Tim Strack Riverside

Strack & Van Til is a grocery store chain with locations in Northwest Indiana. Stores operate under the banners of Strack & Van Til and Town & Country Food Market. On May 2, 2017, an involuntary petition under Chapter 7 of the US Bankruptcy Code was filed against Central Grocers, Inc, parent company of SVT, LLC. in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The petitioning creditors were The Coca-Cola Company, General Mills, Inc., Mars Financial Services, and Post Consumer Brands. In 1930, Meinhard Nissen and Ernie Strack opened the Royal Blue grocery store in downtown Griffith, Indiana. Their partnership lasted until 1943. In 1946, Strack built an additional store. In 1936, Nick Van Til, a grocery delivery boy, entered into a partnership with his employer. His partner later sold him the store. Van Til grew the business by adding many product lines and opening earlier in the day. In October 1960 Ernie Strack and Nick Van Til partnered and opened their first Strack & Van Til in Highland, Indiana. Strack & Van Til has grown to be one of the leading grocery chains in the Chicago metropolitan area.Strack & Van Til returned to expansion in 2021 with the purchase of Tysen’s Country Market in Demotte, Indiana. The store will take the Strack & Van Til name.

The remaining open stores in Northwest Indiana were sold in bankruptcy auction to the Strack and Van Til families and the Indiana Grocery Group. All Strack & Van Til stores in Northeast Illinois were closed.As Central Grocers went bankrupt after being around for 100 years in 2017, Strack & Van Til made an agreement with Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc., makers of Best Choice and Always Save brands of items to compensate for the now gone Centrella.On March 2, 2017, Strack & Van Til announced the closure of six stores, four Ultra Foods stores and two Strack & Van Til stores. Following the announcement of those closures, parent company, Central Grocers announced the closure of nine Ultra Foods stores located in Illinois. In addition, 22 Strack and Van Tils will be up for sale. On May 15, 2017, Jewel-Osco made a bid to purchase all 19 Strack & Van Til grocery stores for $100 million. The Jewel-Osco bid was ultimately unsuccessful and the stores were sold in the bankruptcy auction to the Strack and Van Til families and the Indiana Grocery Group. By 2012, the chain reached 30 stores. On November 27, 2012, it was announced that Strack & Van Til would purchase seven stores from WiseWay Supermarkets. WiseWay Supermarkets started in Gary, Indiana, in 1940. Before the acquisition it operated eight stores in the region under the name WiseWay and PayLow. WiseWay Supermarkets retained ownership of one store located in Winfield, Indiana (zero in 2022). Both WiseWay and Strack’s were supplied by Central Grocers Cooperative. WiseWay stores in Chesterton, Hobart and Valparaiso were rebranded as Strack & Van Til (Winfield location converted to Strack & Van Til later in 2022), while PayLow stores in Gary and Merrillville were rebranded as Ultra Foods (The Merrillville location later re-opened as a Strack & Van Til in 2017). As a result of the acquisition, one Ultra Foods location was closed. It was located across from one of the acquired stores. By 2014, the chain had 38 stores. The sudden and unexpected loss of an important leader is a shock to any community. I am deeply saddened and dismayed by the death of Tim Strack at the age of 53. He was an extraordinary advocate for Riverside firefighters. He also made an extraordinary difference in the civic life of our city. As a leader, locally and statewide, Tim Strack made many good things happen, a remarkable legacy that cannot be overstated.

Perhaps for the future of Riverside, Tim’s most important election involvement was with city ballot measures. Recruited by the city manager, Strack was the key campaign strategist for the successful passage of Measure Z. Strack and the firefighters were also major assets in other elections, such as the vote supporting the transfer of electrical funds. These successful elections were necessary for funding services and projects that define a good city.

Life starts and ends with family. Tim Strack was a devoted husband. His attention and love to Wendy and their three children, Madeline, Isabella, and Justin were his top priority. He enjoyed sharing their lives.

For a recent UCR class, I invited the 20 best leaders I have known or worked with since coming to Riverside in 1965 to participate via ZOOM. Tim Strack was one of the 20. His extraordinary legacy of enhancing the life and times of Riverside will not be forgotten!Mantooth’s dedication to promoting and advocating for the fire service and EMS is shown through personal reasons, “I owe an incredible debt to firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics… so that’s a debt that no one can really pay back, but you can try. That’s why it’s so important for me to do what I do.” Mantooth references his own life being saved from carbon monoxide poisoning at home during the run of Emergency!, in addition to paramedics and a flight nurse saving his sister’s life after she was involved in a car accident. Mantooth also advocates for the health and safety of firefighters and educating them on the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning and secondary effects of low level CO poisoning. In association with Masimo Corporation, he speaks on carbon monoxide poisoning nationwide. Masimo Corporation funded a video, narrated by Mantooth, regarding the dangers of carbon monoxide to educate firefighters. On April 2, 2013, Mantooth’s mother, Sadie Mantooth, died at age 90 at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California. The Los Angeles County Fire Museum received a special donation from him dedicated to the memory of his mother. Mantooth attended San Marcos High School and participated in school plays. Following his studies at Santa Barbara City College, he received a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. It was there that he chose to change his first name from “Randy” to stage name “Randolph”, keeping his last name.

He portrayed paramedic John Gage in the 1970s medical drama, Emergency!. Randolph Mantooth has spoken regularly at Firefighter and EMS conferences and symposia across the United States while maintaining an active acting career. He is a spokesperson for both the International Association of Firefighters [IAFF] and the International Association of Fire Chiefs [IAFC] for firefighter health and safety, and honored over the years with numerous awards and recognition.

