Christmas Cookies!

Since I go back to the station tomorrow, we made cookies for Santa and
some to take to the guys. We got them all cooked and then turned the
kids loose on decorating a few of them.

--Nick Cates

End of Probatation

So yesterday I took my End of Probatation test. I passed with a 99%!! Now that all the studing for that is over, and I thought I would have some more time at the station...I was WRONG! Now I get to start studing for relief driver. I have to start reading a couple of books and learn everything about pumping, which is alot of math...so I'm screwed! I'm pretty excited to get started, and I'm gonna hit it hard so I can try to be one of the first to get my relief driver certification.

"Engine 4, District 1 House Fire"

So yesterday we had a pretty busy shift. I had my first, true first in house fire. It was a detached garage they converted into a small apartment. It wasn't much of a fire, but it gave us something to do. All total we had two working fires yesterday and a couple that were fires but we never got out of the truck. It was one of the busiest shifts I've had since I've been out.

Most of the calls came in through the night. So, we didn't get much sleep last night. Which seems to be happening alot latly.

On other news Landon has pneumonia, but it isn't too bad. Melissa took him to the doctor yesterday and said he is in the begining stages of it. So he's on some antiboditics for 3 days and some cough medicine. He seems to be feeling alot better today than he did yesterday, so seems the medicine is working.

Worn out

I haven't been home in 6 nights, it's gonna end up being 8 nights before I sleep in my bed again.

I've just been working ALOT. I've worked over on "C" shift now for two shifts in a row. It's nice since I'm making a little extra money for the holidays, but I miss my family.

I can't wait to be home tomorrow, so I can at least see them during the day.

Thanksgiving Shift

I had the pleasure of working this Thanksgiving. We made a real big dinner and had all of our families up to the station. Unfortunatly, we were kindof busy.

Here are a few links to check out:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20081127_11_0_Arollo219058



http://www.kjrh.com/content/news/breaking/story.aspx?content_id=b3593808-9f12-4b45-9383-7bd4c890054a

http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=9423781&nav=menu682_2

http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/1108/573421.html

Doctor's Appointment

We had our monthly doctor's appointment today. Everything is going
great. We took the kids along just so they could see Olivia inside their
Mom's belly. It looks like she wil make her grand entrance Feb 27th.
--Nick Cates

Busy Week Of Nothing

So this week was my city shift. It was nice to have a break, but at the same time, I'm ready to go back to the station. Gracie and Landon both haven't been feeling very well.

We've stayed pretty busy. I've been working some extra shifts at AeroCare since I have the time. Melissa has a doctors appointment tomorrow. We went and picked up the pictures of Santa and the kids. (I'll put them up when I can) In all that I also forgot my Mom's birthday yesterday. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Are you 50 yet?

Busy Shift

We had a crazy busy night last night. Nothing spectacular, just one of those nights. Luckily, I'm on city shift next shift, so I'm gonna be catching up on sleep and working out. Gonna be a nice week off, so looking forward to it.

Night off!

Normally I would be at AeroCare tonight, but I'm off. So its two whole
days with the family!

I'm sure I'll be ready to go back to the station on Wednesday...
--Nick Cates

BUSY Shift

We had a really busy shift last night/this morning. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen.

http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=9277046

http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/1108/566276.html

http://www.newson6.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=3092118&at1=News&h1=Two Killed, Five Injured In Brookside Auto-Ped

Pumpkin Day!

Took the kids to a pumpkin patch earlier today. They had a blast seeing
palletts and palletts of pumpkins. We were able to get some good pics of
the little monsters too.

They each got two "baby" pumpkins as Gracie was calling them. Also got a
big pumpkin we took home and put on the front porch.
--Nick Cates

Pictures from Rescue Training

We had Rescue Taining on the 7th this past month. I was really interesting and I learned alot of stuff. I also got to play with some new toys.

We lifted a mass transit bus, which was a simulation if a car was stuck underneath one. We also lifted the bucket off a backho using a low pressure air bag.

We also got to get out the cutting tourches. I've never used one before so it was really intersting for me learing how to set one up and start it and then actually cutting with it.

Trying to burn some brush out of the way

Henderson cutting stuff up

Just likes to play all he can

Lifting the bus

Weisberg on the controller that lifts the air bags up

The finished product

Henderson is in charge - I'm on the controller

Doin it baby

First In!!

