John Gage, played by Randolph Mantooth. Roy DeSoto, played by Kevin Tighe. They were L.A. County paramedics and firefighters. The other characters were Fireman Chet Kelly, played by Tim Donnelly, Captain Hank Stanley, played by Michael Norell, Fireman Marco Lopez, ironically played by...Marco Lopez. And Fireman/Engineer Mike Stoker, also ironically played by...Mike Stoker.

Bit of Emergency! trivia. Mike Stoker was a real L.A County firefighter. He was hired because they needed someone who knew how to drive Engine 51. After Emergency! was canceled, he went back to firefighting. He was a captain when he retired.

Julie London played Nurse Dixie McCall. Bobby Troup played Dr Joe Early. (Troup and London were married to each other in real life), and Robert Fuller played Dr Kelly Brackett.

My favorite characters were John Gage, and Dr. Brackett. My second favorite "character" was Squad 51. When I was in my 20s, my dad bought a red Dodge Ram pickup that looked EXACTLY LIKE THE SQUAD from the front. I LOVED THAT TRUCK!! It was the same color as Squad 51. Had a lot of fun just driving that thing around.

My favorite episodes always seemed to be the ones where Johnny gets hurt. (he gets hurt a lot on the show). My favorite episode was the one where he gets bitten by a rattlesnake, and ends up having to treat himself on the hosebed of Engine 51.

When I started reading fanfiction on the internet. My first fanfic fandom was Emergency!.


That show is practically totally responsible for my obsession with fire engines. I absolutely LOVE fire engines. When I was five years old, we almost had a fire in our house, and my dad called the fire department. It was saturday night, and we'd just gotten done watching Emergency!. The fire engine that came to our house was...Engine 51! (here in Omaha).

I was so excited! I kept looking for Johnny, and the Squad. Sadly they weren't there, but the firefighters let me sit in the driver's seat of the engine, and push the siren and horn buttons.

When my dad came upstairs to call the fire department, my sister and I were in the kitchen eating ice cream. He made both of us go outside in the backyard. I was in the backyard, watching thru the sliding glass door of the deck. Saw one of the firefighters walking thru the house, checking for hot spots. So, I ran back inside to see the firefighter. I was in the hallway, watching him standing on my bed in full turnout gear, feeling the walls for hotspots from the chimney.

He turned around, saw me. Asked if I wanted to see the engine. Picked me up, and that's when I absolutely fell in love with firefighters, and fire engines. They didn't have to leave right away, so they let me and some of the other kids in the neighborhood sit in the engine. It's probably one of my favorite memories from when I was a kid.

I was really really disappointed that Squad 51 and John Gage weren't there tho.

By the way, my house was fine. My dad had put some paneling in the fireplace (that thin cheap stuff people used to put on the walls instead of drywall in the 1970s. That stuff is practically paper. It curled up, and my dad saw it get sucked up the chimney. He freaked out and called the fire department. I remember him coming up the stairs, looking for baking soda to throw into the fireplace to put out the flames that were burning in it. He was yelling at my mom to call 911. Scary when it happened, but the total awesomeness of getting to talk to real firefighters, and sit in the engine pretty much imprinted me with a special love for firefighters. (when I got older, I realized another reason to love firefighters. They're usually cute)

My other favorite shows were Star Trek, CHiPs, and MacGyver.

MacGyver was actually more of a favorite show when I was a teenager than when I was a little kid. I was 16 when that began, and in my 20s when MacGyver ended.