Leary just keeps turning up the heat

Fire somehow befits Denis Leary.

He plays New York City firefighter Tommy Gavin on “Rescue Me,” and the promotional photography for this FX drama depicts him, in character, brazenly engulfed in flames.

But Leary is combustible in pretty much everything he does.

As a rapid-fire, chain-smoking stand-up comic, he’s a truth-telling hothead. In films such as “The Ref,” “Wag the Dog” and “The Thomas Crown Affair,” along with the two animated “Ice Age” movies, he gives searing performances.

Writing is another part of Leary’s repertoire. He writes nearly all the “Rescue Me” scripts with co-executive producer Peter Tolan (with whom he first teamed for the 2001-02 half-hour series “The Job,” a short-lived ABC comedy where Leary played a reckless NYPD detective).

Leary has infused “Rescue Me” (10 p.m. Tuesdays, cable channel 53 in Spokane, 65 in Coeur d’Alene) with his intimate knowledge of the world it inhabits: His cousin died while battling a 1999 Worcester, Mass., blaze (which led him to create the Leary Firefighters Foundation charity) and he lost friends in 9/11 rescue efforts.

To star in such an ambitious series and also play a major hand in writing it, along with being boss – that’s a huge undertaking.

Happily, Leary (who turns 49 on Aug. 18) has finally been recognized by the Emmys: He is nominated for best lead actor in a drama.

In its third year, “Rescue Me” has sizzled with a season of bravery, but also jealousy and revenge.

For instance, Tommy discovered that, behind his back, his cop brother was playing house with his estranged wife, Janet.

The widow of Tommy’s cousin, a firefighter who died on 9/11 (and who pays spectral “visits” to Tommy) has fallen in love with him. And she’s seething that Tommy hooked up with his brother’s ex-wife (played by Marisa Tomei).

Perhaps the season’s most memorable sequence, in the June 20 episode, found Tommy sexually forcing himself on Janet – then, alone in his pickup truck, flashing a wicked little grin before he screeched off into the night.

The intensity of the uproar from viewers and critics caught Leary off-guard.

“The idea that people wanted karmic justice for Tommy, on the spot, kind of shocked me,” he admits.

But next season, Tommy gets his comeuppance.

“There’s a moment when the camera comes in on him, and he has to think back about what he did,” Leary promises.

“Tommy and Janet should just stay away from each other,” he adds. “Things can only get worse, not better, which is why it’s so much fun to write and so much fun to play.

“And the plan she comes up with at the end of this season, which we’re shooting right now …”

But that’s all he’s going to say as he flashes a wicked little grin, happy to be playing with fire.

The birthday bunch

Jazz bassist Charlie Haden is 69. Actress Catherine Hicks (“Seventh Heaven”) is 55. Actor Jeremy Ratchford (“Cold Case”) is 41. Director M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense”) is 36. Singer Geri Halliwell (Spice Girls) is 34. Actress Soleil Moon Frye (“Punky Brewster”) is 30.