Chicago Fire (TV series)

Chicago Fire
Genre	Drama Action
Created by	Michael Brandt Derek Haas
Starring	Jesse Spencer Taylor Kinney Eamonn Walker Charlie Barnett Monica Raymund Lauren German David Eigenberg Teri Reeves Yuri Sardarov Joe Minoso Christian Stolte Kara Killmer
Composer(s)	Atli Örvarsson
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	67 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Michael Brandt Derek Haas Danielle Gelber Peter Jankowski Matt Olmstead Dick Wolf Joe Chappelle Jeffrey Nachmanoff
Producer(s)	John L. Roman Tim Deluca Carla Corwin Hilly Hicks Jr. Michael Gilvary
Location(s)	Chicago, Illinois
Running time	42 minutes
Production company(s)	Wolf Films Universal Television
Distributor	NBCUniversal Television Distribution
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	October 10, 2012 (2012-10-10) – present
Chronology
Related shows	Chicago P.D.
External links
Website

Chicago Fire is an American television drama series that airs on NBC and was created by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas with Dick Wolf serving as an executive producer. The series originally premiered on October 10, 2012.^[1] The show follows the lives of the firefighters and paramedics working at the Chicago Fire Department at the firehouse of Engine 51, Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambulance 61 and Battalion 25.

The pilot episode had an early release at NBC.com, before the series' premiere on television.^[2] On April 26, 2013, NBC renewed Chicago Fire for a second season^[3] and moved its time slot to Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET. On March 19, 2014, NBC renewed the series for a third season.^[4] The season premiered on September 23, 2014.^[5]

On March 27, 2013, NBC announced plans for a possible spin-off of Chicago Fire.^[6] NBC greenlit the police procedural spin-off series, under the title Chicago P.D., which premiered on January 8, 2014, at 10 p.m. ET.^[7]

A major crossover between the two Chicago shows occurred near the end of the second season, in addition to a crossover between Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Chicago P.D.^[8] A three-way crossover with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Chicago P.D. aired on November 11 and 12, 2014.^[9]

On February 5, 2015, NBC renewed the series for a fourth season.^[10]

Plot

The show explores the lives, both professional and personal, of the firefighters and paramedics of the Chicago Fire Department at the quarters of Engine Co. 51, Truck Co. 81, Rescue Squad Co. 3, and Ambulance 61. Following the death of veteran Firefighter Andrew Darden, loyalties fracture and divide as Lieutenant Matthew Casey, officer-in-charge of Truck Co. 81, and officer-in-charge of Squad Co. 3, Lieutenant Kelly Severide both blame one another for the death of their long-time friend and colleague. Kelly Severide is consumed with more guilt when he learns Darden's wife also blames him for the tragedy. Despite their differences, the firehouse comes together after the near death of Truck Co. 81 Firefighter Christopher Herrmann.

New to the station is Firefighter Candidate Peter Mills, the Candidate assigned to Truck Co. 81, who is following in the footsteps of his late father and trying to find his place, over the objections of his mother. Alongside the firefighters are Paramedics Gabriela Dawson and Leslie Shay, the only women in the firehouse. Under the leadership of 25th Battalion Chief Wallace Boden, the firehouse faces life or death decisions every day, but look to each other like family, making sure to look out for each other, no matter what happens. Chicago Fire‍ '​s tagline is "This Family Burns Deep".

Cast

Main

Name	Portrayed by	Position	Assignment	Seasons
				1	2	3
Matthew Casey	Jesse Spencer	Lieutenant	Truck Co. 81	Main
Kelly Severide	Taylor Kinney	Lieutenant	Rescue Squad Co. 3	Main
Gabriela Dawson	Monica Raymund	Paramedic in Charge / Firefighter Candidate	Ambulance No. 61 / Truck Co. 81	Main
Peter Mills	Charlie Barnett	Firefighter/Paramedic in Charge	Truck Co. 81 / Squad 3 / Ambulance No. 61	Main
Christopher Herrmann	David Eigenberg	Firefighter*	Truck Co. 81	Main°
Wallace Boden	Eamonn Walker	Battalion Chief	Battalion 25	Main
Brian "Otis" Zvonecek	Yuri Sardarov	Firefighter	Truck Co. 81	Recurring	Main
Joe Cruz	Joe Minoso	Firefighter/Driver	Truck Co. 81	Recurring	Main
Randall "Mouch" McHolland	Christian Stolte	Firefighter	Truck Co. 81	Recurring	Main
Sylvie Brett	Kara Killmer	Paramedic	Ambulance No. 61	style="background: #ececec; colspan="2" color: grey; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-na" |	Main
Leslie Elizabeth Shay	Lauren German	Paramedic	Ambulance No. 61	Main		Guest
Dr. Hallie Thomas	Teri Reeves	Resident	Lakeshore Hospital	Main°	style="background: #ececec; colspan="2" color: grey; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-na" |

° Received main billing only in the episodes in which they appeared during season 1.

