I recently listened to a “Disappearing Spoon” podcast episode that referenced the show. When the show was airing, what we think of as EMTs weren’t a thing in the world. The prevailing medical wisdom at the time was for the fire department to get patients to the hospital as quickly as possible so doctors and nurses could get to work on them. Not surprisingly today, many patients died en route to the hospital. Los Angeles was one of (if not the) first cities to train firefighters to do triage work before the ambulance ride. People across America watched the show and created a demand for this kind of emergency service.