My Fire Guru

While I write about firemen, I am not one. Nor am I married to or related to one. This could pose a problem when I'm trying to evoke a firehouse or describe a structure fire -- if not for my secret weapon: A very generous Captain from the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Whenever I have a technical question or anything related to fire station operations, I email him or we talk on the phone. I've never met him in person, but in my imagination he looks something like this:

I'm sure he'd be chuckling over that. He has a great sense of humor, but he takes his job very seriously and wants to help get the details right. While I appreciate this greatly, it can be inconvenient. I had to rewrite one hero's entire storyline because he informed me that fire captains don't make lateral moves from one department to another. The hero of my third book, Captain Roman, is now a Battalion Chief-level Training Officer transferring from New York, which actually makes him even more interesting.

What dumb mistake might someone make at a hazmat scene? He can tell me. What exactly happens during "lineup," the gathering of firefighters at the start of a shift? He knows. How many feet high does an "aerial" go? Sometimes I wonder why I'm writing the books, not him, but I know the answer to that. His book would be a very fact-based non-fiction account of firefighting procedures, while my books are light-hearted, fun, sexy rides in which a major theme is how darn hot firemen are.

No matter what my Fire Guru looks like, I know he's hot -- because he's such a good guy. He never gets impatient with my questions, he's always gracious and good-humored, he's extremely knowledgeable. Best of all, he's very excited for the books to come out.

I, on the other hand, am very nervous for him to read them! No matter how carefully he vetted certain details and passages, I'm sure some errors slipped through. In my dedication, I made sure to say that any mistakes are mine, not his. Completely true.

I hope my Fire Guru can enjoy the books for what they are: love letters to a profession I admire deeply (and think is hot.)