* Passes the Lieutenant's test during season 2, promotion pending.

• Jesse Spencer as Lieutenant Matthew Casey, Truck 81: As the leader of the truck company, Casey's cool and standoffish demeanor and no-nonsense attitude sometimes puts his crew off but he is respected by them and highly regarded by Chief Boden. He is extremely private about his personal life, preferring to wallow in his own problems rather than seek help from his colleagues, and sometimes comes across as distant and aloof as he usually keeps to himself during down time even when around them in the lounge room. Despite this, he does care for his men and will not hesitate to defend them, even if it means standing up to his superiors and risking his own career. He trusts the men of his truck company implicitly (and vice versa) and is generally quite lax with them in good faith that they will maintain professional standards themselves, only disciplining them under extreme circumstances. His reticence has caused him problems on a number of times, both professionally and personally, as his relationships with both his fiancées all deteriorated due to the lack of communication. He is engaged to Dr. Hallie Thomas for a time, but they decide to break it off, at which point he tentatively pursues Gabby Dawson but ends up deciding to stay friends. At the end of the first season in "Ambition", Hallie returns and Casey rekindles his relationship with her but she is murdered in season 1 episode "Leaders Lead". At the end of season 1 and the prelude into season 2 Gabby shows up at his door helping him cope with Hallie's death. In season 2 episode "Rhymes with Shout" he shows up at Gabby's door and kisses her at the end of the episode. At the start of the next episode they are shown waking up in bed together and are in a relationship. In the pilot, Casey and Kelly Severide are shown to be good friends since their days at the fire academy and long-time coworkers who are at loggerheads with each other, much to Chief Boden's frustration, over the death of fellow firefighter and close friend Andy Darden due to a bad call. They eventually put aside their animosity by the end of the first season. Darden's death would affect him in following episodes as he was forced to look after Darden's two young sons (he was named their legal guardian in the Dardens' will) when Darden's widow Heather is imprisoned for DUI manslaughter. In the season 2 episode "Not Like This", Casey risks his life to save a baby in a burning building and is rushed to the hospital in critical condition. When he gets back on the job, he suffers from neurological symptoms such as memory loss, uncharacteristic outbursts of anger and headaches but keeps this from his colleagues, although his erratic behavior is quickly picked up by several veteran coworkers and then-girlfriend Dawson. When he begins to bleed from his ear, he sees a doctor who tells him that it was caused by a crack in his skull and warns him that another hit to the head could be catastrophic. He decides not to tell his colleagues or the Chief, fearing that he would be forced into disability retirement. Casey is also burdened by his ex-convict mother Nancy, who shattered the family 15 years earlier after murdering his abusive father. He has a sister, Christie, who he grew distant from over their father's death, but they have since mended their relationship. His family still remains a touchy subject and, according to veterans Mouch and Herrmann, there is an unspoken rule within the firehouse that no one is to mention Casey's family or ask him about them. A skilled handyman and carpenter, Casey freelances as a construction contractor when off-duty.

• Taylor Kinney as Lieutenant Kelly Severide, Rescue Squad 3: Severide is the squad leader who commands the unwavering loyalty of his crew. His charismatic personality makes him a popular figure with both his colleagues and the ladies. He tends to be casual with his men and can be seen at the squad table or in the lounge chatting or playing cards with the rest of the firehouse. Despite this, he tends to keep his private problems to himself and lets it simmer, which often worries his chief. In contrast to Casey, he is adept at reading people, especially his own colleagues, and his observation skills have come to the fore in several arson investigations; in season 2, he correctly predicted that Hadley had been targeting the men of 51 and that Candidate Rebecca Jones, who committed suicide just months after graduating from the academy, lacked the discretion and inhibitions to truly excel as a firefighter. He and Casey have known each other since their days at the fire academy but have a falling-out over the death of their friend and colleague Andy Darden, whom Severide has known since childhood, over a botched-up call, which is where the pilot picks up at. They work things out by the end of the season. He was engaged to Renee, the sister of fellow firefighter Lieutenant Eric Whaley, but he called it off after she cheated on him with an ex-boyfriend and has since admitted that he never really moved on from her despite his string of relationships and flings with various women. At the beginning of season 1, he is plagued with a shoulder injury that puts his career in jeopardy. He hides this from everyone except Shay, from whom he gets painkillers to deal with his injury. When he finally sees a doctor, he is told that his condition is severe and would no longer be able to keep his job. His girlfriend at the time, Renee Royce, tells him of an experimental procedure, which he undergoes to save his shoulder. After the injury a Paramedic Candidate also threatens his career with a false allegation of sexual harassment and is revealed to be a fraud after talking to the other victim. In Season 2 Kelly discovers he has a half-sister, Katie Nolan, who is a culinary student. He tries to reach out to her but she was initially hesitant as she and her mother had been abandoned by his father Benny. The two become close and Kelly is shown to be very protective of her. In the episode "Tonight's The Night" of season 2, Katie is kidnapped and Severide tries to find her in the following episodes. After she is found, she leaves for Colorado. When Katie's kidnapper disappears, Severide becomes a suspect. However, Benny Severide is revealed to be responsible but is let off by Detective Voight after Benny explained himself. In Season 3, Kelly goes on a weekend trip to Las Vegas, he got married to a woman he met at the craps table. Her name is Brittany Baker and she's a graphic designer.

