Rescue 8

Rescue 8 was a syndicated American television series about Los Angeles County Fire Department Rescue Squad Number 8. It premiered in 1957 and originally ran for two seasons with syndicated reruns continuing for almost a decade after. It starred Jim Davis as firefighter Wes Cameron, and Lang Jeffries as firefighter Skip Johnson. The series was produced by Screen Gems, with directors Dann Cahn and William Witney. A total of 73 half-hour episodes were produced. The real Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 8 is at 7643 West Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. This series showed more physically-oriented rescues than the later, similar television series Emergency!, as firefighters were not trained as paramedics at that time. The late Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief James O. Page, who later founded and was Publisher Emeritus of the Journal of Emergency Medical Services was a member of Rescue Squad 11 in Altadena, California in the late 1950s.