Flying Fire Trucks is the first book dedicated exclusively to the history of aerial fire suppression since Alexander Linkewich's Air Attach on Forest Fires was published in 1972.

While the techniques to fighting a fire have barely changed, the technology has evolved dramatically. Computers dominate fire prediction detection, dispatch, even the control of the retardant tank doors.

Canada has been seen as a work leader since fire fighting began in the mid-1950s. In the decades that have followed, the aircraft have evolved from bushplanes and military surplus bombers, to aircraft built specifically for the rigors of fire fighting. Some, like the Canadair CL-215, have been successful. Innovative others, like Conair Aviation's Fokker F.27 Friendship, or Terr-Mar Aviation's Sea Thrush were developed decades before a market was ready.

Flying Fire Trucks is the first book dedicated to telling the aerial fire fighting story. Until now, writers have focused only on a current topic, or given the topic little more than a chapter in an much larger book. Flying Fire Trucks includes not only facts and figures, but first hand stories from the men and women who fly and maintain the planes, or work tirelessly behind the scenes. The manuscript currently stands of almost 200 pages. Several thousand photographs, dating from the turn of the century to the new millennium, most of which have never been seen before, have been compiled from sources all across the country.

I hope that you'll take a moment to read through this website and learn more about the book I'm writing. Maybe you can assist with stories or photographs of your own.

Trevor McTavish (2008)