• Charlie Barnett as Paramedic in Charge (PIC) Peter Mills, Ambulance 61: Following in the footsteps of his father, Peter hopes to one day join the Rescue Squad. He is assigned as the Candidate in Truck 81. Just minutes after arriving at the firehouse, he quickly finds himself caught in the middle of a spat between the firehouse's two Lieutenants, who have been at odds with one another since Darden's death a month earlier. He begins dating Gabriela Dawson in secret, later breaking up with her because she keeps the knowledge of an affair between his mother and Chief Boden from him. He tells Dawson that he would be willing to start over with her if she can tell him for sure that she does not have feelings for Casey, but she cannot, and the two officially end their relationship. At the end of season 1, he picks up an application for the Chicago Police Department because he does not get promoted to squad and to avoid Chief Boden. However, Mills later gets rewarded with a promotion to Squad 3. Mills later dates Isabella, a friend of Dawson's, and their relationship takes various turns: first they meet and she takes him to a formal event with Senator Wheeler and reveals her future ambitions; they feud because he felt used as his feelings of insecurity took over. Later they get over the feud and grow closer, Finally when the firehouse is in severe danger of closing he asks her for help to save 51 and they work together. After badly injuring his leg in the season two finale Mills is put off work for six weeks but returns after four weeks in the season three premiere. After revealing to Lt. Severide that he gets dizzy whenever he isn't up right, Severide tells him to see a doctor. The doctor tells him that he can no longer be a firefighter. This all happens after Dawson is named to be a candidate on Truck 81 so because Mills has EMT training, he applies to replace Dawson as PIC and gets the job and now works with Paramedic Sylvie Brett. In season 3, he stated his desire to return to Squad 3, only to find that Severide had already filled the vacancy left by Newhouse. His sister Elise and mother ran a family restaurant following his father's death and Mills quickly earns the favor of his colleagues at the firehouse for his cooking skills. After Mills is promoted from Candidate status, the men have a hard time finding a replacement. In late season 2, he asks Newhouse, one of Severide's men in Squad 3 who moonlights as a private investigator, to track down his father's side of the family as he wanted to know why his mother had forbidden him to talk about his paternal relatives or contact them all these years.

• Monica Raymund as Paramedic in Charge/Firefighter Candidate Gabriela "Gabby" Dawson, Ambulance 61: Dawson has recently found herself in trouble for leaping before she looks on various calls, which leads to her being written up several times. She also pursues a flirtation with the emotionally unavailable Casey, with whom she shares a very strong friendship. Later, she and Mills bond over their mutual love for cooking and begin a relationship in secret. When their relationship is brought to light, Casey seems to be jealous and pulls rank to keep them apart at work. She later discovers that Boden had had an affair with Mills's mother, and she keeps this knowledge from him. When he finds out that she had known about it and that she still has feelings for Casey, he ends their relationship but they remain mutual friends. In Season 2, Dawson and Casey start a very serious romantic relationship and Casey proposes to her. She later is a Candidate in the Fire Academy. She fails her physical exam by several seconds, after injuring her ankle. In season 3, she has passed the Fire Academy. However, her relationship with Casey poses a problem due to fraternization rules and she is initially assigned to Firehouse 105 in Austin under Casey's nemesis Lieutenant Welch. Welch was against her assignment to his truck company due to a past bad experience with a female firefighter. He fills the spot and she is assigned as the Candidate on Truck 81, under Herrmann's supervision. During her first few weeks on the job, Casey is extra protective of her, much to Herrmann's frustration, but she eventually settles in. Like the actress, Dawson is of Dominican descent. Her older brother Antonio is a Chicago PD detective (he also features in the spin-off Chicago P.D.).

• Lauren German as Paramedic Leslie Elizabeth Shay, Ambulance 61: An experienced paramedic, Shay was the designated ambulance driver and well-liked by the mostly male crew of 51. She and Kelly Severide share an apartment as roommates and are best friends. Shay is openly gay, often cracking self-deprecating jokes about it, and is entangled in a relationship with her ex-lover Clarice who was most recently married to and impregnated by a man. She is fiercely loyal to her friends, particularly to Kelly, for whom she has risked her job for several times. Towards the end of Season 1 and Season 2 she tries to have a baby through artificial insemination with Kelly but the process fails. She is also close with Dawson, but a rift comes between them when Dawson fails to be there for her during her downward spiral of guilt over a man's suicide. She then gets mixed up with a girl she met, Devon, who she really liked, but that all ended when Devon robbed Shay and her roommates, Severide and Otis. Shay disappears and Severide tries to look for her. He asks for Dawson's help and when Dawson finds her they rekindle their friendship and Shay goes back to Firehouse 51. An accident in the cliffhanger season finale of season two leaves Shay critically injured in the explosion of a building and she dies in the third season premiere "Always". Her death affected the entire firehouse as she was popular with everyone and well-liked by the mostly-male crew. The subsequent investigation and Severide's own observations reveal that Shay had been murdered. Chicago PD detectives later linked the fire with a string of unsolved arson cases dating back several decades. The investigation is still ongoing.