Mantooth’s work as an advocate for firefighters and EMTs also extended to Native American peoples. In May of 2012, he filmed an Emergency Preparedness video with Monte Fronk in Minnesota at the Mille Lacs Ojibwe Reservation to be distributed to tribal leaders. The project was funded through a public health education grant through the University of Minnesota. Mantooth served as a moderator in a project done in conjunction with the Los Angeles County Fire Museum, called Pioneers of Paramedicine, which was an effort to document and record the history of the paramedicine program. Originally filmed in 2001, with additional scenes filmed in 2013, this featured discussions with four doctors: Eugene Nagel, M.D. from Miami; Leonard Cobb, M.D., Seattle; J. Michael Criley, M.D., Los Angeles; and Walter Graf, M.D., in Los Angeles. These doctors pioneered the idea of mobile pre-hospital medicine and paramedics based on early ideas in Northern Ireland and Russia. In 2000, Mantooth played Ken Crandall in the television movie Bitter Suite (original title Time Share), and in 2007, he played Dutch Fallon in the television movie Fire Serpent. Feature film roles include Admiral Edwards in Agent Red (2000), Dr. Willis in He Was a Quiet Man (2007), Ambassador Cartwright in Scream of the Bikini (2009), Richard Cranehill in Bold Native (2010), and Detective Bodrogi in Killer Holiday (2013). Mantooth also starred on series such as ER, Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer, and most recently as Charlie Horse in Sons of Anarchy in 2011. Mantooth is marketing a screenplay that focuses on Indian gambling, called The Bone Game. His performance as “Gar” in the play Philadelphia, Here I Come earned him the Charles Jehlenger Award for Best Actor, an honor he shared with fellow actor Brad Davis.

Mantooth has appeared in numerous films and television series in lead and supportive roles including miniseries adaptations of Testimony of Two Men (1977) and a starring role as Abraham Kent in The Seekers (1979). Through the 1990s and 2000s, he appeared in daytime soap operas, earning him four Soap Opera Digest Award nominations. He frequently returns to performing in theatrical productions. He serves as an associate artist at Jeff Daniels’ Purple Rose Theatre. His performances includes Mark Kaufman’s Evil Little Thoughts, Black Elk Speaks, Carey Crim’s Morning after Grace, Lanford Wilson’s Rain Dance, and innumerable works by Native American playwrights including William S. Yellow Robe, Jr.Besides his work on daytime in the 1990s, Mantooth starred in television movies such as White Cobra Express and portrayed Bing Tupper in both the movie Before the Storm and the series Under Cover. He starred in a CBS Schoolbreak Special as Mr. Leland in “Please, God, I’m Only Seventeen”. In 1999, he played Solonsky in the feature film Enemy Action. Mantooth also made guest appearances on series such as China Beach, MacGyver, Baywatch, Diagnosis: Murder, JAG, Promised Land and Walker, Texas Ranger during the 1990s. The show ran six seasons (129 episodes) with seven two-hour television movie specials including the pilot film (The Wedsworth-Townsend Act). with a national audience that averaged 30 million viewers each week. Mantooth directed two episodes of Emergency!; “The Nuisance” (1976) and “Insanity Epidemic” (1977), and also directed the television movie Greatest Rescues of Emergency (1978). Mantooth and Tighe did many of their own stunts in the early years with the rule of thumb, “if you could see our faces, it was us doing the stunts; if you couldn’t, it was our stunt doubles.” He was offered an opportunity after Emergency! went off the air to be an actual firefighter, but decided to continue with acting. Mantooth performed with Donne Coteau in Footprints in Blood for the American Indian Theatre Company (AITCO) at the Old Lady of Brady Theatre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mantooth portrayed Dr. Charles Western in Gary Leon Hill’s Back to the Blankets at the Denver Center Theatre in 1991. Mantooth performed in two additional plays: The Paper Crown and The Inuit.In addition to Mantooth working as an actor for over forty years, he has remained an advocate of firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, and other emergency medical services providers. He does speeches and personal appearances each year at events across the country, discussing the “inside story of the development of the television series Emergency! and its impact on the EMS system development”. Having worked closely with the nation’s first certified firefighter/paramedics, who served as technical advisors on the set of Emergency!, Mantooth brings a perspective and insight into the startup and history of pre-hospital treatment in the field. He worked alongside influential men who made a difference … men he greatly admired … the late Robert A. Cinader, creator and executive producer of Emergency!, and the man known as the Father of Modern Emergency Medical Services, close friend and mentor, the late James O. Page. According to A.J. Heightman, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS), “Randy Mantooth is one of the strongest reminders of how America turned the dedicated delivery of basic emergency care into a systematic approach to EMS and Advanced Life Support.”

The on-screen camaraderie between Mantooth and Tighe, as well as their friendship with both London and Troup, carried over to real life as well. Before London’s and Troup’s deaths, all four remained close friends after the series came to a close, and Tighe served as best man at Mantooth’s second wedding in 2002.He appeared on General Hospital, One Life to Live and As the World Turns, where he played both good guys and villains. In 2003, Mantooth joined the cast of As the World Turns as a temporary replacement for Benjamin Hendrickson in the role of Hal Munson. When Hendrickson left the series in 2004, Mantooth returned to the series as Munson, in a recurring position until Hendrickson returned to the program in 2005. In 2007, Mantooth landed the recurring role of Kirk Harmon on One Life to Live.

