The book led those working to create a 50th anniversary documentary on the program and its impact to contact Enslen for an interview.
He was agreeable, and the interview was done from the back of an ambulance at a building near Dayton International Airport.
Enslen eventually appeared in the advertisements for the special, “Emergency! 50! The Show That Saved Your Life.” In the program, he talked about some of the details of the show during its run from 1972 to 1979.
The documentary aired recently on Cozi TV, which described the original series as “one of television’s most iconic dramas” with its influences including inspiring people to enter service as first responders and for people to demand the emergency medical services they provided.
Among others featured were cast members and representatives of the Los Angeles Fire Museum, where the show’s original equipment is housed.
“Emergency!” was based in Los Angeles and told real stories of emergency medical services in the United States and beyond. When the program was made, emergency medicine using medical units at fire departments – common today – was in its early days. There were only a handful of fire department medical units in the country, including LA.
Enslen, who was a child when the show originally ran, said it caught his eye in part because it was based in LA, where he had lived for several years.
“The first two-hour episode was the debate between EMT and fire department personnel who didn’t want to get into the medical treatment role,” Enslen said
The show was based on real-life situations and shot on the city streets.
“They wanted the show to be believable so they stayed true to the (call) logs. The details of the incident were exciting enough,” he said.
As he watched the shows repeatedly, Enslen said he noted the crowds shown watching the action. “There were no cellphones; no taping everything that was happening,” he said.
Among information compiled in his research were the technology used, terminology and the characters who appeared more than once, and when.
The show had a cultural impact, Enslen said, by educating the masses about the evolving emergency medical services by fire departments and the benefit those services could offer any community.
Enslen has written more than 30 books. The book is available in paperback and on Kindle. He has created two other binge watchers guides for “Game of Thrones” and “Mr. Robot.”
Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com
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