• Kara Killmer as Paramedic Sylvie Brett, Ambulance 61 (Season 3—present): Sylvie is the new Paramedic for Ambulance No.61 replacing Leslie Shay following her death. Brett is a small-Midwestern-town girl from Indiana and is a "runaway bride" who goes "up I-65 to Chicago" to escape her ex-fiancée Harrison after their engagement fell apart. Initially she has difficulty adjusting to city life due to her naivete, as shown by the fact that she leaves cash out on the table with the windows open and rented an apartment in a neighborhood known for crime because the rent was cheap. She is currently in a relationship with Joe Cruz and shares an apartment with Gabby Dawson.

• Eamonn Walker as Chief Wallace Boden, Battalion 25: He is a scarred veteran of the fire department and served with Benny Severide and Henry Mills, the fathers of his current subordinates Kelly Severide and Peter Mills respectively. Chief Boden has unwavering dedication to the firefighters under him and has earned their loyalty and respect. He will go through great lengths to protect the integrity of the firehouse and his men, even if it means having to antagonize them by disciplining them. His career was threatened after a feud with Gail McLeod when she tried to overthrow him and install his former colleague Benny Severide as the chief of Battalion 25. Boden refuses to give up his house and fights for it. Later she tries to "justify" the closing due to an incident at a call where the victim had to be cut out of a $40,000 trash compactor. McLeod is eventually removed and Firehouse 51 remained open. In season 2, he marries Donna Robbins, an elementary school teacher, in a small ceremony at the firehouse. He had feelings for her for some time but was only convinced to propose to her after she tells him that she was pregnant. They have a son Terence who was born at the firehouse when Donna goes into labor there. Despite his serious exterior, he is open to advice from his men, particularly regarding his personal life; for example, he asks Herrmann, who has five children, for tips on how to deal with his pregnant wife Donna and infant son and Mills for some insight while he was dating Donna.

• David Eigenberg as Senior Firefighter Christopher Herrmann, Truck 81: Herrmann's sharp instincts on the job are in stark contrast to those when he is not at the firehouse, which include taking on several "get rich quick" schemes that have left him financially precarious, but had seemed to have finally made a good investment opening "Molly's Bar" along with Dawson and Otis, after putting out a fire at the location and buying it out. Although the bar opens successfully with a good opening night it, is revealed in the first season finale that it is threatened by a sports bar opening right across the street. In the first season's finale the station responds to a fire at the local prison and in the chaos after the power goes out Herrmann is held hostage by prisoners. However due to quick thinking and a good plan they all make it out alive and unharmed, and Hermann was rushed to the hospital to see his wife and newborn after birth complications. Herrmann and his wife have four sons and a daughter, the youngest son having been born on the first season's finale after an emergency C-section was performed on Herrmann's wife. He passed the Lieutenant's test during season 2 episode "Virgin Skin" but has yet to receive his new assignment due to one of Boden's superiors having a grudge against Herrmann over an investment gone wrong. As of season 3, he is still waiting for a spot to open up so he can be promoted. He is generally considered Casey's de facto right-hand man on the job by the rest of the truck company, as shown by the fact that he was made acting lieutenant in the episode "A Dark Day" as Casey was off-duty and shared a locker with Casey during the budget cuts in early season 2 and also oversees Candidates assigned to Truck 81. Outside his job, Herrmann was a self-described "day trader". In season 1, one of his investments goes bad and he loses his home to foreclosure, forcing him and his family to move in with the in-laws for several months. He, Otis and Dawson jointly invest in a small pub called Molly's which one of their victims had been trying to sell. In later seasons, Molly's becomes a popular hideout for their colleagues at 51 and other firefighters.

• Yuri Sardarov as Firefighter Brian "Otis" Zvonecek, Truck 81 (Season 2—present; recurring Season 1): Nicknamed after the eponymous elevator company as he is frequently assigned to elevator or ladder duty, Otis recently finished his candidacy before the arrival of Peter Mills. He is eager to move up the ranks within the firehouse but often feels overlooked and unappreciated by the rest of his truck company. The other more senior firefighters would pull rank and assign him to do undesirable menial jobs around the firehouse or pull pranks on him. This led him to consider transferring to another firehouse, but he ultimately decided to stay with Truck 81 after Severide pranks him into believing that the rest of the crew had placed a bet on how long he'd last at 51. In Season 2 Otis begins a relationship with Katie, Kelly's half-sister. He roomed with Shay and Severide but moved out after Shay's runaway ex Devin absconded with their money and possessions. Later in the season, he and Cruz decide to room together. As the most tech-savvy of the crew, he becomes something of a cult figure amongst other firefighters due to his podcast, called "Good to be a goat" after Truck 81's mascot, about life as a firefighter. He often comes up with ideas and solutions for everything, much to his colleagues' amusement and derision.