This led to television stardom on the popular Emergency! series in 1972 which aired on NBC for six seasons. He earned further roles in two series. Mantooth portrayed Lt. Mike Bender on Operation Petticoat (1977) and as Eddie Dawkins on Detective School (1979). He was featured as a guest performer on episodic television. He appeared on several programs including Sierra, Cos, The Love Boat, Battlestar Galactica and Vega$.In the late 1990s and 2000s, Emergency! began airing on cable and digital sub-channels networks that included TV Land, RTV, MeTV, and Cozi TV. Emergency! spun off an animated version called Emergency +4 aired on NBC Saturday mornings from 1973 to 1976, with Mantooth and Kevin Tighe voicing the animated characters of John Gage and Roy DeSoto. Starship Rescue aired in 1973 to promote NBC’s fall lineup of Saturday morning programs focusing on Emergency! and Star Trek: The Animated Series and it was hosted by Mantooth and Tighe. Tighe and Mantooth also presented the work of firefighters and paramedics from the Los Angeles County Fire Department on the NBC Saturday morning children’s series Go!.Mantooth’s earlier jobs included work as an elevator operator at the Madison Avenue Baptist Church and as a page at NBC Studios at Rockefeller Center in New York City. His very first paying job in life was as a newspaper boy for the local paper, the Coatesville Record, in Coatesville, Pennsylvania.

Mantooth, the oldest of four children, was born as Randy DeRoy Mantooth in Sacramento, California, in 1945, to Sadie (née Neddenreip) and Donald “Buck” Mantooth. He is of Seminole, Cherokee, Potawatomi, Scottish, and German descent. His siblings are Don, Nancy and Tonya.Through the 1980s, Mantooth made guest-star appearances on a number of televisions series including Charlie’s Angels, Fantasy Island, three appearances on The Fall Guy, Dallas, Murder, She Wrote and L.A. Law. Mantooth serves as a spokesperson for the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) on Health and Safety. He has been honored over the years with numerous awards and recognition, most recently the James O. Page Award of Excellence from the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), EMS section. He is a lifetime member of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) and a lifetime member of the Washington D.C.-based Advocates for EMS. He “accepts the accolades with gracious deference to those he considers our true heroes”. Mantooth serves as honorary chairman and spokesperson for the non-profit County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association. At the time of the series’ world premiere in 1972, there were only 12 paramedical units in North America located in four municipalities. Ten years later, more than half of all Americans were within ten minutes of a paramedic rescue or ambulance unit, due to the influence of the show. The program introduced audiences from all over the world to the concept of pre-hospital care, along with fire prevention and CPR.Mantooth is an Associate Artist of The Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea, Michigan, founded by Jeff Daniels, since 2003. Mantooth completed a three-month run of Tracy Letts’ Superior Donuts in 2012 at the theater. Mantooth performed in Carey Crim’s Morning after Grace at the Purple Rose Theatre in the Fall 2016.

Nearly 30 years after Emergency! debuted, the Smithsonian Institution accepted Emergency! memorabilia into its American History Museum in the public service division and not entertainment on May 16, 2000. Items inducted at the Smithsonian included their uniforms, scripts, helmets, turnouts, biophone, and defibrillator.To train for their parts, the actors, Randolph Mantooth along with Kevin Tighe, “…sat in on paramedic classes” (although they never took any written exams) “and rode out on extensive ride-a-longs with LACoFD”. In an interview with Tom Blixa of WTVN, Mantooth said that the producer wanted them to train so that they would at least know the fundamentals and look like they knew what they were doing on camera. Mantooth mentioned that unless you take the written course you are not a paramedic and that “if anyone has a heart attack, I’ll call 911 with the best of them”. According to authors Richard Yokley and Roxane Sutherland who wrote the book, Emergency! Behind the Scenes, the show Emergency! is an important chapter in television history.

While talking with Tom Blixa of WTVN, Mantooth said that at first it was a little intimidating working with Robert Fuller, Bobby Troup and Julie London, because they were all big stars, but after doing a series with them for seven years they all became like family. In the same interview, while discussing happenings behind the scenes and blooper reels, Mantooth said there was “a lot of salty language though”…”and we learned every bad word from Julie London”…”I love her to death but she herself said ‘I’m a broad'”. In a 2013 interview with The Tolucan Times, Mantooth said of his decades-long colleague, “Julie London was a mentor to all of us. She let the words work for her, rather than emoting; that’s all anybody needed.”

In conjunction to the induction of the equipment from Emergency! at the Smithsonian, Project 51 was created in an effort to raise funds for a children’s burn charity, and exhibit the restored squad truck around the country. Mantooth, along with Marco Lopez, Tim Donnelly, Ron Pinkard and Mike Stoker, embarked on a 10-city tour with the squad to raise funds for charity on their way to Washington, D.C., with their final destination being the Smithsonian. Project 51 folded after the equipment was inducted into the Smithsonian and the funds were distributed to burn centers, fire education projects, and museums.Mantooth’s and Tighe’s likenesses were used for games, puzzles, lunch boxes, action figures, and comic books connected to the series. The comic books for Emergency focused on the primary actors from Rampart Hospital, along with Johnny and Roy. The four comic books, and four magazines, were issued by Charlton Comics in 1976. Some of the issues were drawn by John Byrne and Neal Adams. Emergency! +4 and Emergency! both had coloring books that were created to promote the series to young viewers using the likenesses of the five principal characters. Viewmaster released a series of reels that had film stills of the show arranged in a story or photo montage.

The series was placed into syndication in 1977 as Emergency! One to some local stations in the late 1970s. It was called Emergency! One because the show was still filming new episodes in the United States. After the show ended, the name reverted to Emergency! The show was sold overseas and aired in a number of countries, including Germany where it was renamed Notruf California, in addition to being dubbed in Spanish in the United States.

