Monroeville Fire Dept. Sets Off Firestorm With Racy Calendar Fundraiser

MONROEVILLE (KDKA) -- A fundraising idea for a local fire department is raising eyebrows.

Monroeville firefighters have faced some criticism for a plan to sell a calendar with sexy photos of women posing with fire gear.

Fire Company 5 Chief Ron Harvey says fundraising is crucial for the volunteer department and can't understand why some people are upset.

He's says the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have a calendar and so do many other fire departments.

"A lot of people have blown it out of proportion. I don't understand it," said Chief Harvey. "You know as well as I know that the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders have calendars, there's fire departments all over the country that do this."

He says money raised would pay for improvements to the Monroeville Public Safety Training Center.

"We don't want the taxpayers to dip into their pocket again, because they've done that already. We wanted to try to earn the funds to fund these upgrades ourselves," Chief Harvey said.

One of the models tells KDKA she volunteered her time to help out the firefighters and is irritated by negative comments on social media.

The chief says the models and photographers all volunteered their time, and he says rumors that tax dollars will be used to print the calendars simply aren't true.

The firefighters hope to bring the photos to council to get their approval and then move ahead with the calendar.