North Hudson firefighters are seeing red after being told they can't be seen at a fire wearing the pink T-shirts they purchased to participate in this month's Breast Cancer Awareness campaign.

According to Tom Calucci, vice president of the North Hudson Firefighters Association, firefighters with North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue received permission from the department brass in September to participate in this month's national Pink for a Cure campaign.

The firefighters ordered and paid for the T-shirts; and the lion share were sold to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a foundation dedicated to finding a cure for breast cancer, Calucci said.

But NHRFR officials have told firefighters the T-shirt can only be worn inside firehouses, or when in public, underneath their fire coats or department-issued T-shirts, Calucci said.

"Practice has been for fire alarms and accidents that your fire coat is required, no one is arguing that," Calucci said. "However, after you walk out of a burning building or extinguish a fire, it is not uncommon to take the jacket off, and that has never been a problem.

"However, if you're wearing this (pink breast cancer T-shirt) under your jacket, the jacket needs to stay on or there will be disciplinary action," he said.

NHRFR co-Director Jeff Welz said the department is simply trying to maintain a professional image.

"We want to have a uniform so people know they they're really firefighters and they look professional," said Welz, a colon cancer survivor who said he wholeheartedly supports breast cancer awareness and research. "They can wear the pink T-shirt in headquarters, but not in public.

"There is a chief and there are two part-time directors and no one gave them (the firefighters) the okay to do what they want to do," Welz added.

Calucci doesn't believe the pink T impugns the department's integrity.

"It's not a St. Patrick's Day shirt ... an opinion shirt," Calucci said. "This is discretionary wear that was approved by the apartment.

"I understand that we can't have specialized shirts for every event, but we recently attended a charity golf outing in Myrtle Beach and raised $62,000 to combat autism, but if we wore green T-shirts for the cause next month, would anyone really be upset?"

Calucci also argues the T-shirts are made of the same 100 percent cotton as the standard blue and white NHRFR T-shirts, except the blue portion of the shirt has been changed to pink.

So far, firefighters have raised $2,500 for the cancer-fighting foundation, said the union leader.

"The shirts also don't cost NHRFR money, nor does it cost the taxpayers money," he added. "They were bought by our union and paid for by our members."

So far no one has been disciplined and Calucci said he doesn't expect any firefighters to flout department rules.