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American television series

Emergency! is an American action adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing the two short lived situation comedy series The Partners and The Good Life, it ran for a total of 122 episodes until May 28, 1977, with six additional two hour television films during the next two years, 1978 and 1979. The series stars Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe as two rescuers, who work as paramedics and firefighters in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The duo formed Squad 51, a medical and rescue unit of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, working together with the fictional Rampart General Hospital medical staff (portrayed by Robert Fuller, Julie London and Bobby Troup), and with the firefighter engine company at Station 51. Emergency! was produced by Jack Webb and created by Robert A. Cinader, who had also created the police dramas Adam 12 and Dragnet. Harold Jack Bloom is also credited as a creator; Webb does not receive screen credit as a creator. In the show's original TV movie pilot, Webb was credited only as its director. However, the series aimed to be much more realistic than its predecessors as it portrayed emergency medical services (EMS). Pioneering EMS leader James O. Page served as a technical advisor, and the two main actors underwent some paramedic training. The series aired at a time when ambulance coverage in the United States was rapidly expanding and changing, and the role of a paramedic was emerging as a profession, and is credited with popularizing the concepts of EMS and paramedics in American society, and even inspiring other states and municipalities to expand the service. Nearly 30 years after Emergency! debuted, the Smithsonian Institution accepted Emergency! memorabilia into its National Museum of American History's public service section, including the firefighters' helmets, turnouts, Biophone, and defibrillator. The vehicles of Station 51 are a part of the collection of the Los Angeles County Fire Museum.

The series was created by Robert Cinader and Jack Webb. Webb had previously created Dragnet, and with Cinader had jointly created Adam 12, both of which were TV series about policing. In 1971, Cinader and Webb met with Captain Jim Page and other officers from the Los Angeles County Fire Department to discuss creating a show about firefighters. Initially they planned to focus the show on physical rescues, but felt that there would not be enough ideas for episodes. Page suggested they look to the Los Angeles County Fire Department's new paramedic program for ideas. Cinader asked the writers to get all the rescues that were to be portrayed on the show from fire stations' logbooks. In an interview with Tom Blixa of WTVN, Mantooth said that the producer wanted them to train so that they would at least know the fundamentals and look like they knew what they were doing on camera. Mantooth mentioned that you needed to take the entire course and pass all the skills stations and final certification exam to be a paramedic, and went on to admit that "if anyone has a heart attack, I'll call 911 with the best of them." Mantooth became an advocate for firefighters and paramedics after the series ended. He continued, as of late October 2014, to give speeches and make appearances all over the country at special events.

While Webb's Dragnet and Adam 12 followed a pair of detectives and patrolmen respectively, Emergency! followed the firemen and paramedics of Station 51, and the emergency room staff of Rampart General Hospital. Typical episodes begin with the firemen and paramedics at the station going through such routines as cooking, cleaning equipment, or sleeping until a call comes from the dispatcher describing the emergency and its location. The call prompts the crew to immediately stop their routine and respond with organized precision. The details of the call are noted by a fireman who then hands the information to the driver, usually DeSoto, accompanied by Gage in the passenger seat. The firemen and paramedics respond to the scene of the emergency, where the paramedics almost always contact Rampart General Hospital to report their patient assessment and receive medical direction and treatment authorization, which often includes IV drug therapy. Usually, either one of the doctors, or Nurse McCall, happen to be conveniently standing near the transmitter to receive the assessment. Many times the plot follows the accident victims and paramedics to Rampart. Other plot lines end at the scene. When an event has ended, the crew return to Station 51 and resume their routines until another call is dispatched. Often, firemen DeSoto and Gage, who are best friends, engage in playful banter when an emergency call forces them to become serious minded and immediately leave the station's living area to focus on the job at hand. Each episode typically climaxes with a major fire, disaster or rescue that often has multiple units engaged. Because of the greater scope of its format, Emergency! was a full hour series, whereas both Dragnet and Adam 12 were half hour shows. Actual local disasters were worked into some story lines, such as the 1971 Sylmar earthquake which destroyed the newly completed Olive View Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley; and the June 22, 1973 "Crenshaw Fire" brush fire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Interior scenes were shot on Universal's sound stages. Station 127 was chosen by series co creator Robert A. Cinader, and the station was eventually named in his honor (a plaque honoring Robert A. Cinader is now mounted on the station next to the office front door). Station 106 in Rolling Hills Estates, California, a similar design to 127, was initially the choice, but faced north (versus south), which would make it difficult to light properly. At the time of filming Station 127 housed Engine 127 and Truck 127 (a ladder truck), whereas the fictional Station 51 had a small rescue truck instead of a ladder truck. As of 2018, Station 127 now instead houses Quint 127 and Foam 127. When filming on location took place, Truck 127 was moved off site and replaced with Universal's Squad 51, while Engine 127 was disguised as Engine 51. After Universal obtained a 1973 Ward LaFrance to use as Engine 51, both of Station 127's apparatus would be replaced by Universal's Engine 51 and Squad 51 for filming on location. Despite being "kicked out" of their own station for filming, Truck 127 still appeared in numerous episodes under its own callsign. The Carson location of Station 127 was directly referenced in one episode where a phone call was traced to a house "in Carson" that Engine 51 and Squad 51 eventually responded to. Interior scenes at Station 51 were filmed on sets at the studio, which accurately recreated the interior of Station 127. "KMG365", which is said by the crewmember acknowledging a call for a unit at Station 51, is a real FCC call sign used by Los Angeles County Fire Department assigned to Fire Station 98 in Bellflower, and it appears on the Station Patch for Station 127.

