Who is Jim ‘JK’ Koenekamp? Station 19 airs title card tribute

Who is Jim Koenekamp? You may have saw the tribute card after tonight’s Station 19 episode, and are looking for more information.

As many of you may know, title card tributes are one of the best ways that a series can honor one of their own, as these live on in subsequent airings and are incredibly meaningful to loved ones after a terrible loss. In this case, Koenekamp passed away this past April, and he had a particularly important meaning to the entire cast and crew of this show.

After all, Jim (also known as “JK”) helped to make everything feel more realistic on-screen when it comes to ambulances, fire trucks, and a number of other things invaluable to first responders. He was responsible for Fire In Motion, a company that helped supply all of this equipment to shows and productions like this. As you would imagine, realism is imperative for a project like Station 19, and Jim was in the business of ensuring that for decades.

Just a matter of months ago, Jim was acknowledged by cast member Jason George for helping to show support during the SAG-AFTRA strike — you can see that by visiting this post on Twitter. Koenekamp helped to care for the iconic 19 fire engine, one that you have seen on the show many times. Often, behind the scenes many of these are real engines that were used out in the field once upon a time, and contain a lot of what you would expect firefighters to be working with day to day.

While Station 19 may be fiction, moments like this are a reminder that there are real people who have worked tirelessly across many years to bring the world to life. It is not always an easy job, especially when you consider everything the cast and crew took on from varying episode counts to a global health crisis to the strikes of last year, drawn out by the AMPTP. These are all reasons why behind the scenes, everyone becomes such a close family.

Or thoughts continue to go out to Koenekamp’s friends and loved ones during this difficult time.