Screen shots from EMERGENCY!

[Duster]

$1000.00 Question: Can anybody tell me what was wrong with ALL the ambulances used on the show? Bonus question: what was wrong with the first "box" ambulance used?

No steady red lights facing forward on the ambulances....and as someone has already mentioned, some of them had blue lights on them, which is a law-enforcement only color in CA. In fact, at that time, blue was not legal for any vehicles in CA.

 

[Liberty703]

View attachment 67081
And here we have the beauty. 1973 Ward LaFrance (not to be confused with AMERICAN LaFrance/ALF) P80 Ambassador Engine as seen in the Episode: Snakebite where Engine-51 has to transport Gauge down a mountain and to Rampart Hospital after being bitten by a rattlesnake. Any of you ever transported a patent like this? <grin>


Someday I hope to be able to find a 73 or similar year P80 to restore like original E51.

We had a '72, believe to have been ex-Newburgh NY, then Damariscotta ME, then Liberty ME. We sold it to a local contractor who bought 2 other pieces a few years ago when raising money for the Tele-Squirt we bought. Detroit 8V71 with an Allison. That old girl would outwork any truck in the county, but I got out voted on keeping it.

 

[Tristar]

No steady red lights facing forward on the ambulances....and as someone has already mentioned, some of them had blue lights on them, which is a law-enforcement only color in CA. In fact, at that time, blue was not legal for any vehicles in CA.

I already mentioned both...maybe I'll split the money with you. Is it $1000 per answer, or total, for getting both answers right?

 

[toolman247]

The Dept. I am in had both a Ward LaFrance P80 and an 85' Snorkel. The Ward had a 265 Cummins with a 4 or 5 speed. Never got to run it myself before replacement. The day it went out of service its last job was a fully involved church fire across the street from the bay doors. We also sunk the Snorkel being supplied from the Ward due to the low point drain being open far a short time. :duh: When this was sold off it went to be a 1000GPM fuel pump. I have lost track of the truck now.


The first Snorkel was out of West Hempsted, LI, NY.It was on a Young Crusader low profile six wheel chassis. Powered by a 6 cylinder Wakasha gas and an Allison speed auto. No water or pump. Gutless on the hills of U.S. 20 in Central NY. Brought it hmoe in the Blizzard of '93 and had to abandon it near Walton on Rt. 17 due to the treadle valve freezing. Gas milage of 2 MPG. After a move up at as amutual aid unit the motor went T.U. and got flat towed back to the station.


The replacement came out of Butler, PA. 85' boom, 300 water and 1000 GPM pump all on an Oshkosh 10 wheel chassis. This had a 318 Detroit and an Allison 6 speed. Much improved on the hills.


Both Snorkels ended up being bought by one of our past college ride along students. The Oshkosh is still serviceable at tthis time and the joke is that it is set on a box assignment at his home Dept.


If I find any pics I will post them.

 

[Skip Goulet]

The Crown Engine in the first year was actually Engine 60 on occasion Engine 127 was used as they were identical. The siren dubbed was a PA20A not a B&M. B&M's were dubbed for a lot of the Engines used in scenes such as the opening in the pilot.

$1000.00 Question: Can anybody tell me what was wrong with ALL the ambulances used on the show? Bonus question: what was wrong with the first "box" ambulance used?

Both Type I ambulances in the show and the Type III were all furnished by Modular Ambulance Corp. Could be no one clued MAC that at least one of the front tunnel lights should've been steady-burn. Both of the Stoner Suburban ambulances had steady-burn to the front and alternating amber to the rear. One of the Suburban ambulances had a Super Chief, while the other had twin CP25 speakers. But the sound-dubbers were forever getting the sounds wrong on both of them. These two ambulances were leased from Snyder Ambulance. My good friend Lou Farah, who is president of Professional Cars International and a Fire/Medic Captain managed to buy the Suburban with the Super Chief. But by the time he got it, it was in very bad shape, so he ended up scrapping it. He now owns a cherry 1969 high top Stoner Suburban originally from San Marin FD that he's fully restored. PCI has a Code 3 run parade every summer at the first of their Summer Meet which is combined with the American Heroes Airshow, and I got to drive Lou's Stoner in the Code 3 run when I was there in 2002. Niiiiice! :yes:

 

[Tristar]

The Dept. I am in had both a Ward LaFrance P80 and an 85' Snorkel. The Ward had a 265 Cummins with a 4 or 5 speed. Never got to run it myself before replacement. The day it went out of service its last job was a fully involved church fire across the street from the bay doors. We also sunk the Snorkel being supplied from the Ward due to the low point drain being open far a short time. :duh: When this was sold off it went to be a 1000GPM fuel pump. I have lost track of the truck now.