In the pilot episode, Rampart General Hospital is shown (in a letter to Dr. Brackett) to be located in Carson, California. At the time of filming, Rampart General Hospital was represented by Harbor General Hospital, located in Torrance, California at 1000 West Carson Street, the intersection of Vermont Avenue and Carson Street The pairing of Station 127 and Harbor General as "Station 51" and "Rampart" was accurate, since if a squad had actually been quartered at Station 127, it would likely have operated from Harbor General Hospital, since they are only 2.1 miles (3.4 km) apart. Not accurate was the response area of Station 51. Many examples exist. As seen in season 6 episode 5, where they responded to 4000 N. Riverton Ave. Universal City, Truck 127 appeared in one episode where a rescue event occurred at Rampart (Harbor General), as the hospital really is in Truck 127's "first due" district. In an episode near the end of the series, one character, an aged jazz musician, hearing the name Rampart General, says, "My grandaddy used to play on Rampart Street in New Orleans!" The name Rampart actually comes from the show Adam 12 and is the real name of a division of the LAPD. In 1978, by the approval of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Harbor General Hospital was renamed as Harbor UCLA Medical Center. In 2018, CrowdRx, Inc., launched their Mobile Emergency Room Trailer, naming it "Rampart" to honor Rampart General Hospital.

Footage of a dispatcher used during the show appears to have been filmed at the Los Angeles County Fire Department Keith E. Klinger dispatch center in East Los Angeles. The screen he looked at to see the street maps is a rear projection from a Kodak Carousel projector built into the console. The man was actual Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher Sam Lanier, who also lent his voice as the dispatcher for the series' entire run. The familiar tones that called Station 51 into service were initiated by dispatch using a Motorola Quik Call I unit, a radio listening on a common paging frequency for a pair of special audio tones assigned to that station. For a large incident, one could often hear many sets of tones calling many stations, but only a specific pair would sound the buzzer for Station 51. A long scene showing the sequence of microfiche reader address lookup to quik call dispatch appears in the season six episode "Family Ties".

The creators of Emergency! tried to accurately portray the Los Angeles County Fire Department by using apparatus and equipment in current use. The extensive cooperation of the Los Angeles County Fire Department is repeatedly apparent in the program. Although a few key items were fictionalized, such as the identification of Station 51 and its equipment, many of the locations and apparatus reflected the operating reality of locations used in some filming. Nearly 30 years after Emergency! debuted, the Smithsonian Institution accepted Emergency! memorabilia into its National History Museum, public service section,