• Joe Minoso as Firefighter/Chauffeur Joe Cruz, Truck 81 (Season 2—present; recurring Season 1): Cruz is the designated chauffeur for Truck 81. Having grown up in a gangster-infested neighborhood, many of his peers were gangsters and he is constantly trying to keep his younger brother Leon out of the local gang. He is haunted by a decision that he made on the job related to his brother that later effects his own safety and the safety of his fellow firemen, forcing Casey to discipline him. At the end of Season 1 into a portion of Season 2 Joe begins a relationship with Zoya, Otis's Russian immigrant cousin and decides he wants to marry her to get her to stay but she feels that is not right so she leaves. In season 3, he begins dating the new paramedic, Sylvie Brett. He and Otis often bicker with one another in the lounge during down-time over the most trivial matters. They later share an apartment together. Previously he lived in the crime-ridden neighborhoods of Humboldt Park where he was "lulled to sleep by gunfire". Cruz is a dance instructor and teaches zumba when off-duty, a fact which he keeps secret about until Sylvie coincidentally turns up at his zumba class as she lived nearby. A running gag in the show is Cruz's inability to cook; he tries to fill in as the firehouse cook after Mills is promoted from Candidate status but his cooking is often met with ridicule from the rest of the firehouse.

• Christian Stolte as Firefighter Randall "Mouch" McHolland, Truck 81 (Season 2—present; recurring Season 1): Infrequently referred to as "Randy", Mouch gained his peculiar nickname due to the fact that he can almost always be found watching television when not on a call ("half man, half couch"). As a senior member of Truck 81, he, along with Herrmann, are often seen as the ringleaders and respected by the rest of the crew as such. Mouch serves as union representative for the members of the station when they face disciplinary action and is knowledgeable in the legalities and political side of the fire department. He has a part-time job as a security guard. Instead of "McHolland", he has "Mouch" written on the back of his turnout coat. With the help of Herrmann, he joins the race for fire union president. He was in a long distance relationship with a Japanese woman named Mari. Later Shay sets him up with a "Golden Oldies" dating profile and he acquires a blind date. He meets Chicago PD Sergeant Trudy Platt (Amy Morton), who also appears in Chicago P.D., by accident at an event and they have been dating ever since.

• Teri Reeves as Doctor Hallie Thomas (Season 1): A resident at Lakeshore Hospital and Casey's former fiancée. In the pilot episode, the two break up, but reconcile soon after. Their relationship becomes strained when Hallie reveals that she does not want to have children and she leaves Casey. When she returns, the two mend their relationship. After reuniting with Matt, the clinic she worked in was set ablaze. Hallie was trapped in the drug lockup but was rescued by Casey. After being pulled from the blaze, she was transported with CPR in progress to Lakeshore Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Recurring

• Mo Gallini as Firefighter Jose Vargas: a member of squad 3, Vargas recently transferred from Truck 81 in the episode "Professional Courtesy". A sixteen-year veteran, he is forced to retire after he is injured in a warehouse fire and considers suicide by jumping from his apartment building rooftop, but Severide and Casey talk him out of it.

