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Fire and EMS Service Icon James O. Page Passes Away
America's fire and rescue service lost one of its legends Saturday evening, Chief James O. Page.
Page is often noted as the father of modern emergency medicine in the fire service, His lifelong committment to the fire service started in 1957 with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, where he worked his way through the ranks while completing his undergraduate education and law school at night.
Page died suddenly Saturday night while swimming in Carlsbad, Calif., where he resided. He was 68.
"Jim was an icon ... He started articulating the issues of EMS in the fire service and never let up," said Garry Briese, Executive Director of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. "He did his best to keep us honest with how we provide emergency medical services, and he'll be incredibly missed."
Briese, a friend of Page's for 30 years, was presented the James O. Page Award for Excellence this year. This award was named for Page in 1995 and presented annually to an individual who has played a key role in creating and/or promoting non-clinical innovation and achievements in fire service EMS management and leadership resulting in a positive impact nationally.
Those ideals were what Jim Page was all about.
In 1971, Jim was assigned by his department to coordinate the countywide implementation of paramedic rescue services.
At the same time, he served as technical consultant and writer for the "Emergency!" television series. In 1973, he resigned from the fire department to accept the new position of Chief of EMS for the State of North Carolina.
Page spent the next ten years based on the east coast. In 1976, he was selected as Executive Director of the non-profit ACT (Advanced Coronary Treatment) Foundation. In 1979, he founded JEMS (Journal of Emergency Medical Services).
"We cannot calculate or measure is the number of lives Jim affected," said Gary Ludwig (Read Full Tribute by Ludwig), formerly the Chief Paramedic of the St. Louis Fire Department now a consultant and Firehouse contributing editor for EMS. "How many people got involved in EMS or became a paramedic because of the television show Emergency!? How many EMS systems came about because of his constant promotion, advocacy, and support for [pre-hospital EMS] on a national level? We will never know the number."
In 1984, Jim returned to the California fire service while maintaining a leadership role in Jems. In 1989, he retired as Fire Chief for the City of Monterey Park (in Los Angeles County) and returned to full-time service as Chairman and CEO of Jems Communications.
Friend Billy Goldfeder called Page's death a major loss for everyone in the fire service.
"The lives that Jim Page has affected and saved both directly and indirectly through his efforts with JEMS and all his related EMS projects -- not to mention his fire service projects -- are immeasurable," said Goldfeder, a Battalion Chief in Loveland-Symmes, Ohio and Firehouse contributor. "There is not one fire department in this country that has not benefitted by the life-long efforts of Jim. His loss will be felt forever -- but so will all the revolutionary good he did for our business.
Over the years, Jim Page has written six books, more than 400 magazine articles and editorials, and given more than 800 public speeches. He has established and funded an EMS educational foundation at Palomar College near San Diego.
"Like all firefighters, when Jim looked at himself in the mirror each morning, the first person he saw was "firefighter," and the other definitions trailed after," Firehouse Magazine Founding Editor Dennis Smith said Sunday (Read Full Tribute by Smith).
"Early on, Jim saw the inevitability of the fire service and the emergency medical service coming together as a joint public service, and he was so right," Smith said. "This forward thinking nature of Jim Page has profoundly added to the professionalism of fire departments throughout the nation. He was truly a national figure of consequence."
But Page's impact reached far beyond inspiring first responders. It frankly saved lives.
"It is because of [Page's] implementing paramedics in Los Angeles County that my grandfather survived a medical emergency he had while visiting family there," said Tom Langley-Smith, now a paramedic himself in Ontario, Canada. "His work on the TV show Emergency! influenced an entire generation of Paramedics, myself included. He was a great man, the father of Emergency Medical Services."
In 2000, Page was featured by Fire Chief Magazine as one of the 20 most influential fire chiefs of the 20th Century.
"Jim was one of those individuals who always knew how to stay on the progressive edge of the American Fire Service," National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Executive Director Ronald J. Siarnicki said. "His innovations will continue to advance all of us in this field of community service. He will be missed and remembered for all of the changes he facilitated to make the delivery of emergency services in this country what it is today."
Most recently, Page was continuing to serve as publisher emeritus of JEMS and FireRescue Magazine after retiring from the publication in 2001. He was also a partner in the law firm of Page, Wolfberg and Wirth, with offices in California and Pennsylvania.
Page's friend and fellow EMS advocate Paul M. Maniscalco, Past President of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, said Page leaves behind a legacy of generosity, professionalism and saving lives.
"Whether it was helping EMS grow, assisting the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians address matters that impact the 'street folks' he so loved, providing guidance to a 'rookie' or donating his time to defend an EMT in trouble, Jim Page did it with wisdom, sustained energy, great probity, conviction and vision," Maniscalco said. (Read Full Tribute by Maniscalco)
JEMS reported that over the past year, Page and his wife Jane had been touring 100 of the "best small towns" and had intended to profile each town's fire department. He had visited more than 30 at the time of his death.
Page, an avid promoter of good health and fitness, had no known history of heart problems.
On a personal note, Jim is the primary reason I became interested in the fire and rescue service as a teen. Besides watching Emergency! as a kid, my first fire service book was Page's "The Paramedics."
In the early years at Firehouse.com, the staff was lucky enough to spend quite a bit of time getting to know Jim during the national tour of "Emergency!" and he spent several nights with our local firehouse in Hyattsville, Md. At a trade show FOUR years later, Jim asked me about several of our members. These were people he met just once, yet he remembered the most minute detail about them and asked me to take back autographed copies of one of his books for several he spent the most time with. Few people touch your life and leave as positive an impact and impression.
This was Jim Page.
Jim was not only a leader and legend within the fire service, he was all around an extremely caring and giving human being. His presence and genuine smile could light up a room.
He will be missed professionally by the nation's entire fire and EMS service, and personally by many whose hearts and minds he touched.
Page is survived by his mother, Marion, wife Jane, four children, and six grandchildren. He was also a private pilot and a collector of vintage fire and rescue equipment.
The hole left by his loss as a figure in building the nation's fire and EMS service will never be filled.
Memorial Service
September 16, 2004
Service to begin promptly at 10:00 a.m.
Attendees are encouraged to arrive early.
Carlsbad Community Church
3175 Harding Street
(Intersection of Harding Street & Pine Avenue)
Carlsbad, CA 92008
www.3c.org
For those departments who wish to bring apparatus, Please contact the Carlsbad Fire Department Administration at (760) 931-2141 and ask for Mary or Fam to receive staging instructions. Please plan to arrive by 8:00 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to the County of Los Angeles Fire Museum Association, James O. Page Memorial Building Fund, P.O. Box 3325, Alhambra, CA 91803.
Full Coverage: Remembering an Icon