The original Engine 51 was a 1965 open cab Crown Firecoach, and was represented by Los Angeles County Fire Department Engine 127's 1965 Crown in stock footage at the fire station (in reality Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 127), and by Los Angeles County Fire Department Engine 60's 1965 Crown (the unit assigned to Universal Studios) for filming on the grounds of the studio. In a few instances in the first and second seasons, the regular apparatus borrowed from Los Angeles County Fire Department and used for filming appear to have been unavailable as some scenes show a slightly different vintage Crown Firecoach pumper, most evident by the different style of emergency lights on the cab's roof. As a condition of providing a Dept pumper for filming the Los Angeles County Fire Department required one of its own qualified Engineers be used to operate it, active Firefighter Engineer (later Specialist) Mike Stoker, who already possessed a Screen Actors Guild card, was cast in the series. The mixing of stock station and response footage with footage filmed for specific storylines created continuity errors by mixing these apparatus. Early in the third season, Engine 51 was represented by a 1973 closed cab Ward LaFrance P80 Ambassador triple combination pumper. Los Angeles County Fire Department was purchasing numerous P80s at the time, and Ward LaFrance, through their local distributor, Albro Fire Equipment Co. of Los Angeles, donated a P80 unit to Universal Studios specifically for use in the series as product placement. The Ward LaFrance Engine 51 was thus not a disguised unit and did not require the use of Los Angeles County Fire Department resources for filming. Engine 127's 1965 Crown, one of the two originally used for the series, was later refitted with a closed cab. Eventually it was placed into reserve status when Station 127 received a new engine. In its reserve capacity, it was serving temporarily as Engine 95 when it was involved in a collision. Damaged beyond repair in the collision, it was salvaged for parts and sold as scrap. The County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association now owns and has restored the 1965 Crown which formerly served as Engine 60 at Universal Studios and appeared most often as the Crown version of Engine 51. The Ward LaFrance P80 Ambassador that represented Engine 51, owned by the studio outright, made its final Emergency! appearance in the movie The Steel Inferno, but it was marked as Engine 110. The Ward remained at Universal Studios as a prop following the conclusion of the series, and made brief appearances such as in the film The China Syndrome (1979) and a short educational film produced by the National Fire Protection Association in 1984. As the fire department for the concession area was private (not state or federal), the engine had the California personalized (vanity) license plate YCS E51. It served continuously as YNP Fire's Engine 7 until it was retired and replaced in July 2008. Per terms of a previous agreement between the Park and the County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association, the museum assumed ownership of the Ward and added it to the museum collection. In 2012, the museum finished a complete restoration of the Ward to its original appearance in the show. Both of Station 51's vehicles have also been immortalized as Hot Wheels diecast vehicles Emergency Squad (1998) and Fire Eater (1977) respectively.

An antique fire engine was the part of three episodes of the show. In the third season, episode 2, entitled, "The Old Engine", Gage and DeSoto see a derelict fire engine in a scrap yard during a fire. They purchase the vehicle for $80 according to the script and attempt to restore it. The script says it is a 1932 Dennis fire engine, but the vehicle is a Dennis Ace model, that was manufactured from 1934 to 1939 and sold to the British market including Australia, New Zealand, and India. Records indicate this model was not sold in the US. In Season 4, Episode 13, "The Parade", the two paramedics have finished their restoration of the Dennis Ace fire engine for the California Firefighters Parade, though having to replace a part that just busted. En route to the parade, wearing antique uniforms, the two spot an apartment fire and respond in the engine using its antiquated equipment to rescue two people trapped in the building before Los Angeles County Fire Department arrives. The Dennis Ace is heavily damaged when the structure collapses onto it. In Season 5, Episode 2, "The Old Engine Cram" the main characters are informed by Nurse McCall that a man is looking to buy that same model of fire engine. Unfortunately, the engine is mistakenly referred to in the script as a 1923 Paige when it is actually a Dennis. In "Survival on Charter #220", Gage and DeSoto are briefly seen using a Motorola Apcor, with Dr. Early and Nurse McCall using a Motorola base station back at Rampart. The electrocardiograph (ECG or EKG) machine used in the show was a Datascope Model 850 Dual Trace Physiological Monitor. This model came out in 1971 and was the first portable, battery rechargeable unit of its kind. Its original price was $2,000. In the middle of Season 4, the show switched to a Datascope MD/2, which was a combined monitor and defibrillator that allowed the monitor unit to slide out. With the monitor docked, it can read and display an EKG through the defibrillator paddles; this function is shown several times during the series, and anticipates the development of the automated external defibrillator, only a few years later. The paramedics also carried some medical equipment in a black model PF 3300 Old Pal tackle box, commonly used by the fire department at the time. There were instances when the actors encountered difficulty in pronouncing medical terms correctly, so some scenes show the characters from the back or behind a mask, which allowed them to dub in the correct pronunciations at a later time. The protective clothing ("turn out gear") that the firefighters wore, including the MSA Topgard helmets, as well as nearly all other equipment such as insignia, were standard fire department issue at the time. The badges used in the series were authentic fire department badges. At the end of filming each day, they were collected, stored for safekeeping and then reissued the next day.