Last night we had a garage fire and we were first in. It was in Station
2's run area but they were getting fuel and out of pocket. We were by
our selves for just a couple of minutes. It was a good garage fire. Fire
was coming out the windows and out of the front door.

A couple of hours later we had a dumpster fire. It was gettin it for
being in a little dumpster.

Last shift was a great shift!
--Nick Cates

Moving

The past week has been VERY busy for the Cates family. We have moved...it was kindof a last minute deal, but it is a better place for us to be at. We're right next door to great friends and across the street from Melissa's Grandma's house.

The house is AWESOME and I'm gonna post some pictures of it, especially the deck when we get everything moved in. And with all of our junk that will be some time next month.

Also, I found out yesterday the I'm gonna be an Uncle again. My little sister Jessica is with child!

The NEW Engine 4

We finally got the new Engine 4. I got to work two days on it, since I worked over for TJ on B shift. It's got lots of room, and we finally have A/C. I really like it.

Pictures from Rescue Training

Here are the photos I said I would be putting up. I thought I had more, but I guess not.

Weisberg...ready to do it

Me...ready to eat

That's along way up there.

Mandatory Physical Assesment

Got back to the station from my physical and the guys were getting ready
for mandatory physical assesments. I did mine and there are some things
I need to improve on.

Body fat was 13%
Max Bench was 190 pounds
Resting heart rate was 55
After 5 minutes of stepping heart rate was 101
57 situps in one minute

I definitly need to get my body fat down.
--Nick Cates

Physical

This morning I have my yearly physical. Not really looking forward to it
since I am a little on the color blind side...we'll see how it goes.
--Nick Cates

Last Shift

So last shift (Friday 9/19/2008) we had Rescue Training for the better part of the day. We did tower rescue (I'll post pictures asap) which was alot of fun, but pretty hard work. It got a little hot too in the afternoon.

We had a couple of runs after dinner and then all hell broke loose. We ran all night. Which is really abnormal for downtown on a Friday night. Usually there's no one around. We made 6 runs through the night, which equated to very little sleep.

Its a girl!

Well we went today to find out what we are going to have and once again
I was right. When are people going to understand that I am usually
always right.

Melissa thought it would be fun for just the doctor to look and right it
down in this little card she got. We went to dinner tonight with
Melissa's family and a few of our close friends. We opened it up all
together and found out all together. It was a pretty neat little idea.
--Nick Cates

Old Friends

I know I haven't been the best guy in my 27 years. I've done things I shouldn't have and I haven't kept in touch with alot of my friends.

Now I have the chance to change some of that. One of my old classmates created a website so we could all stay in touch and get ready for our 10 year reunion. I know this website will help me get back in touch and hopefully this time I'll do better about staying in touch.

Check it out...and if your a Skyline grad...SIGN UP!!


www.skylinehighschool1999.com

Rescue Call

I was able to find an article on the call that Rescue ran on. We didn't do anything, they just called for us as a precautionary.

http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=8990158

BIG Car Wreck

We had a really busy shift last shift. It rained all day, so we had 4 car wrecks, 1 Rescue Task Force car wreck...and there were car wrecks ALL day across the city.

Anyways...our car wreck was pretty nasty. It was a head on collision with one person being trapped. I got to be on the jaws and cut him out of the car, but the car was so smashed up on him it didn't really help much. We were finally able to get him out and headed to the hospital.

Here's a link to the story and a few photos.

http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=8985039

Class 108 Video

I finally went and got a copy of our class DVD. I don't know how I figured it out, but I was also able to upload to a few sites. SO here it is. Long overdue.

Car Wreck

Pretty crazy car wreck we had last shift. People were real lucky, could
have been a lot worse for everyone involved. This is the car wreck that
Ladder tried to beat us to.
--Nick Cates

OOPS!!

We got a drop for a car wreck and the Ladder guys tried to beat us out
the door. Problem was the door wasn't all the way up. OOPS!!
--Nick Cates

Labor Day

I'm at the station today. We're hoping its gonna be a slow Labor Day.
Yesterday, it was a crazy day for C shift, so only time will tell.

