Some thoughts here. Take these with a grain of salt though, my /Fire brute is only lvl16.
I haven't quite worked out my playstyle in teams. It has to vary a lot depending on other team members. If there's someone with good defensive buffs/debuffs or a dominator, I can tank. If there isn't, I simply can't survive out there. In that kind of teams I try to play more like a slightly sturdier scrapper.
To be honest, I mostly solo. My brute has to be the best soloist I ever had this early (and my main is a Regen scrapper). Large teams slow me down and kill my Fury. That's ok if there's some buffing about so I can play a more defensive role, but without buffs it's just painful, feeling squishy and doing sad damage. Soloing with a brute is super fun, rushing through mob after mob, Fury bar high, the only thing stopping me is running out of endurance. Duoing is grear too, especially with Corruptors or another Brute.
Speaking of endurance, Blazing Aura is somewhat of a hog. If you want to be a teamster it's probably a good idea to take it early, but be prepared to run out of endurance if you try to maintain any kind of Fury at the same time (and Blazing Aura is a thing of beauty on high Fury). Some brutes apparently don't slot any damage early on, but ionstead slot even the small attacks with endurance reduction. Sounds like a good idea, but when I'm in trainers and duals I tend to use whatever drops I happen to get, except accuracies which I buy.
Take Acrobatics for knockback protection. I can't wait to get it, feel like I'm constantly on my back. /Fire is definitely lacking on status protection, but leaping pool helps to fill the holes.
I'm thinking of getting acrobatics post 40. Like... I7. I just really can't find a place in my build for it without compromising the theme powers I really want for cool factor. I figure it can't be all -that- bad since I don't intend to tank very much and I'm getting protection to pretty much everything else.
Anyway, thanks for the advice. 
And yes blazing aura is an end hog. It also makes me an aggro hog, but its nice to one shot brawl a minion who was at low health because of it.
A point to consider from my experience as a fire tank (my brute is SS/Invul): you might want to slot one or two accuracy into your Consume. It is a lifesaving power for endurance-intensive builds, but the end recovery depends on how many mobs you hit with it. And as you usually need the endurance at the end of a fight, when there are only a limited number of mobs left alive, it is generally bad to miss any of them
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.1.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
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Name: Sun Viper
Level: 41
Archetype: Brute
Primary: Fiery Melee
Secondary: Fiery Aura
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01) --> Fire Sword==> Acc(1)Acc(3)Dmg(31)Dmg(40)
01) --> Fire Shield==> DmgRes(1)DmgRes(3)DmgRes(5)EndRdx(15)
02) --> Blazing Aura==> Acc(2)Dmg(5)Dmg(9)EndRdx(13)EndRdx(25)EndRdx(36)
04) --> Scorch==> Acc(4)Acc(7)Dmg(33)Dmg(40)
06) --> Healing Flames==> Heal(6)Heal(7)Heal(13)Rechg(15)Rechg(34)Rechg(40)
08) --> Boxing==> Acc(8)Acc(9)
10) --> Cremate==> Acc(10)Acc(11)Dmg(33)Dmg(39)
12) --> Combat Jumping==> DefBuf(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> EndRdx(14)
16) --> Plasma Shield==> DmgRes(16)DmgRes(17)DmgRes(17)
18) --> Tough==> DmgRes(18)DmgRes(19)DmgRes(19)EndRdx(37)
20) --> Consume==> Acc(20)Rechg(21)Rechg(21)Rechg(23)
22) --> Build Up==> Rechg(22)Rechg(23)Rechg(25)
24) --> Swift==> Run(24)
26) --> Health==> Heal(26)Heal(27)Heal(27)
28) --> Stamina==> EndMod(28)EndMod(29)EndMod(29)
30) --> Fire Sword Circle==> Acc(30)Acc(31)Dmg(31)Dmg(37)Dmg(37)
32) --> Greater Fire Sword==> Acc(32)Acc(33)EndRdx(34)Dmg(34)Dmg(39)Dmg(39)
35) --> Fiery Embrace==> Rechg(35)Rechg(36)Rechg(36)
38) --> Rise of the Phoenix==> EndMod(38)
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01) --> Sprint==> EndRdx(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)Acc(11)
01) --> Fury==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)
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The closest I've ever gotten to playing a brute like AT was scrappers (not even tankers) and I'm a little confused about how they work, but I think I got a decent build for my F/F brute worked out.
Initially I'll be using dodge/boxing/scorch to build fury with some fire sword thrown in cause I like the visual and I already had to give up jump kick to make the build work, and refuse to budge further. ^_^
I'll be using cremate as a finisher. Won't be slotting for damage til late and even then I wont have 3 dam. I'll be relying on fury for most of my damage.
Toggles get a lot of end redux, blazing aura gets two because its the heaviest. I won't be taking acrobatics because I can live with knockback and can't fit it in. I won't be taking burn because I can live with immob and can't fit it in and was assured by the people I will be teaming with they'd handle it if it became a problem.
Healing flames and CJ/S.Leaping speak for themselves. So do fire shield, plasma shield, tough, consume, build up, swift, health, stamina.
I heavily slotted fire sword circle because I want to use it along with greater fire sword as my "big tricks". This fire/fire tanker will be a devestating, late blooming one two trick pony as far as I'm concerned.
I'm hoping I can stack build up and fiery embrace on a 100-200% increase from fury and I should have a 30ish BI AoE attack. That ought to nicely wipe out a densely packed group of minions, or at least soften them up enough for blazing aura to trickle away the last bits. If I don't have fury its still 22 BI, which is pretty damn spiffy still.
Similar on the greater fire sword though I also intend to use it as a normal finisher, hence the end redux. If I'm not wiping out minions with sword circle I can use this on a boss with build up and fiery embrace for a BI of at least 33, without fury.
Rise of the Phoenix I took because while many people hate res powers here's how I see it: I'm going to die at some point, you always do, pretending you don't is being overly optimistic. If I can use this power, come back, knock away mobs, stun them, get half my health and endurance back, gain more endurance gain on top of stamina, be invulnerable and safe against debt for a while, that means I can get up, do an AoE damage/knockback/stun effect, pop my toggles, pop healing flames, use consume and be utterly and completely back in action.
I know if I had such a power on my dominator I'd take it. That kinda thing can avert a team wipe and since this is a teamster, I kinda like the prospect of getting back up and whupping more [censored] to save the team after faceplanting.
So there's my build and why I made it the way it is. If I messed up or was misguided in my many many assumptions, please tell me! ^_^