The first Snorkel was out of West Hempsted, LI, NY.It was on a Young Crusader low profile six wheel chassis. Powered by a 6 cylinder Wakasha gas and an Allison speed auto. No water or pump. Gutless on the hills of U.S. 20 in Central NY. Brought it hmoe in the Blizzard of '93 and had to abandon it near Walton on Rt. 17 due to the treadle valve freezing. Gas milage of 2 MPG. After a move up at as amutual aid unit the motor went T.U. and got flat towed back to the station.


The replacement came out of Butler, PA. 85' boom, 300 water and 1000 GPM pump all on an Oshkosh 10 wheel chassis. This had a 318 Detroit and an Allison 6 speed. Much improved on the hills.


Both Snorkels ended up being bought by one of our past college ride along students. The Oshkosh is still serviceable at tthis time and the joke is that it is set on a box assignment at his home Dept.


If I find any pics I will post them.

Toolman - Hi...where in Central NY are you from? Also, the two Snorkels that were purchased by a past college student member - did his name happen to be Mahlon Irish?

 

[twodogs603]

Some pictures from my visit a few years ago. The guys at the station are very nice and welcome tourists whom they say come from all over the world. The station is pretty much the same as it was in the show except for a few upgrades, mainly in the kitchen. The building is smaller in person then it looks on tv.

 

[toolman247]

Toolman - Hi...where in Central NY are you from? Also, the two Snorkels that were purchased by a past college student member - did his name happen to be Mahlon Irish?

Iwas active in Morrisville, NY. The name of the buyer excapes at the moment. They are now out near Rochester, NY now. He flat towed cthe Young home with Paystar 5000 dump truck and his dad.

 

[Tristar]

Iwas active in Morrisville, NY. The name of the buyer excapes at the moment. They are now out near Rochester, NY now. He flat towed cthe Young home with Paystar 5000 dump truck and his dad.

Oh, ok. I grew up in downstate NY (Croton/Peekskill area), but I went to college in Rochester. My best friend from school is from the Homer/Little York area, and he had a friend that he grew up with who is a career firefighter in Elmira (I think). Anyway, this guy has a pretty substantial collection of trucks! Here's the link to his site: Homeville Antique Fire Dept. I thought that he may have been who purchased the two trucks you were talking about.

 

[Wailer]

The Crown Engine in the first year was actually Engine 60 on occasion Engine 127 was used as they were identical. The siren dubbed was a PA20A not a B&M. B&M's were dubbed for a lot of the Engines used in scenes such as the opening in the pilot.

I don't remember hearing a dubbed in PA20A (either version) in any of the episodes of Emergency. The only electronic siren sounds I heard were various recordings of a PA20 (an earlier version of the Interceptor).

 

[jdh]

View attachment 67081
And here we have the beauty. 1973 Ward LaFrance (not to be confused with AMERICAN LaFrance/ALF) P80 Ambassador Engine as seen in the Episode: Snakebite where Engine-51 has to transport Gauge down a mountain and to Rampart Hospital after being bitten by a rattlesnake. Any of you ever transported a patent like this? <grin>


Someday I hope to be able to find a 73 or similar year P80 to restore like original E51.

Oh ya. My Chief transported me and a buddy of mine on the hose bed of a 1952 Ford / Howe back from bike week one year. LOL. Long time ago. Can't do that now. (or should I say we would not be able to get away with doing that now) this was 20 something years ago. EDIT

 

[Skip Goulet]

Some pictures from my visit a few years ago. The guys at the station are very nice and welcome tourists whom they say come from all over the world. The station is pretty much the same as it was in the show except for a few upgrades, mainly in the kitchen. The building is smaller in person then it looks on tv.

When I was out there in 2001 for SoCal PCS' week-long meet, we were supposed to have gotten a tour of the station and a tour through the B&M siren plant. But too many people signed up, so they had to cancel those tours. But Kevin O'Connell who owns B&M put on an afternoon-long symposium on emergency warning devices, which was all about the history of B&M and what they've built over the years. What was neat was a video from NBC's Today show that was taped back in the '80s when the original owner, Dick Miles was still running B&M. It was a tour through the plant, and it showed the step-by-step reconstruction of a badly damaged B&M siren that looked brand new once it was finished. But was cool was after the tour and interview, Miles walked the reporter and cameraman across the street to where the big Grover Airhorns are built. I never heard such noise in all my life! :yes:

 

[Skip Goulet]

I don't remember hearing a dubbed in PA20A (either version) in any of the episodes of Emergency. The only electronic siren sounds I heard were various recordings of a PA20 (an earlier version of the Interceptor).