We're planning to smoke some meat and have E 5 over for a big dinner
tonight.
--Nick Cates

Playing at the Park

Since I was on city shift, I got to spend alot of time with the kids and we did all kinds of fun things. Here are a few pictures of us playing at the park.

Landon and I getting ready to go

Gracie sliding down!

LC thinking he's a big boy and can do it by himself!

He loves to swing...would stay in there all day if we let him

I can't help it...I'm kid at heart too, I like to play

Rough night

Since I was on city shift I picked up an extra shift at AeroCare, and it was a rough shift last night.

Our phone system crashed. So I had to deal with that big mess, and it's too big to put into words on here. And of course this all happened when I had to dispatch a crew for a flight.

I work again tonight, hopefully it will be alot slower!!

City Shift

I'm on City Shift tomorrow, so I've got a free day off.

What will I be doing? Well since my grass is nearly to my knees I will be mowing.

Hopefully I will get it done in a fair amount of time, so I can still take a nap and play with the kiddies....we'll see

Day off

I got to spend all day with the kiddies and they had their little friend
Lily over, after we all went to Chuck E. Cheese's. Was a real fun day.
--Nick Cates

Big Wreck!

This was a BIG wreck we had this morning. Stunk really bad.

http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=8846252&clienttype=mobile
--Nick Cates

Slow day and a BIG mistake

Yesterday was a pretty slow day. We went to Hughly Terrerace and
LaFortune Towers twice.

Last night I made a pretty big mistake, that I hope I won't make EVER
again.
Nick Cates

Station 18

I worked at Station 18 yesterday. It was pretty fun being in a new
District. It was a slow day and busy night for us. I accidently slept
through a drop, which that was my first time doing that. I felt pretty
stupid, but the Capt said it wasn't a big deal. They just gave me a hard
time the rest of the shift.

The pic was my view from the back of E 18.
Nick Cates

Second In

We were second in on a rekindle fire that C Platoon had last night. The
fire was in the attic so we got to do some crawling around. Also got to
break down some doors and windows. It was a lot of fun!
Nick Cates
Engine 4

At the Station

It's been a nice slow Sunday today at the station.

Had a business fire alarm and a cardiac arrest. Also went to help a kid that fell off his bike.

First Fire Fatality

I had my first fire fatality early this morning. Engine 4 was initially assigned Rapid Intervention. Once the fire was put out we went in for the secondary search, that's when we discovered the body.

Here's a few links with a little video also. (I'm in one of the videos on the ladder pulling eves of the house down with a pike pole)


http://www.newson6.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=2687334&at1=News&h1=Person Killed In House Fire

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080713_11_Ahou803771

River Rescue

July 3rd, 2008

Rescue Task Force was sent to the Arkansas River for a 14 year old boy in the river. I was in Boat 4 and we were able to get him out safely. It was really intense for a few minutes, since we were operating about ten feet from the low water dam. It is the coolest thing I've done so far.

Here's a few links to the story.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080703_11_Ateen68740


http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=8616207


http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0708/533127.html

Gotta get better

I've got to get better about staying up to date with this thing! I'm really bad about starting something and not finishing it.

Anyways

Alot has gone on the past couple of weeks. I had my first house fire. We were third engine in so we didn't get to do much. We got assigned to assist with fire attack, so I got to pull hose and pull some ceiling and a door down. It wasn't much, but at least I got to dull down that bright bunker gear of mine.

I also had my first code and fatality. So that's not good news...

Station life is great. We've been given our material to study for the end of probation test, so I've been studing as much as I can.

And I'm gonna get better about posting on here...hopefully

Lil Brosef!

My sister, who also has a blog, beat me to the blog about my lil brother. My bro, Brandon is in the Marine Corps and he is currently stationed overseas in Japan and Korea and all over. He sent in some pictures to my familys website we have and I thought they were pretty sweet.

This was the coastline of Japan as they were flying in.

This is what the helicopter looks like he flies in...freakin big!

I guess they had a "hard landing"...I call it a crash

My lil bro...looks just like me.

And this is his new tatoo, which I think if SWEET!

Graduation Photos

Here are some of those pics I meant to put on here.

Dad was able to come down for graduation and brought

my little sister and Addison, my niece.

Me and the parental units

Me and the family...of course the kids are looking at other things

And of course mom cried...she always does

This is my chief after the graduation...telling me not to be late!