WELCOME

As most of you have already heard we lost an icon last night, July 9th, 2026. We lost an inspiration to millions, we lost our beloved Johnny Gage. We lost a friend Randy. Last night we received word of Randy’s passing and out of respect to Randy’s family we waited until they had an opportunity to release a statement before we did so. Many of us at the Museum have called Randy our friend since 1998. He has been an amazing friend to our organization and a steadfast champion for our mission. We were honored by his support and friendship. We treated Randy like one of the guys because that’s who he was to us. We all grew up watching Johnny and Roy saving the day across the largest first in district in the world and it was an incredible experience to have him in our lives. Randy was always willing to work with the Museum and participate in the fan based events we hosted. He loved you all, his fans. He always marveled at how so many still cherished what he called “the little show that just won’t die”. He would expressly make clear that during events he wanted to be able to spend some time with each fan and not have them rushed through. This made for some terrible lines but surely enhanced the fan experience. He did that because he cared. He cared about each and everyone of you. He truly gave of himself and he and that little show that just won’t die had a massive positive impact on the world that few probably realize.

 

How many people today can even remember a time when there weren’t Paramedics within a few minutes of most metropolitan and suburban communities? How many Paramedic programs got their start because of the example seen on “Emergency!”? I can’t even imagine how many lives have been saved because of Paramedics across our country and even across the world. And of course how many individuals became firefighters and or Paramedics because Johnny and Roy and crew of Engine 51? What an impact.

 

So today we mourn our friend while celebrating his life and marveling at the amazing impact on society in which he played such an integral role. We will miss him. We treated him like one of the guys. Like one of the crew. We treated him like a brother firefighter and I know he enjoyed that as much as we did.

 

Randy was not only a spokesman for our Museum he was a spokesman for the LA County Fire Department. He was County through and through and he let everyone know it. He learned about being a Firefighter Paramedic from the pioneers of that position within our Department. He had some great stories. I’ll share one with you right now.

 

Randy was riding along on Squad 36 with Bob Bellevue and one of our other early Paramedics whose name escapes me right now. They got called out to an assault call. They pull up, get out of the Rescue Squad and retrieve their gear. As they turn to walk to the house a man walks up and the man has a hatchet stuck in his forehead! Not something you see everyday. As the men move to start treating the victim the victim tells them that his girlfriend is in the house and she was in rough shape since he had just beat her up after she planted the hatched in his skull. Chief Bob Belliveau tells Randy to stay with the man with the hatchet in his head and he and the other Paramedic rush to check on the woman

So there’s poor Randy standing with the man and he has no idea what to do and the man asks Randy for a cigarette. Randy happened to have a pack so he gave the man a cigarette and lit it for him and decided he needed one for himself. So there they stood shooting the breeze while having a smoke with Randy trying to not look at the hatchet in the man’s head.