• Shiri Appleby as Clarice Carthage: Clarice is introduced as the pregnant ex-girlfriend of Leslie Shay. In season 1, episode 13, Shay and Clarice reconcile their relationship and Clarice moves back in with Shay, only for Clarice to break up with Shay for a second time at the end of season 1, episode 16.
• Kathleen Quinlan as Nancy Casey: Matthew and Christie Casey's mother who is incarcerated for murdering their verbally abusive father and her husband Gregory in 1997, fifteen years prior to the beginning of the series. She had grown estranged from her children while in prison; it was mentioned that Christie still could not forgive her and would testify against her at each parole hearing, thereby postponing Nancy's release, while Casey visited on rare occasions. Casey is successful in getting Nancy released on parole after convincing Christie to let go of the past. Nancy stays with her son as part of her parole but things become tense between mother and son when Casey voices his discomfort over her going out with "a penpal" just hours after being released. She moves in with her former cellmate, but not before telling her children to mend their relationship.
• Sarah Shahi as Renee Royce:^[11] Renee becomes attracted to Kelly after he saves her in a traffic accident, and they begin dating. In the season 1 finale, she announced that she is pregnant with Kelly Severide's child. In season 2, it is revealed that the baby is not Severide's.
• Treat Williams as Benjamin "Benny" Severide: Kelly's father and fire captain who served with Chief Wallace Boden and Peter Mills' father Henry. He is a skilled arson investigator currently with the CFD's Office of Fire Investigation Division (OFI). In season 2, Gail McLeod plots a way to overthrow Chief Boden and recruits Benny to see if he will command 51. He accepts but then he backs out because of his longstanding friendship with Wallace.^[12] He and Chief Boden had fallen out after the death of Henry Mills in the line of duty to the point where they even argued in front of Boden's men at the firehouse but both have been able to set aside their differences when needed. He had a love-hate relationship with his son as he had left Kelly and his mother when the latter was ten years old and had Katie, Kelly's half-sister, with another woman. He lived in Kenosha, Wisconsin with his new wife Beth and two sons but abandoned them and moved to Chicago without Kelly's knowledge. In season 2, he was revealed to be responsible for the disappearance of Vince Keeler, the mobster behind Katie's kidnapping, and confesses to Detective Voight. Voight, being a father himself, lets Benny off and Benny returns to Kenosha on his advice.
• Robyn Coffin as Cindy Herrmann: wife of Christopher Herrmann, and mother of their four children (3 boys and 1 girl). In the episode "Under the Knife" Herrmann announces that Cindy is pregnant with their fifth child. In "Ambition" she has a medical episode as a result of the pregnancy and passes out and is rushed to the hospital. In "Hell of a Ride" she has a baby boy. As she is Catholic and does not use birth control because of religious restrictions, Herrmann surprises her on their twentieth anniversary by getting a vasectomy.
• William Smillie as Kevin Hadley: a former member of Squad 3, he was transferred out of Squad 3 to another house because of an inappropriate prank on Peter Mills. In season 2 he targets Firehouse 51 and personally targets Severide for revenge with arson attacks and burns himself when pouring gas on himself and standing on top of an accelerant, leaving him badly scarred and in constant pain. He is currently in prison.
• Edwin Hodge as Rick Newhouse of Squad 3: he transfers from the fictional Squad 6 based in South Side in the season 2 episode "One More Shot" to fill the empty spot left behind after Clarke's promotion and subsequent transfer. His experience and charismatic personality quickly wins over Severide and the rest of the men, although Herrmann initially antagonized him as he had yet to come to terms with the recent suicide of Candidate Rebecca Jones. When off duty, he moonlights as a skiptracer and has been seen entertaining his coworkers with stories of his "clientele". Mills looks up to him as an older brother figure. He hails from the crime-ridden Chicago area of Roseland and, despite getting out, still goes back to visit family. He is a single father with an elementary school-age daughter Naomi. In season 3, he leaves Chicago to visit family in Miami and Scott Rice takes over his spot on Squad 3 on a temporary basis. Whether or not Newhouse will return remains ambiguous.
• Pouch the dog:^[13] Peter is given a dog by a child from a family who could not take care of it. Hermann, Chief Boden, and Mouch decide against it. Eventually, the three agree after Hermann suggests the three should rethink the dog. She is given a name and adopted by the team. Pouch's name was decided by Hermann, who suggests she should be named after Mouch, which is half man, half couch, to Pouch: half pooch, half couch. Mouch was initially against them adopting Pouch because of a bad experience he had with the dog at his former firehouse but comes to enjoy Pouch's company. The two are often seen on the couch together.
• Jeff Hephner as Lieutenant Jeff Clarke: After his firehouse is closed, he is transferred to Firehouse 51, Squad 3. Initially, he was not liked by the rest of the crew as he was extremely private and preferred to read newspapers at the squad's table rather than socialize with them in the lounge. His arrival at 51 coincided with McLeod's efforts to find reasons to close Firehouse 51 down and he was falsely accused of being McLeod's mole. When the rest of the firehouse realizes that he had actually turned McLeod down, they befriend him and helped him through his marital problems. He was also revealed to be a former Marine and Iraq veteran. His wife Lisa had cheated on him while he was on his final tour and were estranged when the character is first introduced. They reconnect after she asks for his forgiveness and he and the crew were nearly killed by a burning propane tanker on a call. Lisa's ex-lover Hayes turned out to be a loanshark who continuously harasses them to the point where Clarke was prepared to kill the man with his military-issue sniper rifle. When Hayes is found dead, Clarke becomes the prime suspect and tries to protect Lisa upon finding out that she had been involved. He transferred out of 51 after being promoted to lieutenant and is now the commander of Truck 25.
• Michelle Forbes as Gail McLeod: a financial consultant hired by the state to help trim the budget of the CFD which includes closing some firehouses. She had Lieutenant Spellman, a transfer from a closed firehouse, "report" to her on the activities of the crew at 51 but Spellman was coerced into transferring out when the entire crew, led by Lieutenants Casey and Severide, staged a plan to run him out upon discovering that he was the mole. Mouch rallies the union to fight back when he discovers the reason why McLeod was so keen on closing down firehouses. The community and fellow firefighters rally behind 51, drawing the attention of State Senator Wheeler, who orders hiis assistant Isabella, then-girlfriend of Peter Mills, to reverse the closure of 51.^[14]
• John Hoogenakker as Lieutenant Spellman: He is assigned to Firehouse 51, along with Clarke, after city budget cuts force downsizing in the department. He is later revealed to be the snitch to Gail McLeod and is "transferred" out of 51.^[15] Mills realizes that he was McLeod's "spy" and Spellman is transferred out after some of the men repeatedly taped pink transfer forms in his locker and the entire crew, Lieutenants Casey and Severide and Chief Boden included, hand him pink transfer forms.
• Christine Evangelista as Allison Rafferty, Paramedic in Charge, Ambulance 61: After Dawson starts training at the Academy to become a firefighter, transfer paramedic Allison Rafferty is introduced as Leslie Shay's new partner. At first Rafferty seems distant toward Shay and when Shay later confronts her, she tells her that her previous partner at 24 was a lesbian and used to make phone calls to her girlfriend that made Rafferty uncomfortable. In her second episode appearance, it is revealed she was a resident doctor at Chicago Med but dropped out when her fiancé developed Hodgkin's lymphoma; he died six months later. She is suspended for treating a patient that refused treatment, and Dawson regains her spot on Ambulance 61.
• Alexandra Metz as Elise Mills: Peter Mills' sister. She helps run the family restaurant with her mom and is torn between being protective of Peter and encouraging him to follow his passion for public service.
• Brittany Curran as Katie Nolan: Kelly Severide's half-sister, and Benny Severide's daughter. Kelly and Katie didn't know each other until they meet in the restaurant where Katie works as a chef. Katie was kidnapped after "the blackout" by Vince Keeler and is badly injured. Katie later moves to Colorado.

