Arts & Entertainment Community Police & Fire

Gig Harbor fire station, firefighters get a cameo in this movie with a message

Posted on February 21st, 2025 By: Marsha Hart

Two Gig Harbor firefighters will be in an independent film that was partially shot at Station 51 on Kimball Drive.

Lena White and Jake Coverdale were extras in the film, which finished filming on Tuesday. “Sense of Emergency,” is a Daisy If You Do Productions film, written, co-produced, and directed by Madeline Down.

Down expects to take the film to festivals after it is released next year. Brad Johnson, a Gig Harbor resident, runs Daisy If You Do Productions and co-produced the film.

Gig Harbor firefighters Lena White and Jake Coverdale, along with actor Luke Barnett, prepare for a scene in the film, “Sense of Emergency,” at Gig Harbor Fire and Medic One’s Station 51. Madeline Down wrote and directed the film and co-produced it with Brad Johnson. Photo courtesy of Madeline Down

Based on a terrifying true story

Down began writing the script after her mother suffered a cardiac event in Michigan during Down’s wedding reception. Down, a Seattle resident who previously worked as the managing director of production and entertainment for the Seattle Seahawks, said medical personnel told her family that her mother had about a 2% chance of surviving the cardiac event. It was a miracle that she walked out of the hospital.

Down credits the quick CPR response from someone attending the reception, who continued CPR until the paramedics arrived.

During her mother’s 10 days in ICU, a paramedic who responded to the call visited her mother. The paramedic expressed the relief he felt knowing that she made it through the medical emergency.

He is the focus of the film. Actor Luke Barnett — a veteran of roles in AppleTV’s “For All Mankind” and CBS’s “NCIS Los Angeles” — plays the paramedic.

Bryan Voss, the first responder who visited Down’s mother in the hospital, had seen a lot of bad endings in his career. He told Down that her mother’s outcome helped him personally.

Actor Luke Barnett plays paramedic Bryan Voss in “Sense of Emergency.” Writer Madeline Down filmed some scenes from the movie at Gig Harbor Fire and Medic One’s Station 51. Photo courtesy of Madeline Down

“He said that he slept for the first time in a long time,” Down said.

CPR and survival

That’s when Down decided to tell this story.

“This is an homage to this career that is otherwise so overlooked,” Down said. “We have an entire population that we once in a while celebrate, but day-to-day we only interact with them on our worst days. I’m interested in that factor of how people get hired to get PTSD.”

It’s a story that Gig Harbor Fire and Medic One Division Chief Tom Wescott believes is important for everyone to see.

“From a department standpoint, we hope that people will see that CPR buys time,” Wescott said. “We hope this will show the impact of citizen CPR and survival.”

The state of Washington has one of the highest rates of bystander CPR intervention, according to the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival, and the highest rate of survival to hospital discharge.

Trauma and paramedics

Under that layer of heroic response from those who answer the calls is the toll that it takes. Down said she wants to show audiences that trauma is sometimes easier to see in others than in yourself.

“Once you’ve been through a trauma you can recognize it in others,” she said. “I’m trying to show a representation of PTSD in several shots, and it ends with seeing it in someone else before they can see it in themselves.”

In 2018, Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One began a peer support team and behavioral programming to address the need for mental health support, including PTSD. Deputy Chief of Health & Safety Scott Booth, who has 30 years of experience as a paramedic, said that in addition to interventions, the department focuses on healthy living.

“We are exposed to human suffering daily, but it’s the compounding effect of workplace traumatic exposure on top of previously experienced, unresolved trauma that is the biggest issue,” Booth said. “While we have resources for members in crisis, I’ve begun focusing on resilience and practicing good habits like sleep, nutrition, mindfulness, and breathing techniques, so that our firefighters can live healthier lives holistically.”

That lived-in look

Down said she never dreamt while writing the script that she’d be able to film at an actual fire station. She wrote much of the script for filming elsewhere. However, co-producer Johnson, who lives in Gig Harbor, had a connection to the fire department.

Down toured the stations in the district, and chose Station 51 for its lived-in feel.

“I really wanted that authenticity,” she said. “I saw this station, and it was exactly what I was looking for. I really want the fire department to see the film and think, ‘yes, that’s what it’s like to do my job.’”

Madeline Down relaxes on set with actor Luke Barnett during the filming of “Sense of Emergency,” at Gig Harbor Fire District’s Station 51. Photo courtesy of Rod Mar

GHFMO CPR classes

Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One offers CPR classes. Classes for March are full, and the next available date is May 17. Three-hour CPR/AED classes $35, while six-hour CPR/AED/first aid classes cost $45. Click here for information and to register.