Joe Early

This article lists characters of the television series Emergency!.

Roy DeSoto is portrayed by actor Kevin Tighe. DeSoto worked with partner John Gage as a firefighter/paramedic for the Los Angeles County Fire Department at Station 51. He first met Gage when he was recruiting personnel for the newly designated paramedic program, of which he was in the first group of six graduates. He assisted the physicians with instruction during Gage's class at Rampart General Hospital, where his mentors were Dr. Kelly Brackett, Nurse Dixie McCall, and Dr. Joe Early. He was married, and had a son (Chris) and a daughter who was never canonically named, though only his wife, Joanne, appeared in the pilot of the series. His family also has a dog. In the episode "The Exam," we find out he was born on 7 November and is therefore a Scorpio.

While his single partner was often portrayed as intense and impulsive, DeSoto was more quiet and often served to keep Gage under control. As with his partner, very little is discussed about DeSoto's life prior to the fire service, other than mentioned during a training class in the pilot episode that he served in the military as a medic in Vietnam(Tighe himself was in the U.S. Army) stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky during the mid 1960s.) In the first season episode "Dealer's Wild", we learn that he has had 20 hours of flying time.

During the third season, DeSoto is offered a promotion to engineer, which he eventually turns down in order to remain a paramedic. However, in the last episode ("Greatest Rescues of Emergency!"), he and Gage are promoted to captain, and they are each assigned to new stations.

Not much is known about what Roy does on his days off, except when he, Chet, and Johnny take long trips together, either fishing, or camping trips (mostly in Johnny's beat-up white Land Rover).

DeSoto has a taste for classic cars, and owns a beige early to mid-60's Porsche along with a Chevrolet pickup.

John Roderick "Johnny" Gage is portrayed by actor Randolph Mantooth. Gage worked with Roy DeSoto as a firefighter/paramedic for the Los Angeles County Fire Department and usually rode "shotgun" in Squad 51. Prior to working as a paramedic, he worked for the rescue squad at Station 10. Initially against the suggestion to qualify as a paramedic, he decided to pursue it after a couple of incidents when he realized he could have done more with the specialized medical training. He met DeSoto when applying for the new program (see "The Wedsworth-Townsend Act") and after graduation decided to partner with him at the newly built Station 51. He and DeSoto would remain partners until the last episode ("Greatest Rescues of Emergency!"), when both would be promoted to captain. Gage, like DeSoto, then had to give up the Paramedics and was assigned his own station.

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