I was fortunate to have worked for one of the greatest departments in the world, but this book could easily represent firefighters from Los Angeles, the City of Miami, the Fire Department of New York, Houston, Washington DC, or any of the hundreds of urban area fire departments across the country.
I wrote Never On A 10 for multiple reasons. There are exceptional training books and articles written by dedicated individuals with years of experience, but I saw a need to show what actually happens during day to day operations that are truly indicative of the Fire Service. In addition, most non-fictional books on firefighting focus primarily on extraordinary lifesaving measures and bravery. Too many movies and television shows depict firefighters as exceptionally heroic, or only show them responding to the most serious calls day in, day out. Even worse, they are at times portrayed as totally dysfunctional in both in their professional and personal lives. The truth lies somewhere in between.
There have been multiple books in this genre, some of which are extremely engaging and written by veterans of the fire service in tradition-laden departments. What separates Never On A 10 from that crowd is that it is not about the old-school fire departments such as Chicago, Detroit, or New York. Never On A 10 combines the humor, critical calls, and everyday life experienced in South Florida with the flavor and heavy influence of the Caribbean.
The '10' comes from one of the two primary codes that were used by public safety organizations across the country, largely to avoid miscommunication using words such as no and go, which sound similar but can have opposite meanings, leading to potentially disastrous results. The second reason was to use a common operating platform, thereby minimizing on the air chatter and keeping the air clear for emergencies. Both sets of codes were utilized primarily to prevent the media and the public from discerning calls, but have mostly been discontinued with the increased use of clear text.
All of the incidents depicted in this book are true.
Palestrant, Robert Edward: - Bob Palestrant has over 40 years of experience in public service serving as a registered nurse, firefighter/paramedic, emergency manager, and in the discipline of homeland security. He is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) through the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), a credentialed Chief Fire Officer (CFO) through the Center of Public Safety Excellence, and earned his master's degree in Homeland Security graduating cum laude from American Military University. He has multiple Incident Command System (ICS) instructor certifications, is an Office for Bombing Prevention (OBP) Bomb Making Materials Awareness Program (BMAP) Administrator/Trainer, a State of Florida Fire Service Instructor III and in 2021, was selected as the Government Technology & Services Coalition-Homeland Security Today's State Homeland Security Person of the Year. After promoting through the ranks, he retired from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR) in 2012.