Mantooth has frequently returned to his theatre roots in such productions as Arsenic and Old Lace at the Alhambra Dinner Theatre in 1983, and The Man With The Dirty Mind with Don Knotts and Rue McClanahan. In 1984, Mantooth worked with David Carradine and Will Sampson, along with other Native actors, in a production of Black Elk Speaks for the American Indian Theatre Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mantooth continued to do theatre with roles in a variety of plays including Edith Villareal’s Crazy from the Heart at the Yale Repertory Theatre in 1986, and Mark Kaufman’s Evil Little Thoughts at the Denver Center Theatre in 1991, Mantooth, along with James Van Der Beek performed Lanford Wilson’s Rain Dance off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre. Mantooth has also performed in three works written by William S. Yellow Robe, Jr.: The Pendleton Blanket, Wink-Dah and The Independence of Eddie Rose.Randolph Mantooth (born Randy DeRoy Mantooth, September 19, 1945) is an American actor who has worked in television, documentaries, theater, and film for more than 50 years. A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he was discovered in New York by a Universal Studios talent agent while performing the lead in the play Philadelphia, Here I Come. After signing with Universal and moving to California, he slowly built up his resume with work on such dramatic series as Adam-12 (1968); Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969); McCloud (1970) and Alias Smith and Jones (1971).

He moved back to New York where he explored a new direction in his career with daytime soap operas, earning him four Soap Opera Digest Award nominations. He played Clay Alden on Loving from 1987–1990. It was during this time, that the character, Clay Alden, was actually Alex Masters. Mantooth described the character as a “good guy with an edge.”

Mantooth was discovered in New York City by Universal Studios’ talent agent Eleanor Kilgallen (sister of Dorothy Kilgallen) while playing the lead in the play Philadelphia, Here I Come. After signing with Universal and moving back to California, he slowly built up his resume with work on such dramatic series as Adam-12 (1968), Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969), McCloud (1970) and Alias Smith and Jones (1971).Mantooth and Kevin Tighe’s characters John Gage and Roy DeSoto appeared on another Robert A. Cinader created series, Sierra. The series focused on National Park Service Rangers stationed in the Sierras. Mantooth and Tighe appeared in the episode, “Urban Rangers”. Mantooth’s character appeared on a crossover episode of Adam-12 called “Lost and Found”. “As a fire fighter, union leader, and a professional, Tim Strack answered every call with passion, commitment, and hard work,” said CPF President Brian Rice. “The lives of every fire fighter – in Riverside and throughout the state – are better and safer because of the leadership of Tim Strack.” Regarding Strack’s legacy, 10th District Vice President Stephen Gilman said, “Tim was a hugely influential union leader across Southern California. He not only delivered stellar contracts for his members, but he also mentored dozens of other leaders past and present, and we are all taking this loss hard.”

Widely regarded as a tenacious and dedicated union leader, Strack served as president of Local 1067 for 21 years, consistently securing strong contracts for members through skilled negotiation that set benchmarks for other local affiliate leaders to follow.

Fire fighters in Riverside, California, and the community they serve are mourning the death of Tim Strack, a Riverside Fire Department Captain and longtime president of Riverside City Local 1067.The work Strack did on behalf of fire fighters also greatly benefited the city as a whole, noted Steve Hallgren, 1st Vice President of Local 1067. “Tim’s unwavering dedication as president of Local 1067 for 21 years has been crucial in improving our city’s financial sustainability. He played a key role in passing numerous measures and successfully advocated for increased staffing, which resulted in our agency becoming a Class 1 and accredited agency. With his extensive experience as CPF District 1 Vice President for 10 years, he passionately testified for the passage of the California Firefighter Bill of Rights, further demonstrating his commitment to protecting the rights and safety of our fire fighters.”“Tim was a true leader,” said General President Edward Kelly. “His legacy of service – to Local 1067, to the state, and to our International, will forever be honored. My thoughts and prayers are with Tim’s family and friends.”

“Together, Tim and his beloved wife Wendy have made long-lasting impacts in the community. Quintessential public servants, they have selflessly dedicated themselves to Riverside wholeheartedly,” the City of Riverside said in a statement.Squad 51 briefly appeared in the CHiPs episode “Cry Wolf” (season 1, ep. 18), where it can be seen responding from the station to a false accident report. Further in the episode “MAIT Team” (season 2, ep. 15), Engine 51 and Squad 51 can be seen responding from the station to a traffic accident. Again in the episode “Hot Wheels” (season 3, ep. 8) Squad 51 arrives on the scene of a traffic accident. It has a major role in the episode “E.M.T” when it responds to aid a young boy trapped in his clubhouse under a busy freeway, where California Highway Patrol officers Ponch and Jon retrieve equipment from the squad to aid in the rescue of the boy.

The Steel Inferno: A fire breaks out in a skyscraper and the members of Squad 51 along with other LACoFD members help rescue those who are trapped. Personnel from Rampart General Hospital set up a triage area at the scene to care for the injured awaiting to be transported to the hospital. A Coast Guard helicopter helps firefighters with rooftop evacuations. This television movie was similar to Irwin Allen’s The Towering Inferno (1974).

In episode 17 of season 3, “Fools”, singer Bobby Sherman plays an arrogant intern who shows disdain for John and Roy … until he is sent out with them by Dr. Brackett to see exactly what they do. Sherman’s character changes his mind quickly upon watching them perform a harrowing rescue. In real life, Sherman would leave show business and become an EMT. He worked with paramedics and taught CPR and first aid and subsequently joined the Los Angeles Police Department Reserve Officer Program. He served as a training officer for many years and would be promoted to the rank of Captain; Sherman credited his role on that episode of Emergency! as a guiding force in his choice of career change.

