FDNY bares all for hot City of the Brave calendar

Nicole Lyn Pesce and Gina Salamone New York Daily News 08/18/2010 16:29

New York City firefighters are used to putting out fires, not starting them. A dozen of the FDNY's brawniest will flaunt their smoking bodies in the 2011 City of the Brave calendar, launching Thursday.

(This is not to be mistaken with the official FDNY calendar, which the department stopped issuing a couple of years ago.)

Dedicated to the firefighters of New York City, this year's calender is designed to represent FDNY's sacrifice for others.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Thomas R. Elsasser Fund, which supports families of New York firefighters who died outside the line of duty.

Photographer Katherine Kostreva created the City of the Brave annual calendars after firefighters saved her life by pulling her broken body from a severe car accident. The 26-year-old has since made it her artistic mission to honor the firemen's selfless bravado and their muscular bodies.

Mr. October: Joseph Aviles, 26 
Engine 66, Ladder 61, the Bronx
 
Height: 5-feet-10 Weight: 170 pounds
 
Status: Married
 
Time on the job: 8 years
 
Best feature: "I would say my arms. People look at them and say, 'You must work out a lot. You have a nice physique.'"