How do we know this, you ask?

Well, we’ve got six firefighters in the NSW Firefighters Calendar for 2017.

We’ve managed to obtain the photos of three of these local guys from the calendar. They are Breece Whittaker, Vaughn Hicks and Daniel Porter.

Breece, 29, lost 37 kilograms over about a year to make the calendar.

“It was hard work, but it was worth it,” Breece, of Cameron Park, said.

“I hit it really hard for 12 months leading up to the photo shoot.”

His transformation involved “good nutrition and lots of exercise.”

Plus, a mate of his runs a supplement store.

“He gave me good information about what to eat, what not to eat and when to eat,” he said.

He helped with supplements, so “the body gets exactly what it needs”.

As for making the calendar, he said it was “a big honour”.

“It’s become a lot harder to get into,” he said.

“In years gone by, you’d submit a picture and if Dave (the calendar owner) liked you, he’d fly you to Queensland and do a photo shoot and you’re in.

“But this year there were hundreds of applicants and, out of that, 62 got through to the final stages.”

From there, the owner picked the guys to make it into the calendar.

“It’s getting a lot more competitive, a lot more guys want to be in it. You’ve got to be in top shape to try and make the cut,” Breece said.

His wife Aimee had been a big support.

“When I felt down or wasn’t seeing the results, she was always there to say ‘you’ve come this far, just keep going’,” he said.

So how does it feel to be a sex symbol?

“Umm, (little chuckle), yeah, I wouldn’t say it’s that, or I don’t see it as that, I’m sure some people probably do,” he said.

“I just see it as trying to raise money for an awesome cause – trying to help the kids as much as we can and do whatever we can to achieve that goal.”

The calendar raises money for the Children’s Hospital Foundation, Westmead Children’s Hospital Burns Unit, Mates4Mates and the RSPCA.

Just to be clear, you don’t actually have your shirt off when you’re fighting a fire?

“That’s a pretty common question,” Breece said, adding that people were serious when they asked this.

“We wear full PPE [personal protective equipment].”

The calendar’s spokesman Justin Bygrave said the aim was to raise more than $800,000 for charities from the 2017 calendar series.

So people really like half-naked firefighters?

“Yes… with puppies,” Justin said, adding that some of the firefighters in the calendar are holding puppies.

What can we say, but that’s marketing genius.

The firefighters will be selling the calendars at Charlestown Square until Sunday, Westfield Kotara next week and Marketown at Newcastle West the following week.

Visit firefighterscalendar.com.au.