Smokin’ Hot!

Austin Weishel is hot stuff. Not only is he a firefighter in Loveland, but he’s also an artist who’s designed a monument to arson dogs that is destined for a fire station in Washington, D.C., as a national salute to these canine crime-fighters. Unlike the dalmatians that were used to accompany horse-drawn wagons, arson dogs are usually black labs, adept at sniffing out signs of arson.

Tonight’s From Ashes to Answers Firefighter Date Night and Benefit is the first prong in a three-part effort to help raise awareness and funds for the sculpture. The second will be a cross-country motorcade, and the third will be a documentary on local-boy-made-good Weishel. “We’re going to have twenty firefighters to auction off, ideally fifteen males and five females,” explains spokeswoman Chelsea Linnell. “It’ll be a silent auction; each firefighter will have a sponsor who will write down the donations, and we’ll have a live band and a cash bar. The firefighters are each paired up with a date; Austin is the Rockies date package, where you go to a Rockies game.”

But there’s also a pair of twin-brother firefighters who’ll be auctioned off, and a package deal in which a group of steamy men will cook dinner for you and five friends at your house.

The bash starts at 7 p.m. at the Denver Firefighters Museum, 1326 Tremont Place. Tickets are $10; forking over $25 gets you admission plus a T-shirt and wristband. For more information, go to www.nationalfiredogmonument.com.

Sat., April 14, 7-11 p.m., 2012