When the paramedic-drama series “Emergency” aired in the 1970s, Alna’s Kathy Zuppa had an easy time remembering the emergency wagon’s call number, KMG-365. She was Kathy Gilbert of New Harbor then, and her initials were KMG.

In a fun twist of time, Zuppa is now president of the Alna Fire Department, which has sold its 1972 Dodge power wagon to a Wilton business that will use it to represent the one from the TV show. But that’s not all: On Saturday, Nov. 14, the former Alna wagon, which firefighters used to take on emergency calls into the woods, will appear at Samoset Resort with one of the show’s lead actors, Randolph Mantooth, according to Ron Morin. His Sugarloaf Ambulance Rescue Vehicles bought the truck after seeing it advertised online.

The Alna truck’s chassis has been paired with a long-stored utility body from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, to create a replica of the show’s Squad 51, Morin states in material provided in response to the Wiscasset Newspaper’s questions.

“I personally was inspired by the (series) to become a paramedic in 1982, in Maine's first graduating class,” Morin writes. “Having given more than forty years in Emergency Medical Services, I now have the ability to give back, by making the younger generation understand where us Dinosaurs of EMS came from.”

Morin found the Alna chassis on Craigslist where the fire department was seeking bids; he found the California body on eBay.

Alna’s was the only 1972 chassis he found. It was and is in excellent condition, Morin writes in a Nov. 6 email.

“We have applied the graphics ‘LOST ANGELS FIRE DEPT, RESCUE SQUAD.’ It will be very simple lettering, as to not duplicate the original trademark of the L. A. County Fire (Department) ... I am very excited about this adventure and its potential.” He plans to display it at numerous locations including Auburn’s Fire House Grille and the Samoset, for the upcoming event with Mantooth. Morin stores the truck at his shop in Wilton.

The truck served the department very well as a brush truck, Zuppa said. “That truck was a workhorse.” Although she’d watched the series when she was a young adult, the truck’s resemblance to the one Alna’s fire department got years later never occurred to her until about a year ago, when she saw a rerun. The truck on the show looked like Alna Truck 1, she said.

She referred to the call number from the show when she met with Morin about the truck’s sale. 

“Absolutely fantastic,” Morin said Friday, when asked what he thought about Zuppa knowing the call number by her initials.

The business bought the truck for $10,071 last summer, Alna Fire Department officials have said. The bid was one of 35 received following the Craigslist ad.

The department is very proud to have found the truck a home that will give it good care and its new purpose, Zuppa said.