You're right. They only used the sounds of the PA20 in manual mode plus the B&M siren, along with the hi-lo horns interposed over the Interceptor on Squad 51.

 

[toolman247]

Oh, ok. I grew up in downstate NY (Croton/Peekskill area), but I went to college in Rochester. My best friend from school is from the Homer/Little York area, and he had a friend that he grew up with who is a career firefighter in Elmira (I think). Anyway, this guy has a pretty substantial collection of trucks! Here's the link to his site: Homeville Antique Fire Dept. I thought that he may have been who purchased the two trucks you were talking about.

Those ALFs are really nice he has. I have seen a good share of the fleet at the SPAAMFAA convention when it is held at Long Branch Park in Liverpool, NY.


One year The ALF tiller wes behind me in a local parade where the two operators where haveing fun gooing down the street with horse in one lane and the tiller in the other. Then they would swap lanes, doing this fro the whole route.

 

[RyanZ71]

 

[qball]

I traveled all the way from SC to visit the station...sort of. I was out there on business at the APCO conference in August 2013, and station 127 was the first stop when we left LAX for Anaheim. I was a gitty 40 year old. A really cool part of the visit was to find that they had Charlotte FD and Mecklenburg MEDIC patches on the patch wall. I work closely with both of those agencies from the communications side of the house.


The Mack was not there when I visited.


q

 

[stansdds]

View attachment 67591
View attachment 67592

Clear!


BZZZWAK!

 

[Skip Goulet]

Oh, ok. I grew up in downstate NY (Croton/Peekskill area), but I went to college in Rochester. My best friend from school is from the Homer/Little York area, and he had a friend that he grew up with who is a career firefighter in Elmira (I think). Anyway, this guy has a pretty substantial collection of trucks! Here's the link to his site: Homeville Antique Fire Dept. I thought that he may have been who purchased the two trucks you were talking about.

I just checked out that website, and there are some neat ALF trucks there. If he wasn't in NY I'd sweat that one of them was Midland FD's original Engine 10. Engine 10 originally had only the big Sterling Sirenlite roof mounted, but they later added a red 17 beacon behind the siren. One of these trucks is that engine's twin.....to say the least.

 

[Skip Goulet]

View attachment 67591
View attachment 67592

Neat.....just don't get your thumbs caught between the paddles!

 

[Skip Goulet]

I traveled all the way from SC to visit the station...sort of. I was out there on business at the APCO conference in August 2013, and station 127 was the first stop when we left LAX for Anaheim. I was a gitty 40 year old. A really cool part of the visit was to find that they had Charlotte FD and Mecklenburg MEDIC patches on the patch wall. I work closely with both of those agencies from the communications side of the house.

The Mack was not there when I visited.


q

Did you get to see the LA City Fire Dept museum? It's neat, but when I was there in '01 our group was supposed to have gotten a tour of the place but too many signed up and it was nixed. A good friend of mine is fire chief in Walterboro, SC. He made a trip to Northern California to pick up a nice high top Suburban ambulance ('72, I think) that he got off Ebay and drove back to SC. I had to fuss at him because he stuck with the northern route and just outskirted Texas and didn't come this far south.

 

[RyanZ71]

Pre-1972 Dodge D300 Power Wagon Squad LA County


And here we have US Coast Guard Chopper 1442. A Sikorsky S-62 Seaguard. She was seen several times in some of the episodes of Emergency and went on to serve for 25+ years before suffering mechanical failure and having to auto-rotate into the ocean in 1986 I believe. (All survived, and she did not sink) She was retrieved by a US Navy Tank Landing Ship and delivered to San Diego where she was written off due to the water damage. These were majestic beautiful choppers and saved thousands of lives in their lifetime, before being replaced by the Dolphin. 175 of the Seaguards were built, powered by 1 GE Turboshaft engine.

 

[twodogs603]

View attachment 67702
Pre-1972 Dodge D300 Power Wagon Squad LA County

I always liked the episodes where they would leave the station in the newer truck, but then they would show them coming down the road in this old truck, or vice versa. Its funny to watch the episodes now and see all the mistakes that we probably never saw when we were younger watching them.

 

[Tristar]

I was watching an episode on the DVR last night where the station responded to a report of a structure fire. It was daylight when they left the station, and dark (late at night dark) when they arrived on the scene of the fire. It must have been horrible traffic, even by LA standards!

 

[stansdds]

Continuity is a problem for many tv shows. :crazy:

 

[ful-vue]

These were majestic beautiful choppers and saved thousands of lives in their lifetime, before being replaced by the Dolphin.

