September 1999 Interview

Technical Advisor Mike Lewis was the 37th paramedic in the state of   California.

He was due to get out of the Marine Corp (where he was a drill instructor) in 1967 and his father got him interested in the fire department. He set up an appointment for his son to have lunch with some firefighters and Mike went from there. He had one shot at the interview and test, since he was 29 at the time and the cut-off age was 30. In September 1970 he graduated with Bob McCullough, also a technical advisor for the show.

His first assignment was at Station 9, Squad 209, with Bob. From there he went to Squad 43, where he stayed for 6 years. He was a paramedic for 9 years and then in 1980 became a Engineer, and had to give up the paramedic program. He retired in September 1997, as Engineer.

"We were doing more than paramedics are allowed to do today." said Mike and "I always carried a dime with me since we didn't have a radio back then and phone calls had to be made from payphones, or phones in the area."

"The stories you see on the show are based on actual cases that were told by the TAs". Yes, that bathtub scene you see with Kevin really happened. Except it was a larger, heavyset woman that had her toe stuck.

Mike's good friend was Scott the Cop on the show. Mike even named his youngest son after him. Brian Scott Lewis.

For those of you who saw the blooper tape at the convention....that's Mike lowering that spider down on Robert Fuller. He and Scott would get Robert at every chance they got. At the convention when Robert saw him his first words were "No spiders!"  :-)

In 1984 Mike developed Sparky The Fire Prevention Clown and now travels all over with this fantastic program. Fairs, parades, schools, etc.  Any questions the phone number is 909-623-3111 ask for education expo office.

Feel free to email Mike with any technical questions, or any questions at all you may have about the show, or Sparky. He welcomes the mail.

"Sparky" is available to Fire Departments and others for Fire Service days or special occasions. The fee is reasonable and well worth the time.

Click on the thumbnails below for more pictures of Mike and Sparky!

       copyright 1999 by Rozane

Corrections/addition for photo below:

For your records here is a class photo of the 3rd HGH class, all LA County FF.  Class number 119701/71, July/November 1971.  They are identified L to R as follows. 

Top row:  Two Dept. of Hosptials personnel (unidentified), Mike Lewis, Tom Douglas, Al Knight, Jim Easley, Bob Forsythe, Unidentified (suit), LACoFD Chief Deputy Stan Barlow (with papers in hand).

Bottom row (seated): Bob McCullough, Steve Jongsma, Ed Cooley, Ed McFall

This page is not associated with Universal, MCA or its affiliates. Some items are on loan to emergencyfans.com from various sources. These sources retain their copyright. Original works submitted by fans (such as filksongs & fan fiction) are property of their authors and cannot be duplicated without the author's permission. Any information not previous copyrighted is © 1997– by Emergencyfansdotcom and cannot be reproduced without express written permission • Search by site • Privacy Policy