Emergency! changed many lives. It impacted the lives of its leading stars, Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe, as well as the firefighters and first responders the show portrayed — and even viewers at home who picked up a few lifesaving tips and tricks.

Emergency! wasn’t just entertainment; it was a life lesson.

Randolph Mantooth played John Gage, a paramedic with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, on the series. While Mantooth may not have realized the full scope of his character’s impact at the time, he later reflected on it in a 2013 interview with the Television Academy.

Watch Emergency! on MeTV!

Weekdays at 5 PM

*available in most MeTV markets

The show helped bring awareness to paramedics and inspired many viewers to pursue careers in emergency services. In a full-circle moment, some people who watched the duo save lives on Emergency! went on to save real lives themselves.

But what did the real firefighters think of Emergency!?

"They were so ecstatic that they had a show about them because there are always shows about cops, lawyers and doctors," Mantooth said. "We were all immortalized — they could have poured bronze over us. We couldn’t do anything wrong. They took to us very well, mainly because we didn’t want to make them look bad. We wanted to make them look exactly who they were: heroes."

While Mantooth played a hero onscreen, some of the situations on Emergency! turned into very realistic life-or-death moments for the cast and crew.

According to an interview, one of Mantooth’s favorite rescues involved a snake in the episode "Snakebite." He worked with a real snake — and while most people might slither away at the thought, Mantooth loved episodes where he got to work with animals and reptiles alike.

During filming, the crew placed a protective layer around his leg to make sure the snake wouldn’t actually bite. "I wasn’t afraid of the snake," Mantooth said.

"They said he had no fangs. It was hard to get him to strike at me, and he struck at me above the leather and hung onto my pants. I went, 'I thought you said he didn’t have any teeth!' and they said, 'Well, there was a little snaggle there.'"

While the snake was a bit of a risk, it wasn’t even close to the most dangerous or frightening episode of Emergency! for Mantooth. According to the interview, there were some episodes that made Mantooth question what he had signed up for. 

"We were out on Catalina Island. We were in the surf, rescuing this guy who was up on the rocks, and we were constantly being picked up by the waves and slammed into the rocks," Mantooth said. "Kevin was having the time of his life — he thought he was a walrus. Me, I just wanted to get this guy off the rocks and get out of there. I wanted out of that scene so bad. Kevin was purposely missing the rocks — he just wanted to be out there forever. That was one of those times that I wanted out of this."

From a real snake to a dangerous water rescue: The actors risked it all to save lives.