Trevor McTavish in New Brunswick, 2002

Fascinated with fire bombers when he was still a little boy, spending my weekends at the Calgary International Airport, his summers were spent waiting to catch one of Air Spray's bright 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 the Red Deer Airshow. 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, Canada's second largest airline, in 1999. It's an arrangement that led directly to his ability to write Flying Fire Trucks.

Work on Flying Fire Trucks began in mid-2001, and thanks to his airline contacts, he's been able to travel from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland, photographing aircraft, visiting museums and companies, and interviewing people.

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