EMERGENCY - The Show

The show centers around Station 51 and Rampart Emergency Hospital. Station 51 contains a squad and an engine (the station has had both a Crown and a Ward LaFrance) with a normal crew of six, two of which are paramedics. The show begins with the pilot movie showing the paramedic program in its infancy, before legislation is in effect to allow the paramedics to function independently. It follows the characters of paramedics John Gage and Roy DeSoto to the point when they are promoted to captain. Most episodes were split between rescue scenes in "the field" and follow-up treatment at the hospital afterward.

Emergency! originally aired between 1972 and 1977 on NBC. It consisted of 132 one-hour episodes with one two-hour pilot movie, and four two-hour sequel movies. It was mostly filmed in the Los Angeles area (The movies were filmed in Seattle and San Francisco). In reality, Fire Station 106 was the original station chosen for filming the show but it faced North (and would throw shadows) so Station 127 was used instead.

Many episodes dealt with actually events in an attempt to educate, as well as entertain, the public. The format of the show (dividing the episodes between rescue scenes and hospital scenes) was due to the rescue scenes being so expensive to film, while the hospital scenes were relatively inexpensive. So by splitting the episode between the hospital and the field, the production company saved money.

The exterior of Rampart Hospital was actuallyHarbor UCLA Medical Center, located in Torrance, California.