Emergency! Celebrating 50 Years of Engine and Squad 51

On January 15th 1972 Emergency! made its primetime debut on NBC. The show would run for 6 six seasons, a total of 122 episodes, 6 TV movies, and even a cartoon show to relate to younger audiences. Emergency followed the lives of Firefighter/Paramedic Johnny Gage and Firefighter/Paramedic Roy DeSoto as they saved lives all across Los Angeles County. The duo was assisted by the crew of Engine 51 (Captain Henry "Hank" Stanley, Engineer Mike Stoker, Firefighter Marco Lopez, and Firefighter Chester "Chet" Kelly) as well as the Doctors and Nurses of Rampart General Hospital (Dr. Kelly "Kel" Brackett, Dr. Joe Early, Dr. Mike Morton, and Head Nurse Dixie McCall). In addition to the show being a great form of entertainment it was also doing amazing outreach work for public safety. It showcased the idea of a paramedic to America and how much good one person with advanced medical training can do. At the time of the shows premiere there was a total of 12 paramedic units in the United States, By 1977 that number exploded and it became so that 50% of the US population was now within 10 minutes of a Paramedic unit. The surg in paramedic units to this day is still widely credited to the TV show and the good that came from the show. This build is not only dedicated to the cast and crew of the show for the work they did, but also to the modern day first responders for all the hard work being done by them every day and for the continued dedication and passion delivered day in and day out so that others may live.