Ben-Nadav Hafri

So I want to play for you again a very specific moment from the pilot episode of Emergency, from the speech that Doctor gave to the legislature about why we need EMS.

So I want to play for you again a very specific moment from the pilot episode of Emergency, from the speech that Doctor gave to the legislature about why we need EMS.

But those other things have come along. More doctors. Advances in the ways we take 911 calls. Better and more emergency rooms. Better and more emergency medicine. Better and more paramedics. To use Bayer's formula, we have reduced distance. Paramedic units are all over the place now in a way they just weren't in the world of emergency.

But those other things have come along. More doctors. Advances in the ways we take 911 calls. Better and more emergency rooms. Better and more emergency medicine. Better and more paramedics. To use Bayer's formula, we have reduced distance. Paramedic units are all over the place now in a way they just weren't in the world of emergency.

But it seems to me like in our minds and on TV, it's as if nothing has changed since the 1970s. Emergency was the most significant early example of an entire genre of TV show that dramatized the emergency services. Before there was Cops or Rescue 911, there was Emergency. And here's the trick. All of those TV shows are based on the narrative conventions that Emergency pioneered.

But it seems to me like in our minds and on TV, it's as if nothing has changed since the 1970s. Emergency was the most significant early example of an entire genre of TV show that dramatized the emergency services. Before there was Cops or Rescue 911, there was Emergency. And here's the trick. All of those TV shows are based on the narrative conventions that Emergency pioneered.

A world in which the TV show had not yet done its work and help was always too far away and always came with lights and sirens blaring because that's what firefighters did. And these shows are everywhere. Rescue Me, Sky Med, Live Rescue, Helicopter Heroes, Island Medics, Air Ambulance ER, a show that was literally called Sirens, which is what they'll play on TV in hell for me.

A world in which the TV show had not yet done its work and help was always too far away and always came with lights and sirens blaring because that's what firefighters did. And these shows are everywhere. Rescue Me, Sky Med, Live Rescue, Helicopter Heroes, Island Medics, Air Ambulance ER, a show that was literally called Sirens, which is what they'll play on TV in hell for me.

They even make this stuff for kids. This is what Paw Patrol is. Start them young.

They even make this stuff for kids. This is what Paw Patrol is. Start them young.

So Jarvis, like Beyer, reduced the use of lights and sirens. He cut them by about a third. Did their response time increase? Yes. By a median of six seconds. And in the vast majority of cases, by less.

So Jarvis, like Beyer, reduced the use of lights and sirens. He cut them by about a third. Did their response time increase? Yes. By a median of six seconds. And in the vast majority of cases, by less.

And I realize this is purely in the realm of hypothesis, but it seems to me commonsensical that were lights and sirens reserved for truly emergency use, you would see a more potent reaction to them. And likely then it could plausibly decrease response times.

And I realize this is purely in the realm of hypothesis, but it seems to me commonsensical that were lights and sirens reserved for truly emergency use, you would see a more potent reaction to them. And likely then it could plausibly decrease response times.

I like that hat. That's a very stylish hat you're wearing. So here it is. Lights and sirens are a tool that currently seem to be way overused. And that overuse has real consequences. Most of all, for our burnt out, overstretched first responders who go to work to save lives and wind up responding to everything as if it's a crisis, wearing themselves out and losing their hearing in the process.

I like that hat. That's a very stylish hat you're wearing. So here it is. Lights and sirens are a tool that currently seem to be way overused. And that overuse has real consequences. Most of all, for our burnt out, overstretched first responders who go to work to save lives and wind up responding to everything as if it's a crisis, wearing themselves out and losing their hearing in the process.

In 2015, 1,500 firemen sued that company, Federal Signal, the one that makes the iconic fire siren, for causing mass loss of hearing. A lawyer opposing them said, and I quote, What's their solution? If you don't have sirens, people would get mowed down in the streets. The siren works exactly the way it should. End quote. I could not disagree more. And you know who else disagrees? That's right.

In 2015, 1,500 firemen sued that company, Federal Signal, the one that makes the iconic fire siren, for causing mass loss of hearing. A lawyer opposing them said, and I quote, What's their solution? If you don't have sirens, people would get mowed down in the streets. The siren works exactly the way it should. End quote. I could not disagree more. And you know who else disagrees? That's right.

I found him. Okay. I am approaching Davy's house. Which is coincidentally...

I found him. Okay. I am approaching Davy's house. Which is coincidentally...