very excited to see the outcome and the reaction of the public who have supported us tremendously. ”

The calendar preview party is part of a series of upcoming fundraisers to benefit Partners in Breast Cancer and the Estero Safety Fund. Partners in Breast Cancer provides education and support for people with breast cancer while the safety fund is a charity that provides community fire and safety education.

To date, Partners in Breast Cancer has assisted more than 7,000 women and men who qualified for the program. Some of the services include mammograms, biopsies, ultrasounds and mastectomy surgical consults among others.

“We chose Partners in Breast Cancer as one of our beneficiaries because we knew these funds would stay in the community,” said Fred Gonzalez, a firefighter and paramedic for Estero Fire Rescue.

“The issue of breast cancer affects so many people these days, and we wanted to focus on trying to provide some type of contribution to the largest group of people in Southwest Florida.”

Firefighters say they’re looking forward to other events. They hope to have the calendar available for sale by Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and hope to debut the calendar at Coconut Point when shoppers will be in a buying frenzy.

However, that will all depend on funding. The success of the calendar project and the amount of money they’ll be able to give to the Estero Safety Fund and Partners in Breast Cancer will hinge solely on the financial support the department receives from donations.

For more information on the Estero Firefighters 2011 calendar or to make a donation, call (239) 390-8000, or e-mail Fred Gonzalez at Gonzalez@EsteroFire.org or Eliel Blanco at Blanco@EsteroFire.org.

E-mail Kelly Merritt at kelly@kelly-merritt.com.

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