Prince George, B.C. – Fans of the Prince George Cougars have an opportunity to be involved in something quite special this weekend.

Local BC Firefighters Burn Fund rep Brian Burleigh says “we’ve partnered up with the Prince George Cougars and our official 2015 Burn Fund calendar launch is scheduled for Sunday at the Cougars game. The start time of the game is 2 o’clock and we’ll be on hand with a bunch of firefighters making a presence, selling our calendar and educating the public on what the Burn Fund is and what they have to offer.”

Burleigh explains what the B.C. Firefighters Burn Fund is about. “Over recent years they’ve raised funds to build what is called the Burn Fund Centre, basically a home away from home for burn and trauma patients and their families, so something similar to Ronald MacDonald House. Various locals of professional firefighters from throughout the province have made pledges to this centre and the Burn Fund. Prince George firefighters have made a pledge to them to raise $100,000.00 over the next three years. And in turn we will put our name on one of the eight accommodation suites for life.”

The members of Prince George Firefighters Local 1372 have planned several fundraisers to reach their goal, one of them is a calendar. Burleigh says it’s “a 14-month calendar which highlights all the services and skills that the Prince George Fire Rescue Services have to offer the city of Prince George. So there’s various photo shots in there from technical rescue to Hazmat to confined space to our dispatch centre, all the different roles that we provide to the city.” So it’s not a bunch of bare-chested firefighters? “No, unfortunately it’s not your typical calendar but we’re trying to promote the city and Prince George Fire Rescue services at the same time and raise some money for this commitment at the same time.”

The calendars are $20 each “and all proceeds go toward this pledge and what we’ve done is we’ve sold fourteen months of sponsorships, so various businesses have paid money to advertise on the bottom portion of the calendar and then all of the picture portion belongs to the firefighters.” The calendar sales start tomorrow at the Cougars game “and then they will be available at all four Save-on locations and Canadian Tire till the end of the year, or maybe even into the first part of the new year. There is a limited amount, 3,000 calendars printed.”

The Prince George Firefighters also raise funds through their annual May long weekend barbecue in partnership with the Spruceland Scotia bank and a silent auction at the Westwood Pub and Burleigh says they are currently discussing the possibility of holding a wine festival event.

The Burn Fund Centre location is 23^rd and Main in Vancouver. Burleigh says the groundbreaking ceremony took place on September 17^th and construction is slated to start in early November. “They’re projecting one year to build it so this time next year we could be looking at an opening ceremony.” And he says this is now the final push to get the funding completed for the centre.   “At this time we are only about one million dollars short. It’s about a $14 million project and $13 million has already been raised, with more than $2 million of that coming personally from firefighters throughout BC. Lots of people have done it with a dollar-a-day off their pay cheques. Over 38-hundred firefighters in BC are a part of this.”

As far as operating costs go Burleigh says “it’s a three-storey building. The ground floor is going to be retail market space which will be rented out to cover the operating costs of the building. The second floor will be the eight accommodation suites with some communal living areas and the third floor is going to be the professional space for the burn fund offices and provincial union matters.”