The brush fire footage used in this episode was from an incident in Los Angeles called the "Crenshaw Fire," which burned 925 acres in Rancho Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills, California on June 22, 1973. The fire was started by two children setting off homemade fireworks, and rapidly expanded, destroying 12 homes.
The fire was ten miles southwest of the City of Carson, which was the location of both the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (which stood in for "Rampart General Hospital"), and Los Angeles County Fire Station 127 (which was used as "Station 51").
Realizing that there was an opportunity for footage that could be used in a future episode, Universal quickly sent a film crew along with both Engine 51 and Squad 51 to film stock footage of the units racing to the scene of an active brush fire. A helicopter was also rented to shoot aerial shots of "Rampart General Hospital" with the Crenshaw Fire raging in the background. Actual firefighting footage was sourced from news channels covering the fire.
The fire was ten miles southwest of the City of Carson, which was the location of both the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (which stood in for "Rampart General Hospital"), and Los Angeles County Fire Station 127 (which was used as "Station 51").
Realizing that there was an opportunity for footage that could be used in a future episode, Universal quickly sent a film crew along with both Engine 51 and Squad 51 to film stock footage of the units racing to the scene of an active brush fire. A helicopter was also rented to shoot aerial shots of "Rampart General Hospital" with the Crenshaw Fire raging in the background. Actual firefighting footage was sourced from news channels covering the fire.
At the base camp, an early version of the incident management system that is now known as ICS (Incident Command System) and NIMS (National Incident Management System) is being used. Notice the briefing blackboard, and the individual with the maps and board coordinating operations inside. ICS and NIMS arose from California programs developed in the early 1970's designed to allocate resources at wildfires, such as the one in this episode.