Emergency!

In 1971, creators Robert Cinader and Jack Webb met with Captain Jim Page and Los Angeles County Fire Department officers to develop a show about firefighters; they initially planned to focus on physical rescues but pivoted to the department's new paramedic program on Page's suggestion, fearing there wouldn't be enough story ideas otherwise.

The show's creation was influenced by California's 1970 Wedworth-Townsend Act, signed by Governor Ronald Reagan, which allowed paramedic programs to be trialed in Los Angeles County; the pilot film was even titled 'The Wedworth-Townsend Act' and depicted the passage of a similar law.

Writers were required to source all rescues depicted on the show from actual fire station logbooks, and every script was fact-checked and approved by technical consultants Dr. Michael Criley and Battalion Chief James O. Page, with real paramedics present on set daily for further advice.

To prepare for their roles, actors Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe sat in on paramedic classes and went on extensive ride-alongs with the LA County Fire Department, though they never took any written exams or became certified paramedics.

Several actors played characters sharing their real names, including firefighters Marco Lopez and Mike Stoker (an actual LA County Fire Department firefighter specialist who drove Engine 51) and dispatcher Sam Lanier, who voiced the dispatcher for the entire series run.

Station 127 in Carson, California was chosen as the filming location for Station 51 by co-creator Robert A. Cinader over a similar station in Rolling Hills Estates, which faced the wrong direction for proper lighting; Station 127 was later named in Cinader's honor with a plaque.

When filming on location, Station 127's own Truck 127 (a ladder truck) was moved off-site and replaced with Universal's Squad 51 prop vehicle, effectively 'kicking out' the real fire crew's equipment for the shoot.

The name 'Rampart General Hospital' was borrowed from a real LAPD division featured in the Jack Webb series Adam-12, not from the actual New Orleans street of the same name referenced jokingly by a character late in the series.

Singer Bobby Sherman played an arrogant intern in the season 3 episode 'Fools' who changes his attitude after witnessing paramedics at work; in real life, Sherman left show business to become an EMT and later a Los Angeles Police Department Reserve Officer, crediting the episode as inspiring his career change.

Nearly 30 years after the show debuted, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History accepted Emergency! memorabilia into its public-service collection, including the firefighters' helmets, turnouts, Biophone, and defibrillator.