New Zealand’s first all-female professional firefighter calendar, raising funds for a great cause, is here and the sapphics are looking… very respectfully.
The Wahine Toa Firefighter Calendar 2026 features 13 female firefighters from nine stations and three cities and raises money for Breast Cancer Cure, which will support research towards prevention, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
Speaking to morning news and talk show Breakfast, co-organisers Nicole Koch and Zoe Feau said the idea for the calendar came about while they were on shift.
“Zoe and I were actually on shift together, we were talking about the men’s calendar and we were like ‘why isn’t there a woman’s one?’ So we’re just like, ‘maybe we should just make one ourselves and how hard could it be?’ And then it just went from there,” Koch said, adding: “I honestly don’t know what happened, I just feel like we had this idea and then bam, all of a sudden we were making it. It was outrageous.”
@nzstuff New Zealand’s first female professional firefighters’ calendar is here. Thirteen women from nine stations across three cities have teamed up for the Wāhine Toa Firefighter Calendar, a powerful new initiative supporting Breast Cancer Cure. The calendar is the first time New Zealand’s female career firefighters have come together for a national fundraising campaign. “The guys have always had their own calendar, and we thought, why not us too?” says career firefighter and co-organiser Nicole Koch. “We work hard and take our jobs seriously, so this was a chance to do something fun while raising money for a cause that matters.” #nzstuff #nz #firefighter The calendar is available here: https://www.breastcancercure.org.nz/
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Feau said raising money for a breast cancer charity was a “natural cause for us because we wanted to choose something that was really specific to women”.
“And a few of the girls from the calendar and throughout firefighting have had close connections with breast cancer, it just felt really fitting,” she added.
The response to the calendar has been “really overwhelming” for all involved given the huge support the initiative has had from all over the world.
An official Instagram account promoting the calendar currently boats more than 70,000 followers and the first video teasing the calendar has amassed more than 35,000 likes.
“We’ve been getting messages from all around the world. People are really, excited and want to buy the calendar. It’s actually been really overwhelming,” Koch said.
On Wednesday (29 October), the group announced the calendar had sold out and raised $100,000 for Breast Cancer Cure and told eager followers not to fear – there will be a second print run folks can get their hands on.
“We did it. You did it. We actually sold out,” the caption to the post reads. “The calendars are… hot to go. Thank you for the epic support — in 26 hours you’ve raised $100,000 for @breastcancercure — we’re blown away. We clearly grossly underestimated how popular our calendars would be and for that we apologise. Fret not, firefighters always have a plan B! Wipe up those tears and have no fears, because PREORDERS are now!
“This second run is open for just two weeks, and will close on 10 November. Order now and your calendar will be shipped as soon as the next print run lands — aiming to dispatch end of November so you can enjoy that December page right on time.
“Same fire. Same cause. Same unstoppable community.”
Unsurprisingly, the sapphics were very much into a bunch of very accomplished, very toned ladies – who can literally drag you out of a burning building – making a cheeky calendar to raise money for a charitable cause.
“Yes I know it’s an emergency I don’t mind waiting until the women firefighters are available”
The top comment on TikTok, which has more than 195,000 likes in fact, stated: “Oh the lesbians are gonna freak out. This is progress.”
Oh and freak out we did.
“i never understood the whole firefighter calendar thing… but i get it now,” on TikTok user commented, while another said that it was finally a firefighter calendar they “can get behind 