Crossover

• Jon Seda as Detective Antonio Dawson of the Chicago Police Department: Gabriela's older brother. He is enlisted by Casey for help when Casey runs into trouble with the seemingly dirty CPD Detective Hank Voight. He is later almost killed in an undercover job gone bad, and joins District 21's Intelligence Unit run by the newly out of prison Hank Voight. Main cast on Chicago P.D..
• Jason Beghe as Detective Henry "Hank" Voight: a seemingly dirty cop who clashes with Matt (in the episode "Professional Courtesy") after Voight's son's drunk driving paralyzes a teen. Voight covers for his son and targets Matt when he refuses to back down. He was imprisoned for trying to have Casey murdered but has since been released and promoted to sergeant. He heads up the Intelligence Unit of Chicago P.D. and has since been working with Casey to track down the person or people involved with the death of his ex-fiancée. At the end of season 1 episode 23, it is shown that Voight is actually posing as a dirty cop in an undercover collaboration with Internal Affairs to smoke out criminals and other dirty cops. Main cast on Chicago P.D..
• Sophia Bush as Detective Erin Lindsay: a tough detective with District 21's Intelligence Unit and Kelly's ex-girlfriend. Main cast on Chicago P.D..
• Jesse Lee Soffer as Detective Jay Halstead: a detective with the Intelligence Unit who once had a relationship with Gabriela Dawson during his undercover assignment. Main cast on Chicago P.D..
• Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson the sergeant of the Manhattan Special Victims unit of the NYPD. Main cast on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Episodes

Each episode lasts approximately 42 minutes.

Seasons of Chicago Fire

Season		Episodes	Originally aired		Nielsen ratings
			Season premiere	Season finale	Ranking	Viewers (in millions)
style="background:#000000;" text-align:center;"|	1	24	October 10, 2012 (2012-10-10)	May 22, 2013 (2013-05-22)	No. 51	7.78[16]
style="background:#626366;" text-align:center;"|	2	22	September 24, 2013 (2013-09-24)	May 13, 2014 (2014-05-13)	No. 31	9.70[17]
style="background:#FF9933;" text-align:center;"|	3	23[18]	September 23, 2014 (2014-09-23)	May 12, 2015 (2015-05-12)[19]	TBA	TBA

Crossovers

• "A Dark Day" — An explosion occurs at Chicago Memorial Hospital where Casey and Dawson are volunteering at a charity run, bringing the fire and police departments together to track down the culprits in the Chicago PD episode "8:30 PM".
• "Nobody Touches Anything" — Firehouse 51 rescue the owner of a burning house and find him clutching a suspicious box that leads Severide to call in the Chicago Intelligence Unit, who track a child pornography victim to New York in the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Chicago Crossover" and return to Chicago with SVU to take down a pedophile ring in the Chicago PD episode "They'll Have to Go Through Me".^[20]
• "Three Bells" — Additional clues to Shay's death are discovered, leading Firehouse 51 to team with Intelligence to track down the suspect in the Chicago PD episode "A Little Devil Complex".^[21]
• "We Called Her Jellybean" — An apartment fire in Chicago connected to a case of rape and attempted murder resembles an unsolved case in New York that brings SVU and Intelligence together to catch the culprit in the Chicago P.D. episode "The Number of Rats" and the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Daydream Believer".^[22][23]