Emergency! was a third generation spin off, having been spawned from Jack Webb's Adam 12, which itself was spun off from Jack Webb's Dragnet. All three series take place in the same universe and depict different aspects of the public safety infrastructure of Los Angeles, California. Characters from Emergency! and Adam 12 "crossed over" twice. The police officers appeared briefly in the pilot episode of Emergency!, and the firefighter/paramedics appeared in the Adam 12 episode titled "Lost and Found". Unusually, in the Emergency! episode titled "Hang Up", there was a subplot in which the crew of Station 51 watched the television show Adam 12, despite sharing a fictional universe with those characters. Emergency! spun off an animated version called Emergency +4 which ran on NBC Saturday mornings from 1973 to 1976, and featured four youngsters and their three pets who participated in rescue adventures with firefighter/paramedics DeSoto and Gage. Mantooth's Gage and Tighe's DeSoto appeared in the tenth episode of Sierra, another Webb/Cinader production about a pair of National Park Service rangers, which appeared for only a partial season in 1974. In that episode, "The Urban Ranger", the two paramedics participate in mountain rescue training and get involved in many of the episode's subplots. Following recurring themes from Emergency!, Gage continues to fail in his attempts to get a date, while DeSoto briefly considers changing careers to become a park ranger. The "905 Wild" episode of Emergency!, broadcast during the closing of its Season 4 on Saturday March 1, 1975, was intended to be the pilot for a new series created and produced by Jack Webb. The series was to have been about the adventures of two Los Angeles County Department of Animal Control officers, and the staff of a county animal shelter. The episode featured Albert Popwell and Mark Harmon as the officers and David Huddleston and Gary Crosby in supporting roles. However, it failed to sell and the follow up series was never produced. Squad 51 briefly appeared in the CHiPs episode "Cry Wolf" (season 1, ep. 18), where it can be seen responding from the station to a false accident report. Further in the episode "MAIT Team" (season 2, ep. 15), Engine 51 and Squad 51 can be seen responding from the station to a traffic accident. Again in the episode "Hot Wheels" (season 3, ep. 8) Squad 51 arrives on the scene of a traffic accident. It has a major role in the episode "E. M. T" when it responds to aid a young boy trapped in his clubhouse under a busy freeway, where California Highway Patrol officers Ponch and Jon retrieve equipment from the squad to aid in the rescue of the boy. The episode "Cover Up" of Quincy, M. E. featured a paramedic team from Squad 44 contacting Rampart General Hospital while tending a heart attack patient, although the patient is directed to a closer hospital. When Dr. Quincy later visits Station 44 to question the paramedics concerning the patient's death, stock footage of the exterior of Station 51 is used. This episode was written by R. A. Cinader. Earlier, in the season 1 episode "Has Anyone Seen Quincy?" Harbor General Hospital is used as the filming location of the unnamed hospital seen throughout the episode. Rampart is again contacted in season 7's "The Golden Hour", but the patient is directed to a closer hospital, and Engine 51 responds to a hotel fire in the same season's episode "Smoke Screen". Station 51 appears in the TV movie The Great Los Angeles Earthquake (1990), in a segment where all Los Angeles police and fire personnel are deployed to prepare for a massive Southern California earthquake. Stock footage from "Emergency!" is used. Rampart Hospital is briefly mentioned in the 911 episode "Hen Begins" (season 2, ep. 9), where Hen is introduced to fellow peers who are struggling to fit into their roles (Edit: The Rampart mentioned is not the fictional hospital, but the real life LAPD station.)

From 1978 through 1979, the show returned as a series of "Movies of the Week". The TV movies premiered in this order:

The Steel Inferno: A fire breaks out in a skyscraper and the members of Squad 51 along with other Los Angeles County Fire Department members help rescue those who are trapped. Personnel from Rampart General Hospital set up a triage area at the scene to care for the injured awaiting to be transported to the hospital. A Coast Guard helicopter helps firefighters with rooftop evacuations. This television movie was similar to Irwin Allen's The Towering Inferno (1974). Survival on Charter #220: While Squad 51 is on a call, two planes collide with one crash landing in a Los Angeles subdivision, trapping Gage and DeSoto. A resident of the subdivision which was the site of the crash was the girlfriend of one of Squad 51's other paramedics from another shift. The on and off duty firefighters make multiple rescues and the injured girl Squad 51 was originally dispatched to help turns out to be all right. During the rescue, however, an engine from one of the planes lands on the squad, destroying it. Most Deadly Passage: The paramedics from Squad 51 travel to Seattle to watch how their paramedics treat patients and respond to calls for help. The most notable incident in the movie is the ferry that catches fire in the middle of a trip. What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing? : Gage and DeSoto travel to San Francisco to observe some female paramedics work. A worker is rescued from the Golden Gate Bridge, an ambulance gets into an accident that ends up killing the patient being transported to the hospital, an epileptic in a coffee shop is treated along with someone having a heart attack at a dance bar. A pier at the Embarcadero catches on fire. Greatest Rescues of "Emergency! ": Gage and DeSoto are both promoted to the rank of captain, at which rank they were no longer permitted to hold paramedic certification. They think back to their time on Squad 51 and some of the rescues they carried out. Robert A. Cinader wrote and directed the framing story, which included clips from other such installments as the pilot, on whose writing Harold Jack Bloom had collaborated with Cinader. This film marked the "official" ending of the series. The Convention: John and Roy are back in San Francisco for a paramedic convention and they ride along with the San Francisco Fire Department's paramedics. The TV movies were shown in syndication as two part episodes starting in the 1980s. They also aired on TV Land in 2001, on MeTV in June 2015, and on Cozi TV in late 2019.

