Will 'Chicago Fire' Tackle a Story Like the L.A. Wildfires? (Exclusive)

When Chicago Fire returns tonight, it will be back in its regular 9 p.m. ET/PT timeslot after having been bumped to the 8 p.m. slot for last week’s three-part crossover with Chicago Med and Chicago P.D., and it will be back to business as usual.

“It is a challenge to go back,” showrunner Andrea Newman tells Parade. “I will say that every time we’ve done a crossover, it’s like everything freezes, but the production train keeps running. It’s a massive thing to wrangle, these crossovers. What we just try to do is keep everything moving as best we can, but put as much attention and focus onto the crossover to make it extra special. It’s months in the making. Months of talking and structuring and plotting before we even start to write. Victor Teran, who wrote this one months before we started the actual writing process, he was sitting in a room with the Med and PD writers talking.”

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On tonight’s episode of Chicago Fire, as newly promoted captain, Herrmann (David Eisenberg) assumes a more administrative role as the Ranking Officer at Firehouse 51, so when there is a rise in missing fire hydrants, he teams up with Kylie (Katelynn Shennett) to track them down.

Then, there’s a more personal story when Stella Kidd’s (Miranda Rae Mayo) cousin comes to town, revealing surprising family history.  And Violet (Hanako Greensmith) and Novak (Jocelyn Hudon) treat the victim of a birthday cake smash gone awry.

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“[Our characters are] front liners, and they’re in danger all the time,” Newman continues. “As in real life, as we’ve seen out in Los Angeles, these guys are always putting themselves and their lives on the line. But they’re character-driven stories at the end of the day. Even if it’s an explosive action movie, it’s always got character. We track where the characters are, and what’s come before and what we know is coming after and really dig into those character moments.”

Speaking of the Los Angeles wildfires, Newman says it’s way too soon for her and her staff to be thinking of incorporating anything like that into Chicago Fire. But by telling stories about firefighters in general, she pays them homage.

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“Where we are in this show all the time is always interacting with firefighters,” she explains. “We have [real-life] firefighters on the cast and on the staff. What we keep hearing is it’s [about] supporting these guys who are putting their lives on the line every day. It’s basically in every episode. There’s always danger and risk in what they do. There’ll be a lot more of that as the season goes forward and a lot of getting to explore these characters and new dynamics and relationships.”

Chicago Fire airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.

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