At the time, the Los Angeles area was home to 2 of only 12 paramedic programs in the United States (as opposed to ambulances that provided basic first aid or only transport). In 1970, Governor Ronald Reagan had signed the Wedworth-Townsend Act which allowed paramedic programs to be trialed in Los Angeles County. In September 1971, Cinader and Webb signed a contract with NBC to develop the series. The initial pilot film of Emergency!, titled “The Wedsworth-Townsend Act”, focuses on the passage of a similar law to the Wedworth-Townsend Act that permits paramedics to operate.While Webb’s Dragnet and Adam-12 followed a pair of detectives and patrolmen respectively, Emergency! followed the firemen and paramedics of Station 51, and the emergency room staff of Rampart General Hospital.

As the fire department for the concession area was private (not state or federal), the engine had the California personalized (vanity) license plate YCS E51. It served continuously as YNP Fire’s Engine 7 until it was retired and replaced in July 2008. Per terms of a previous agreement between the Park and the County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association, the museum assumed ownership of the Ward and added it to the museum collection. In 2012, the museum finished a complete restoration of the Ward to its original appearance in the show. When filming on location took place, Truck 127 was moved off-site and replaced with Universal’s Squad 51, while Engine 127 was disguised as Engine 51. After Universal obtained a 1973 Ward LaFrance to use as Engine 51, both of Station 127’s apparatus would be replaced by Universal’s Engine 51 and Squad 51 for filming on location. Despite being “kicked out” of their own station for filming, Truck 127 still appeared in numerous episodes under its own callsign. The Carson location of Station 127 was directly referenced in one episode where a phone call was traced to a house “in Carson” that Engine 51 and Squad 51 eventually responded to. Interior scenes at Station 51 were filmed on sets at the studio, which accurately recreated the interior of Station 127. Typical episodes begin with the firemen and paramedics at the station going through such routines as cooking, cleaning equipment, or sleeping until a call comes from the dispatcher describing the emergency and its location. The call prompts the crew to immediately stop their routine and respond with organized precision. The details of the call are noted by a fireman who then hands the information to the driver, usually DeSoto, accompanied by Gage in the passenger seat. The firemen and paramedics respond to the scene of the emergency, where the paramedics almost always contact Rampart General Hospital to report their patient assessment and receive medical direction and treatment authorization, which often includes IV drug therapy. Usually, either one of the doctors, or Nurse McCall, happen to be conveniently standing near the transmitter to receive the assessment. Many times the plot follows the accident victims and paramedics to Rampart.Charlton Comics out of Derby, Connecticut, published several issues of an Emergency! comic book in the mid-1970s, geared towards youth readers. One of the issues contains some of the earliest published work of John Byrne. Charlton also published four issues of an illustrated black-and-white magazine geared more towards adult readers featuring art by Neal Adams and others, these projects were overseen by publisher Steve Kahn, in parallel with similar books for The Six Million Dollar Man and Space: 1999.Cinader asked the writers to get all the rescues that were to be portrayed on the show from fire stations’ logbooks. Along the same line, the series was technically accurate as every script was fact-checked and approved by the series’ technical consultants, Dr. Michael Criley (the man who had initially created the LACoFD Paramedic program) and LACoFD Battalion Chief James O. Page. There were always real paramedics serving as technical advisors on set every day for further technical advice.Engine 127’s 1965 Crown, one of the two originally used for the series, was later refitted with a closed cab. Eventually it was placed into reserve status when Station 127 received a new engine. In its reserve capacity, it was serving temporarily as Engine 95 when it was involved in a collision. Damaged beyond repair in the collision, it was salvaged for parts and sold as scrap. The County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association now owns and has restored the 1965 Crown which formerly served as Engine 60 at Universal Studios and appeared most often as the Crown version of Engine 51.

Footage of a dispatcher used during the show appears to have been filmed at the LACoFD Keith E. Klinger dispatch center in East Los Angeles. The screen he looked at to see the street maps is a rear projection from a Kodak Carousel projector built into the console. The man was actual LACoFD dispatcher Sam Lanier, who also lent his voice as the dispatcher for the series’ entire run.

In an episode near the end of the series, one character, an aged jazz musician, hearing the name Rampart General, says, “My grandaddy used to play on Rampart Street in New Orleans!” The name Rampart actually comes from the show Adam-12 and is the real name of a division of the LAPD.In Season 4, Episode 13, “The Parade”, the two paramedics have finished their restoration of the Dennis Ace fire engine for the California Firefighters Parade, though having to replace a part that just busted. En route to the parade, wearing antique uniforms, the two spot an apartment fire and respond in the engine using its antiquated equipment to rescue two people trapped in the building before LACoFD arrives. The Dennis Ace is heavily damaged when the structure collapses onto it. In Season 5, Episode 2, “The Old Engine Cram” the main characters are informed by Nurse McCall that a man is looking to buy that same model of fire engine. Unfortunately, the engine is mistakenly referred to in the script as a 1923 Paige when it is actually a Dennis.