The book Emergency! : Behind the Scenes by Richard Yokely and Rozane Sutherland was published in 2008. Charlton Comics out of Derby, Connecticut, published several issues of an Emergency! comic book in the mid 1970s, geared towards youth readers. One of the issues contains some of the earliest published work of John Byrne. Charlton also published four issues of an illustrated black and white magazine geared more towards adult readers featuring art by Neal Adams and others, these projects were overseen by publisher Steve Kahn, in parallel with similar books for The Six Million Dollar Man and Space: 1999. Wonderland Records produced three original audio dramas based on Emergency! ; these were released on a single 33 rpm LP. These were: "The Jaws of Life" (in which the title gadget proves its worth when Gage and DeSoto must rescue one man from a subway mishap and another from a burning car; they also help a woman shocked by a high voltage power line; both are uneasy about supper this week, since Lopez is the designated chef at Station 51), "Front Page Story" (in which Gage and DeSoto, after rescuing an elderly man from a burning – and supposedly abandoned – wharf, must deal with investigative reporter Jenny James  who's been instructed to write an exposé on Squad 51; she observes – and unwittingly complicates – their treatment of a blind teenage diabetic with a fractured skull, who might need on the spot surgery to save his life), and "The Used Car Caper" (in which our paramedics assist a security guard shot in a bank robbery, and then a young woman injured by a reckless driver; the latter call ties into the subplot, as DeSoto puts his old car up for sale  and gets an offer from a fellow who's suspiciously eager to close the deal). Milton Bradley released an Emergency! board game in 1973.

The series was first syndicated in 1976, after the fifth season. Local stations mainly aired it between 4:30 and 6 p. m. Eastern (3:30 to 5:00 Central) for the same viewers that were its most loyal audience on NBC, elementary school aged children. However, Emergency! was not nearly as successful in reruns as Dragnet 1967–70 and Adam 12 were. When the program was first syndicated, it went by the title Emergency One! (the stock title "Emergency!" appeared with the word "One" fading in beneath) to avoid confusion with the new episodes still airing Saturday nights on NBC and continued to be called that when the TV movies aired as well. The syndicated episodes would revert to the original title, Emergency!, in 1979. Renaming programs for syndication was commonplace until the 1980s. Although in the early 2000s it had a brief run on TV Land, Emergency! had been rarely seen in recent times because the series had come under the ownership of the Jack Webb Estate. The show is now seen on Cozi TV. Emergency! seasons 1 – 6 were available on Netflix on Demand in high definition (though several episodes are missing due to rights issues), having been restored and rescanned from the original film negatives. The series ran on MeTV from September 2013 to December 2016, an over the air service mainly seen on digital subchannels of local television stations. Starting in January 2017, the series moved to the NBC Universal owned digital broadcast network Cozi TV. As of Spring 2022, the series airs on FETV, a satellite and cable network featuring classic programming and family entertainment. It is only available for purchase on DVD in the US from Universal Studios Home Entertainment and through major retailers.

The Los Angeles County Fire Museum currently houses the Universal built Squad 51, both Engines 51 (the renumbered Crown Los Angeles County Fire Department Engine 60 and the Ward LaFrance donated Engine 51), and various equipment used on the show. Such equipment includes: the orange "BioPhone", black "drug box" (tackle box), defibrillator, OB/GYN, radios, turnout coats, gear, various cast photographs, and other paraphernalia used on the show. The museum, which relocated to 16400 Bellflower Blvd, Bellflower, California, USA (33.8842615N, 118.1259962W) in July, 2018, allows fans to photograph and (for special events) touch / handle the various equipment. Some of the equipment is signed by various actors from the show.