By Carl Nolte
The San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO — One of the most remarkable husband and wife teams in the history of San Francisco has just left the city service.
They are Irene and Steve Ager, paramedics whose nickname is the A-Team, a married couple who have worked together on the same city ambulance for 26 years. They worked for the Department of Public Health and then for the Fire Department, roaring down city streets, siren wailing, answering emergency calls for medical help.
They never knew what to expect when they were called out: life-and-death situations or false alarms. One time, Irene faced a man who aimed at shotgun at her; another time, she and Steve delivered twins.
“It is the ultimate partnership,” Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said.
“It was fun and exciting,” Irene said of her career as a paramedic. “It was stressful, too. You see a lot of things.”
Steve and Irene worked together for the city for 30 years; he retired at the end of April, she is on disability with shoulder problems and will leave city service June 25.
Steve was ready to go, Irene is leaving because she hurt her shoulder helping to carry a heavy patient.
“You know,” Steve said, “we carry more weight unassisted than any other profession. We have 60 pounds of gear, too, and we carry people down stairs walking backward.”
Steve is powerfully built, like a boxer, with a brush haircut just going gray. Irene is lighter, lithe, with delicate features, black hair and large eyes. “I am stronger than I look,” she said.
They make a perfect team. “We complement each other,” Steve said. “Her strengths are my weaknesses.”
“For some reason, it works,” Irene said, finishing Steve’s thought. “Sometimes, I think he’s my lost twin.”
They grew up in San Francisco together; she is a native daughter. Steve was born in England but came to San Francisco when he was 2 years old.
“We never knew each other when we were younger,” Steve said, “but we had friends in common. I knew people she knew, and she knew people I knew. San Francisco is supposed to be a big city, but it’s really not.”
They met on city ambulance duty, when the emergency service was run by the Department of Public Health. They worked on separate rigs, but one day they noticed each other.
“He asked me out,” Irene said. “I thought he was cute and interesting. That was in July 1981, and we were married in June 1983.”
At first, they worked separate shifts. “I was working nights. She was working days,” Steve said. “We left notes for each other.”
“So we started working weekends together,” Irene said. “And that worked out.”
Paramedics see the city as few others see it. A big car crash on Doyle Drive and injured people all over the road. At other times, there are shootings, kids hit by stray bullets, criminals, drunks, the underside of the city. You never know.
“The job can be pretty nasty at times,” Steve said. It can be traumatic; paramedics take their work home with them. “We are each other’s sounding boards.”
One incident haunts them both. They were working together, as usual, in the summer of 1988, when they got a call to the police horse patrol stables in Golden Gate Park. An officer shot, an accidental shooting by another cop. The wounded officer was Jim Bloesch.
“It was my brother,” Irene said.
“It was a horrible thing,” Steve said. “We did what we could as paramedics.”
There was not much they could do and Bloesch died.
Steve and Irene almost quit after that. They took time off and decided to stay. “You burn out sometimes,” Steve said. “But then you reinvent yourself.”
The two are the same age: 52. They live in San Rafael in a sunny house where roses grow. They have three children; the oldest, Dan, 28, is a public safety officer in Sonoma County.
“What I’ll miss most are the patients, the people we pick up and help,” Irene said. “Not the adrenaline. Not that.”