Wonderland Records produced three original audio dramas based on Emergency!; these were released on a single 33 rpm LP. These were: “The Jaws of Life” (in which the title gadget proves its worth when Gage and DeSoto must rescue one man from a subway mishap and another from a burning car; they also help a woman shocked by a high-voltage power line; both are uneasy about supper this week, since Lopez is the designated chef at Station 51), “Front Page Story” (in which Gage and DeSoto, after rescuing an elderly man from a burning – and supposedly abandoned – wharf, must deal with investigative reporter Jenny James … who’s been instructed to write an exposé on Squad 51; she observes – and unwittingly complicates – their treatment of a blind teenage diabetic with a fractured skull, who might need on-the-spot surgery to save his life), and “The Used Car Caper” (in which our paramedics assist a security guard shot in a bank robbery, and then a young woman injured by a reckless driver; the latter call ties into the subplot, as DeSoto puts his old car up for sale … and gets an offer from a fellow who’s suspiciously eager to close the deal).”KMG365″, which is said by the crewmember acknowledging a call for a unit at Station 51, is a real FCC call sign used by LACoFD assigned to Fire Station 98 in Bellflower, and it appears on the Station Patch for Station 127.Because of the greater scope of its format, Emergency! was a full-hour series, whereas both Dragnet and Adam-12 were half-hour shows. Actual local disasters were worked into some story lines, such as the 1971 Sylmar earthquake which destroyed the newly completed Olive View Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley; and the June 22, 1973 “Crenshaw Fire” brush fire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Most Deadly Passage: The paramedics from Squad 51 travel to Seattle to watch how their paramedics treat patients and respond to calls for help. The most notable incident in the movie is the ferry that catches fire in the middle of a trip.The TV movies were shown in syndication as two-part episodes starting in the 1980s. They also aired on TV Land in 2001, on MeTV in June 2015, and on Cozi TV in late 2019 as well as May 2023..

The role of Dixie McCall was originally written as a love interest for Fuller’s character, Dr. Kelly Brackett, though the on-screen romance between Brackett and McCall was gradually downplayed and eventually ignored over the course of the series; this was explained by Brackett’s and McCall’s romance not having worked out.An antique fire engine was the part of three episodes of the show. In the third season, episode 2, entitled, “The Old Engine”, Gage and DeSoto see a derelict fire engine in a scrap yard during a fire. They purchase the vehicle for $80 according to the script and attempt to restore it. The script says it is a 1932 Dennis fire engine, but the vehicle is a Dennis Ace model, that was manufactured from 1934 to 1939 and sold to the British market including Australia, New Zealand, and India. Records indicate this model was not sold in the US.

The creators of Emergency! tried to accurately portray the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) by using apparatus and equipment in current use. The extensive cooperation of the LACoFD is repeatedly apparent in the program. Although a few key items were fictionalized, such as the identification of Station 51 and its equipment, many of the locations and apparatus reflected the operating reality of locations used in some filming. Nearly 30 years after Emergency! debuted, the Smithsonian Institution accepted Emergency! memorabilia into its National History Museum, public-service section, including their helmets, turnouts, Biophone, and defibrillator.Other plot lines end at the scene. When an event has ended, the crew return to Station 51 and resume their routines until another call is dispatched. Often, firemen DeSoto and Gage, who are best friends, engage in playful banter when an emergency call forces them to become serious-minded and immediately leave the station’s living area to focus on the job at hand. Each episode typically climaxes with a major fire, disaster or rescue that often has multiple units engaged.The paramedics are supervised by the Emergency Room (ER) staff of Rampart General Hospital: head physician Dr. Kelly Brackett (Robert Fuller), head nurse Dixie McCall (Julie London), neurosurgeon Dr. Joe Early (played by London’s real-life husband Bobby Troup), and young intern Dr. Michael “Mike” Morton (Ron Pinkard, though in the early episodes was a character named Dr. Thomas Gray).

Writing in the University of Baltimore Law Review in 2007, Paul Bergman argued that Emergency! encouraged the growth of EMS. The conclusion is shared by Yokey and Sutherland in the book Emergency! Behind the Scenes. Bergman acknowledges that some of this trend had already been in motion, due to developments such as the 1966 report Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected Disease of Modern Society and California’s Wedworth-Townsend Act in 1970. In 1971, there were only 12 paramedic services operating in the United States. In the first three years that Emergency! aired, 46 out of 50 states enacted laws that allowed paramedics to practice. On a federal level, the 1974 Emergency Medical Services Systems Act was enacted to encourage the trend. By 1982, half the American population was within ten minutes’ reach of a paramedic unit.

The episode “Cover Up” of Quincy, M.E. featured a paramedic team from Squad 44 contacting Rampart General Hospital while tending a heart attack patient, although the patient is directed to a closer hospital. When Dr. Quincy later visits Station 44 to question the paramedics concerning the patient’s death, stock footage of the exterior of Station 51 is used. This episode was written by R.A. Cinader. Earlier, in the season 1 episode “Has Anyone Seen Quincy?” Harbor General Hospital is used as the filming location of the unnamed hospital seen throughout the episode. Rampart is again contacted in season 7’s “The Golden Hour”, but the patient is directed to a closer hospital, and Engine 51 responds to a hotel fire in the same season’s episode “Smoke Screen”.

The Los Angeles County Fire Museum currently houses the Universal-built Squad 51, both Engines 51 (the renumbered Crown LACoFD Engine 60 and the Ward-LaFrance-donated Engine 51), and various equipment used on the show. Such equipment includes: the orange “BioPhone”, black “drug box” (tackle box), defibrillator, OB/GYN, radios, turnout coats, gear, various cast photographs, and other paraphernalia used on the show.

