Flying Fire Trucks
The History of Aerial Fire Fighting in Canada
An upcoming book by Trevor McTavish
About the Author:

Fascinated with fire bombers when he was still a little boy, spending his weekends at the Calgary International Airport, his summers were spent waiting to catch one of Air Spray's yellow Douglas A-26 Invaders roaring off on mission after mission. At the time he had little comprehension of what a fire bomber did but was mesmerized by the thunderous roar of radial engines, the bright colours and wartime airplanes. In later years he and his brothers watched demonstrations of these same planes at local airshows; the dyed water adding yet another dimension to the attraction.

Although he dreamt of entering the fire fighting business as a pilot his career in aviation took a slightly different path. A graduate from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) as an aeronautical engineering technologist, Trevor joined WestJet Airlines in 1999. When he began writing Flying Fire Trucks in 2001 he used his airline contacts to travel from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland, Sault Ste. Marie to Yellowknife in order to photograph aircraft, visit companies and museums, and conduct nearly 100 interviews.

Trevor currently lives in Alberta with his family. In addition to writing, he pursues his other life-long interests of photography, flying and scale models.