Hot dates: Firefighters calendar raises funds for children’s hospital

Photos of shredded, shirtless firefighters are the allure of this year’s Middle Georgia Firefighter Calendar, with proceeds from the calendar benefiting the Atrium Health Navicent Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital in downtown Macon.

Josh Watts is one of the 36 firefighters to be featured in the 2026 calendar after a panel of judges made their picks back in May. He was in the last calendar, which was sold in 2018.

“That’s one of the main things for us — charity,” Watts said. “Our No. 1 job is to help the community,” he said.

The featured firefighters have yet to see the finished product. The calendar’s big reveal will take place from 4-7 p.m. Monday at Luther Williams Field on Willie Smokie Glover Drive.

The 2018 calendar raised $26,000 for various charities, including Jay’s Hope Foundation and the Georgia Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

Excitement and interest in the calendar has been so strong that Fire Chief Shane Edwards said the department is already planning on bringing the calendar back for 2028. Previously, it’s been something that’s only run every five to seven years.

“They’re coming hot off the press today,” Edwards said Sept. 9. “We are very excited to be able to go get them and start looking at them.” 

The goal of the calendar is to support children’s health care, Edwards said, but the calendar also motivates firefighters to get in shape and eat right. 

He said the competition is “enormous” among firefighters and served as a morale booster.

“Anytime that you have two or three people in a fire station that’s changed their eating habits and has a workout regimen throughout the day, that encourages the other firefighters in the fire station to kind of tag along with them,” he said.

Watts, a sergeant at Fire Station 5 on Second Street, said his goal was for all of his station’s firefighters to be part of the calendar. He said working toward fitness goals was easier with a little competition among his fellow emergency responders.

The Station 5 firefighters did ultimately make the cut — emerging out of the pool of more than 70 firefighters who tried out — and were featured in bodybuilder-esque photoshoots with firefighter gear at the Guardian Center in Perry, at Lake Tobesofkee and in downtown Macon. 

Calendars are $20 and can be purchased at the reveal or ordered online. For more information, visit maconbibb.us.