Nearly 30 years after Emergency! debuted, the Smithsonian Institution accepted Emergency! memorabilia into its National Museum of American History’s public-service section, including the firefighters’ helmets, turnouts, Biophone, and defibrillator. The vehicles of Station 51 are a part of the collection of the Los Angeles County Fire Museum.Other recurring characters include Battalion Chiefs Conrad (Art Balinger), Sorensen (Art Gilmore), Miller, and McConnike (William Boyett), Firefighter Conway / Firefighter Paramedic Tom Wheeler / Animal Control Supervisor Walt Marsh (Gary Crosby), Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy/Carson Police Officer/Sergeant Vince (Vince Howard), and recurring ambulance attendants Albert “Al” (Angelo DeMeo) and his assistant, George (George Orrison). Boyett and Crosby regularly appeared as Sergeant MacDonald and Officer Ed Wells respectively on Adam-12, while Gilmore appeared on that show as watch commander Lieutenant Moore, a recurring character.The series aired at a time when ambulance coverage in the United States was rapidly expanding and changing, and the role of a paramedic was emerging as a profession, and is credited with popularizing the concepts of EMS and paramedics in American society, and even inspiring other states and municipalities to expand the service.Greatest Rescues of “Emergency!”: Gage and DeSoto are both promoted to the rank of captain, at which rank they were no longer permitted to hold paramedic certification. They think back to their time on Squad 51 and some of the rescues they carried out. Robert A. Cinader wrote and directed the framing story, which included clips from other such installments as the pilot, on whose writing Harold Jack Bloom had collaborated with Cinader. This film marked the “official” ending of the series.

What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing?: Gage and DeSoto travel to San Francisco to observe some female paramedics work. A worker is rescued from the Golden Gate Bridge, an ambulance gets into an accident that ends up killing the patient being transported to the hospital, an epileptic in a coffee shop is treated along with someone having a heart attack at a dance bar. A pier at the Embarcadero catches on fire. Emergency! is an American action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing the two short-lived situation comedy series The Partners and The Good Life, it ran for a total of 122 episodes until May 28, 1977, with six additional two-hour television films during the next two years, 1978 and 1979. Set at the fictional Fire Station 51 of the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), where one fire engine and the paramedic rescue squad are stationed, the series focuses on two young firefighter-paramedics: young and immature John Roderick “Johnny” Gage (Randolph Mantooth), who is always unlucky in love, and more mature family man Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe), who crew the rescue squad, Squad 51, and, in addition to providing emergency medical care, perform technical rescues such as vehicle extrication.

The museum, which relocated to 16400 Bellflower Blvd, Bellflower, California, USA (33.8842615N, 118.1259962W) in July, 2018, allows fans to photograph and (for special events) touch / handle the various equipment. Some of the equipment is signed by various actors from the show. Emergency! was created and produced by Jack Webb and Robert A. Cinader, who had also created the police dramas Adam-12 and Dragnet. Harold Jack Bloom is also credited as a creator; Webb does not receive screen credit as a creator. In the show’s original TV-movie pilot, Webb was credited only as its director. However, the series aimed to be much more realistic than its predecessors as it portrayed emergency medical services (EMS). Pioneering EMS leader James O. Page served as a technical advisor, and the two main actors underwent some paramedic training. The orange radio Gage and DeSoto used was a model 3502 Biocom Biophone. It came in an orange fiberglass case and was fully portable. It could transmit EKG and voice simultaneously, could be charged in 15 minutes, and had one hour of talking time. The radio had eight duplex UHF channels and a total of 12 watts of transmitting power. There were two Biophones used on the series, one smaller than the other.

The Convention: John and Roy are back in San Francisco for a paramedic convention and they ride along with the San Francisco Fire Department’s paramedics.

Station 51 appears in the TV movie The Great Los Angeles Earthquake (1990), in a segment where all Los Angeles police and fire personnel are deployed to prepare for a massive Southern California earthquake. Stock footage from “Emergency!” is used.An analysis of Emergency!’s influence on the rapid expansion of paramedic services must begin with the acknowledgement of the familiar adage that “correlation does not equal causation.” … However, ample evidence supports a conclusion that the TV show was a primary factor that fueled the legal changes that allowed paramedic services to develop and expand.

Rampart Hospital is briefly mentioned in the 911 episode “Hen Begins” (season 2, ep. 9), where Hen is introduced to fellow peers who are struggling to fit into their roles (Edit: The Rampart mentioned is not the fictional hospital, but the real life LAPD station.)In “Survival on Charter #220”, Gage and DeSoto are briefly seen using a Motorola Apcor, with Dr. Early and Nurse McCall using a Motorola base station back at Rampart.

