Few television shows can boast revolutionizing the frontlines of emergency medicine like Emergency! Beyond inspiring a future generation of firefighters and paramedics, the show demonstrated, through the medium of entertainment, the necessity of advanced life support in the field. It would be difficult to ignore the importance of immediate treatment within the first 10 minutes of a cardiac event, traumatic injury, etc. in today’s world; yet what helped shape modern emergency medicine also made Johnny and Roy household names and filled millions of living rooms with the robotic-sounding radio traffic: “The victim is in extreme pain Rampart.”
Written cooperatively by Rozane Sutherland, a huge fan of Emergency! and Richard Yokley, a retired firefighter who has led a distinguished and well-rounded career in the emergency medical services, “Emergency! Behind the Scene” is a detailed account of the show, delving into its unique history, colorful cast and exciting episodes.
The book is filled with thousands of interesting facts about the show and the history of its theme. Did you know that Emergency! has an exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of American History? Were you aware that the Ward LaFrance fire engine used in the show is still in service at Yosemite National Park? Or that NBC had several firefighters fly to New York to pick up the Ward LaFrance and make a 26-day cross-country journey to Universal Studios in Los Angeles? (There’s a whole chapter on that.)
The Power of a TV Show
Last Christmas our engineer was given the complete DVD collection of Emergency! episodes. Watching the show quickly became a routine during lunch. We called it “training.” I thought I’d seen more than my fair share of Emergency! episodes, but I discovered there were dozens I’d missed. My captain said he became interested in the fire service because of this show. I got sucked into every episode we watched and my captain would start yapping away about “the good old days.” Of course I complained about how I was trying to watch the fricking show and of course he continued yapping away only louder. Our light-hearted arguments became a part of the routine.
Ralph Haynes, a captain working on another division in our station, is one of those guys who’s easy to look up to. He’s 2 years away from retirement, still working on the busiest engine company in San Diego and excited about every call he goes on. He has the Emergency! tones on his cell phone. They had a ride-along and were suffering from a pretty lengthy bout of the “ride-along curse” when someone called Ralph on his cell phone. Hearing the Emergency! tones, the ride-along jumped out of the recliner and ran to the rig.
Ralph told me his cell phone has gone off during medical aids and family members thought the crew was being called away. The alert tones in San Diego don’t sound anywhere near the same as the tones in Emergency! but because of the public’s familiarity with the show, they’ve linked it with the fire service as a whole.
As the book illustrates, Emergency! proved to be of great benefit to the community it depicted. A portion of a letter from U.S. Senator Alan Cranston to Jack Webb, the show’s creator, is presented in the book explaining how Emergency! helped establish the paramedic program across the nation: “Jack, your Emergency! series fired the public imagination and was the harbinger for a medical idea whose time … has come. In the midst of severe shortages of doctors, nurses and trained emergency personnel, 175,000 die each year because they do not get adequate medical care in an emergency. Another 25,000 are left permanently disabled because of inept handling by untrained ambulance attendants. Emergency! has dramatized the potential of the paramedic.”
The book further explains how the Wedsworth-Townsend Act, effective January 1975, allowed a pilot program of “mobile intensive care paramedics for the delivery of emergency medical care to the sick and injured at the scene of an emergency.” In fact, the importance of the Wedsworth-Townsend Act to the paramedic program is the focus of two episodes in the television series.
Trivia Too
“Emergency! Behind the Scene” also contains a plethora of information about the show and the cast. Nearly every person who contributed to the show is detailed, from the lead actors, set designers and decorators, to the Los Angeles County Fire Department members and hospital staff who provided the technical know-how.
Also included: the specs of the fire engines and squads, the types of sirens, radios and uniforms, as well as tools such as the Jaws of Life. Each item used in the show is explained to such an extent that it would satisfy even the most detail-oriented fire buff.
The book discusses the inspiration for the show, the development of the paramedic program in Los Angeles County and the first firefighter/paramedics who received their training at Harbor General Hospital in 1969.
If you were interested primarily in the Emergency! television series itself, you won’t be disappointed. Included is the Emergency! episode guide that provides a synopsis of each of the 124 episodes aired on television, beginning with the Emergency! world premiere, which featured the first of three Adam-12 crossovers. Additionally, all the Emergency! movies are summarized.
If that doesn’t satiate your appetite for Emergency! facts, the book also discusses show crossovers and spin-offs in addition to unused script. Curious about what has happened to your favorite stars and co-stars? The book even touches on those details. Afraid you might be missing some of the many Emergency! collectibles? The book lists virtually every collectible in existence.
If you’re a firefighter, an EMT, a fire buff or simply a fan of Emergency! then you’ll both appreciate and enjoy “Emergency! Behind the Scene.”
