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!

My trucks

So I've been really bad about keeping up with this thing.

Anyways, I realized I didn't have any pictures of my truck(s) up so here
they are. The first is Rescue 4, which we cross man along with the
ladder guys. The second is "Engine 4" until we get a new E 4.
Nick Cates

First Shift 5/25/2008

My first shift on duty was Sunday May 25, 2008. It was AWESOME!

Our first run, we got cancelled as soon as we exited the appartus bay doors. We got a smoke investigation, a medical call, at 0345 we got a rescue from an elevator...which consisted of pushing the down button...and a business alarm that was a false alarm. Pretty good for my first shift.

I feel pretty comfortable with my truck and where everything is. I need to figure out how to get my gear on when we're going to fires. Medical I can just have my pants on...but I've got to figure that out, which I will

Graduation!

I'm a little behind on this...I always do that to my self.

Anyways, my final I passed with a 92%. Our class average was a 95%, so we're pretty good.

Graduation day FINALLY rolled around. We all got our station assignments. I've been stationed at Engine 4, which is where I wanted to go since the begining!!

I'm gonna post some graduation photos on here real soon

Trench Rescue Training

We went and did some trench rescue training today. Right in the middle
of it there was a call for a plane crash. We started to break down
everything and get ready to go to it for manpower, when it came back as
a false call...sucked
--Nick