The protective clothing (“turn-out gear”) that the firefighters wore, including the MSA Topgard helmets, as well as nearly all other equipment such as insignia, were standard fire department issue at the time. To train for their parts, the actors, Mantooth and Tighe sat in some paramedic classes (although they never actually took any written exams) and went on extensive ride-alongs with LACoFD. In an interview with Tom Blixa of WTVN, Mantooth said that the producer wanted them to train so that they would at least know the fundamentals and look like they knew what they were doing on camera. Mantooth mentioned that you needed to take the entire course and pass all the skills stations and final certification exam to be a paramedic, and went on to admit that “if anyone has a heart attack, I’ll call 911 with the best of them.” Mantooth became an advocate for firefighters and paramedics after the series ended. He continued, as of late October 2014, to give speeches and make appearances all over the country at special events. The replica’s accuracy is evident in that the white light atop the Federal Signal Twinsonic lightbar was part of the blueprint, but never installed by LAcoFD on its departmental units. This light was intended to be used by other personnel and particularly helicopters to differentiate paramedic squads from regular rescue squads and other units operating that vehicle type. Prior to season 3, the studio acquired a 1973 D300 cab and chassis. All of the external paraphernalia (rear compartment box, lightbar, searchlights, K12 box, etc.) were removed and remounted on the new squad chassis. This vehicle lasted for two seasons. In season 5 the third and final Dodge truck appeared. It was a 1974 model and this is the vehicle that presently resides in the LACoFD museum. Once again, the rear compartment box and lightbar from the original Squad 51 were remounted. Also, the last two chassis came with a different engine grille, so the parts from the first truck were kept. The whereabouts of the first two stripped-down Dodge D300’s remains a mystery. After the filming of the series, at the Fire Department’s request, the studio donated the unit to LACoFD in 1978, which pressed it into occasional service as a reserve unit before it was eventually retired from service. The show was referenced during a debate in the Health Committee of the California State Assembly, during the passage of a bill to make the Wedworth-Townsend Act permanent. A 1977 Newsweek article wrote that “[t]he television series Emergency! helped create a national demand for such services.” In a 1993 paper, Byron K. Toma argued that it “helped convince the public that they are entitled to the highest levels of emergency medical aid technologically available.” Early in the third season, Engine 51 was represented by a 1973 closed-cab Ward LaFrance P80 Ambassador triple-combination pumper. LACoFD was purchasing numerous P80s at the time, and Ward LaFrance, through their local distributor, Albro Fire Equipment Co. of Los Angeles, donated a P80 unit to Universal Studios specifically for use in the series as product placement. The Ward LaFrance Engine 51 was thus not a disguised unit and did not require the use of LACoFD resources for filming.The electrocardiograph (ECG or EKG) machine used in the show was a Datascope Model 850 Dual Trace Physiological Monitor. This model came out in 1971 and was the first portable, battery rechargeable unit of its kind. Its original price was $2,000. In the middle of Season 4, the show switched to a Datascope MD/2, which was a combined monitor and defibrillator that allowed the monitor unit to slide out. With the monitor docked, it can read and display an EKG through the defibrillator paddles; this function is shown several times during the series, and anticipates the development of the AED, only a few years later. The paramedics also carried some medical equipment in a black model PF-3300 Old Pal tackle box, commonly used by the fire department at the time. There were instances when the actors encountered difficulty in pronouncing medical terms correctly, so some scenes show the characters from the back or behind a mask, which allowed them to dub in the correct pronunciations at a later time.

Interior scenes were shot on Universal’s sound stages. Exterior scenes of the fire station were shot at Station 127 in Carson, while exterior scenes of the hospital were shot at Harbor General Hospital (now Harbor-UCLA Medical Center).

Survival on Charter #220: While Squad 51 is on a call, two planes collide with one crash landing in a Los Angeles subdivision, trapping Gage and DeSoto. A resident of the subdivision which was the site of the crash was the girlfriend of one of Squad 51’s other paramedics from another shift. The on and off-duty firefighters make multiple rescues and the injured girl Squad 51 was originally dispatched to help turns out to be all right. During the rescue, however, an engine from one of the planes lands on the squad, destroying it.The badges used in the series were authentic fire department badges. At the end of filming each day, they were collected, stored for safekeeping and then reissued the next day.

Prior to Emergency!, ambulances had been operating for decades in the United States. However, their crews rarely had training beyond basic first aid. Most states did not license them to perform more advanced medical treatment. The alternative was to staff ambulances with traditional healthcare professionals like doctors, which was expensive and posed recruitment challenges.In 1998, Universal Studios released 39 episodes on VHS, in a 20-volume set, distributed through Columbia House. The videocassettes each contained 2 episodes from the series, except for the first one, which only contained the two-hour pilot.

The familiar tones that called Station 51 into service were initiated by dispatch using a Motorola Quik Call I unit, a radio listening on a common paging frequency for a pair of special audio tones assigned to that station. For a large incident, one could often hear many sets of tones calling many stations, but only a specific pair would sound the buzzer for Station 51.

At the time the series aired, the LACoFD had no Station 51. It was the number of a station that had previously existed at the intersection of Arlington and Atlantic Avenues on the outskirts of Lynwood and Compton, and closed in the late 1960s when the area was annexed by Lynwood. Since 1994, the LACoFD has had a Station 51 in a different location. In an homage to the show, the fire station on the grounds of Universal Studios was renumbered from Station 60 to Station 51, more than 20 years after the debut of Emergency!. The vehicles based at Station 60 were accordingly renumbered. This station is therefore home to an actual Engine 51 and Squad 51, as well as Patrol 51 and Quint 51 (a ladder truck with ground ladders, fire pump, water tank and hose).

Note: Seasons 1 & 2 in the complete series set were released on single sided discs; they were originally released on double sided discs in the individual season sets.Other regular characters are the firefighters of Station 51’s “A” shift, Chester B. “Chet” Kelly (played by Tim Donnelly), Marco Lopez (played by actor Marco Lopez) and engineer Mike Stoker (played by active LACoFD firefighter Mike Stoker as himself). LACoFD Dispatcher Samuel Lanier portrayed himself in an uncredited voice role (over the radio) throughout the series, and he is also occasionally shown in a brief clip at the dispatch office just before a dispatch is heard in later seasons; he retired from the department shortly after Emergency! finished. Lopez speaks Spanish, and occasionally translated for the crew when a victim or onlooker spoke Spanish but no English. Unusually, Lopez, Stoker and Dick Hammer play characters named after themselves, though in two episodes, Hammer’s character is played by John Smith.RIVERSIDE, CA — Riverside Fire Department Captain Tim Strack, who was president of Riverside City Firefighter’s Association Local 1067 and served the community for 28 years, has died, city officials announced Sunday.