Here's one that is still flying in her original colors:


MAAM'S HH-52A - 'THE LAST FLYING LIFEBOAT'


I used to volunteer at MAAM back in the 80's - flew in their B-25 and SP-2H to a couple of air shows.

 

[RyanZ71]

Ever feel like doing this to one of your partners?

 

[Tristar]

Continuity is a problem for many tv shows. :crazy:

Yes, it is. I wasn't being critical, I enjoy finding goofs. I also enjoy reading about goofs in shows in movies on IMDB.com.

 

[Phillyrube]

Here's one that is still flying in her original colors:
MAAM'S HH-52A - 'THE LAST FLYING LIFEBOAT'


I used to volunteer at MAAM back in the 80's - flew in their B-25 and SP-2H to a couple of air shows.

Wow!!! SP-2H time. I'm impressed. I have a bunch of NP-2E time flying in the Navy, out of Johnsville, PA (now closed). 2 turnin; 2 burnin' and that nose seat is the best in the house!!!

 

[stansdds]

Wow!!! SP-2H time. I'm impressed. I have a bunch of NP-2E time flying in the Navy, out of Johnsville, PA (now closed). 2 turnin; 2 burnin' and that nose seat is the best in the house!!!

Never been in a Neptune, but I have had the opportunity to fly on a B-17 and a B-25. On those two bombers, the best seats were definitely in the nose.

 

[ful-vue]

Wow!!! SP-2H time. I'm impressed. I have a bunch of NP-2E time flying in the Navy, out of Johnsville, PA (now closed). 2 turnin; 2 burnin' and that nose seat is the best in the house!!!

I spent 10 years of my life working as a contractor in a lab at NADC. I might still be there if the BRAC morons hadn't shifted the work to PAX river. Then they went and closed Willow Grove too. No more 'Sound of Freedom' around here. I miss the air traffic.


I spent quite a while safety-wiring all of the sonobuoys (yes, it has a full load) in the back of MAAM's SP-2H, and fabricated the set of shock cord straps that holds them in the rack.

 

[ful-vue]

Never been in a Neptune, but I have had the opportunity to fly on a B-17 and a B-25. On those two bombers, the best seats were definitely in the nose.

I can confirm the view from the nose of "Briefing Time" and the Neptune is spectacular. For an added thrill, crawl from the flight deck of the Neptune down the tunnel to the nose while the gear is down in flight. Nothing but a single metal bar next to you and canvas curtain between you and the ground.


We now return you to the actual thread topic, already in progress...

 

[RyanZ71]

I love the talk of the old rigs and flying birds too. Big aviation nut here.


Here we have some ambulances from Season-6.


Here we have the F-Chassis (Ford Truck)





And one of my favorites, the Chevy chassis:





And here we have the Econoline Van chassis, note those beautiful brand new Twinsonics (E-Series)








And even Dodge got into the game a bit with this over-lit standard Dodge Van note that middle bar has the wires going into the door Jam. Someone was having a bit of fun here.

 

[Phillyrube]

I love the talk of the old rigs and flying birds too. Big aviation nut here.

Here we have some ambulances from Season-6.


And even Dodge got into the game a bit with this over-lit standard Dodge Van note that middle bar has the wires going into the door Jam. Someone was having a bit of fun here.


View attachment 68023

Mechanical siren on the LASO Polara?

 

[CrownVic97]

Holy amp draw, Batman!!!


This is called "Being Twin Beacon Ray skunk drunk."

 

[Wailer]

View attachment 68015

I remember that Ford F series truck. A B&M mechanical siren sound was dubbed in for it, although sometimes the PA20 sound was heard.


If this truck came with a Federal electronic siren when new, it would have had the 1970s era PA15A series 1E or PA20A series 2E. Both sirens have high-pitched wail and yelp tones like the sirens we hear nowadays and they will operate at 100 watts with two speakers.

 

[kitn1mcc]

was mayfair an actual company or just somthing for the show

 

[Tristar]

was mayfair an actual company or just somthing for the show

I believe Mayfair is a fictitious company.

 

[David]

If you look very closely, I think that this ambulance is the only vehicle in the series with Mars beacons with spitfire domes.


And one of my favorites, the Chevy chassis:


View attachment 68016

 

[dmathieu]

If you look very closely, I think that this ambulance is the only vehicle in the series with Mars beacons with spitfire domes.



And one of my favorites, the Chevy chassis:


View attachment 68016

Maybe Unity?

 

[David]

If you look very closely, I think that this ambulance is the only vehicle in the series with Mars beacons with spitfire domes.



Oops, I meant Unity RV26 beacons. Still, other than Michigan State Police, I've never seen spitfires used in the places I've lived or traveled through.