9-26-2010

I had to be up at 7:00 yesterday morning to go to the training fire station. Bryan was holding a safety fair at the Target parking lot, so TEEX took a pumper out to Bryan for the event. Six Cadets showed up for the event. One of them drove himself, and another came with his volunteer fire department. The rest of us rode in the pumper with the instructor. It was a pretty cool day. We had lots of fire trucks and police cars for kids to climb on. We also set up a landing zone and had a medical helicopter land in the parking lot. Bryan Fire Department demonstrated a vehicle extrication and tore up a car. All of the Brazos County Volunteer Departments put on a drafting demonstration, dumping water in a portable tank and then drafting water from the tank to spray out. It was fun, but it was also hot! Just as we were getting ready to leave, several other cadets and I took a picture on the police motorcycle.

On the way back to the station, we stopped to put some diesel in the pumper. While we were sitting around waiting for the tank to get full, our instructor asked if any of us had ever driven a fire truck before. All of us said no, but I said that I used to be a driver for the A&M buses and had my Class B license. He said, "Well, why didn't you tell me? I would've let you drive today. Oh well, I'll let you back the pumper in while I go inside to file the driver's report." All of the other cadets looked at me with extreme jealousy. I told him that I had never backed the buses up except to get my license, but I'd give it a shot. Then he asked, "So did you get a forward only license or something?" So, we got to the station, and I jumped in the driver's seat and backed the fire truck into the bay. I'm proud to say that I am the first cadet in recruit class 133 to drive a fire truck! That definately made it worth not sleeping in on a Saturday morning.