(Image Credit: CFJC News)

By Sydney Chisholm

burn survivors

Kamloops firefighters heat up charity campaign with annual calendar

Dec 2, 2024 | 7:00 PM

KAMLOOPS – Kamloops firefighters are trading in their uniforms for a different kind of exposure, all in the name of charity. The Kamloops Firefighters Charitable Society’s annual calendar is back, aiming to raise $40,000 for the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation and the BC Burn Fund.

Last year’s calendar raised approximately $28,000, but this year, organizers are turning up the heat on their fundraising goals. The initiative does more than provide eye candy — it’s a lifeline for burn survivors attending the BC Burn Camp.

“This is my first year [posing for] it,” says Orrin Redan, director of the Kamloops Firefighters Charitable Society and featured as December in the 2025 calendar. “They needed some bodies and I wanted to give back in some way that I could.”

The tradition of firefighter calendars has been a staple in fire departments across North America for decades. Kamloops has embraced this custom, using it as a platform to strengthen community ties and support vital causes.

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“It’s been a longstanding tradition with any fire department that not only do we do works on the floor or on the trucks, but we also give back to the community wherever we can,” Redan explains.

The funds raised go beyond local health care — they support the BC Burn Fund’s annual summer camp for burn survivors. This camp, costing about $3,000 per attendee, is offered free of charge to survivors, thanks to fundraising efforts like the calendar.

Jlluvia Escobar Gunn, 24, has been attending the BC Burn Camp since she was six. Now a counsellor, she describes the camp’s impact as life-changing.

“It’s just this environment where you not necessarily get to be normal, but you just get to be with people who are like you and who understand what you’re going through,” said Escobar Gunn. “It’s almost indescribable, the feeling, but it’s just… it’s just another world where you belong.”

For Jeremiah Andrews, who first attended in 2011, the camp played a crucial role in self-acceptance.

“After Burn Camp, it’s been like… [my scars are] now a part of me completely. I would never get rid of them at all. Like they’re part of my character,” Andrews told CFJC News. “They’re part of who I am and Burn Camp has really helped cement that.”

According to Redan, the calendar project exemplifies Kamloops firefighters’ commitment to their community, both on and off duty.

“Ever since I’ve been a firefighter, it has always been a term beyond the call of duty,” Redan states. “Even though you give back to the community while you’re at work, it’s off the job that counts as well. You’re a firefighter 100 per cent of the time.”

For those eager to support this cause, the calendars are available through various channels:

• In-person sales: Every Sunday this month at Valleyview Save-On-Foods from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and on Dec. 6 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Sahali Save-On-Foods and during business hours at Runners Sole in Aberdeen.
• Fire station: Available during regular business hours at Sahali (Station 1) Fire Station.

Calendars can also be purchased online here.