Production

The series pilot, co-written by creators Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, was filmed in Chicago and, according to an NBC representative, the series will continue to be filmed there.^[24] Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel made an appearance in the series' pilot episode. Emanuel stated: "It's easier being mayor than playing mayor. I told them I'd do it under one condition: the TV show is making an investment to the Firefighters' Widows and Orphans Fund."^[25]

The network placed an order for the series in May 2012.^[26] After receiving an additional script order in October, Chicago Fire was picked up for a full season on November 8, 2012.^[27][28] On January 29, 2013, Chicago Fire had its episode total increased from 22 to 23.^[29] One week later, on February 6, 2013, Chicago Fire received one more episode, giving it a total of 24 episodes for season one.^[30]

The building used in the show as the firehouse is the real home of Chicago FD's Engine 18, located at 1360 S. Blue Island Avenue at Maxwell Street, between 13th & Racine. Housed here is ALS Engine 18, 2-2-1 (Deputy District Chief - 1st District), 4-5-7 (Paramedic Field Chief - EMS District 7), 6-4-16 (High-Rise Response Unit), and BLS Ambulance 84. The station house used in Chicago PD is just a few blocks away at 949 W. Maxwell Street at Morgan Street.

Chicago artist and retired firefighter Lee J. Kowalski's oil paintings of fire scenes can be spotted in several episodes.

In November 2012, WGN-TV announced a plane crash at 29th and MLK Drive in their morning news and showed live footage for a few minutes before realizing that it was not a real plane crash, but filming for an episode of Chicago Fire.^[31]

Reception

The first season currently holds a 49 out of 100 on metacritic, which is mixed or average reviews

Season	Timeslot (ET)	Episodes	Premiered		Ended		TV Season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
			Date	Premiere Viewers (in millions)	Date	Finale Viewers (in millions)
1	Wednesday 10:00 PM	24	October 10, 2012 (2012-10-10)	6.61[32]	May 22, 2013 (2013-05-22)	6.13[33]	2012–13	#51	7.78[34]
2	Tuesday 10:00 PM	22	September 24, 2013 (2013-09-24)	8.90[35]	May 13, 2014 (2014-05-13)	7.12[36]	2013–14	#31	9.70[17]
3		23[37]	September 23, 2014 (2014-09-23)	9.14[38]	May 12, 2015 (2015-05-12)[19]	TBD	2014–15	TBA	TBA

Spin-off

On March 27, 2013, NBC announced plans for a proposed spin-off of Chicago Fire, the police procedural drama Chicago P.D. that would involve the Chicago Police Department, the spin-off series being created and produced by Dick Wolf, with Derek Haas, Michael Brandt, and Matt Olmstead serving as executive producers.^[6][39] It premiered on January 8, 2014.

The show follows an Intelligence Unit and is filmed entirely in Chicago. The main cast includes Jason Beghe, Jon Seda, Sophia Bush, Jesse Lee Soffer, Patrick Flueger, Elias Koteas, Marina Squerciati, LaRoyce Hawkins, and Archie Kao.

In February 2015, NBC has announced plans into making another spinoff titled Chicago Med. A special backdoor pilot episode of the show will air during Chicago Fire's third season.^[40] On May 1st, 2015, Chicago Med was officially ordered to series.^[41], starring Oliver Platt, S. Epatha Merkerson, Laurie Holden, Nick Gehlfuss and Yaya DaCosta.

Awards and nominations

Awards and nominations for Chicago Fire

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
2013	ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards	Top Television Series	Chicago Fire	Won
	Imagen Foundation Awards	Best Actress/Television	Monica Raymund	Won
		Best Primetime Television Program	Chicago Fire	Nominated
		Best Actor/Television	Joe Minoso	Nominated
	Online Film & Television Association	Best Sound in a Series	Jeffery Kaplan, Todd Morrissey, Peter Reale, Alex Riordan	Nominated
	Prism Awards	Best Drama Episode - "Professional Courtesey"	Chicago Fire	Won
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Show: Action	Chicago Fire	Nominated
		Choice TV Actor: Action	Jesse Spencer	Nominated
		Choice TV Actress: Action	Monica Raymund	Nominated
2014	Imagen Foundation Awards	Best Supporting Actor/Television	Joe Minoso	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress/Television	Monica Raymund	Nominated
	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Network TV Drama	Chicago Fire	Nominated
2015	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Network TV Drama	Chicago Fire	Nominated
		Favorite Dramatic TV Actor	Taylor Kinney	Nominated
		Favorite TV Character We Miss Most	Lauren German	Nominated

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Chicago Fire (TV series)

• Official website
• Chicago Fire at the Internet Movie Database
• Chicago Fire at TV.com

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Chicago franchise Michael Brandt Derek Haas Matt Olmstead Dick Wolf Series Chicago Fire Seasons: 1 2 3 4 List of episodes List of characters Chicago P.D. Seasons: 1 2 3 List of episodes List of characters Chicago Med TBA Related series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit See also Law & Order franchise

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