Original subtitles

We're frontliners.

We have to make the calls nobody else wants to make.

And you live with the fallout.

Send me some water!

I got this! Clear the second floor!

I don't even think Herrmann wants to be chief.

Did you lay down your bugles for me?

It's time for you to get your chance.

When I said that I didn't want us to move in together,

that was me being honest.

If you can't see a future together,

we shouldn't be together.

Things change. It's inevitable.

Even at 51.

I put in an application

with the Denver Fire Department.

I hope you find what you need there.

Sam? What are you...

Look, I know this hurts like hell.

I'm really sorry this adoption didn't work out.

There's something you need to see.

Kelly, we're pregnant.

When I took the test last week, it said positive.

So I don't understand.

Losing a pregnancy this early on is fairly common.

A lot of people don't even know they're pregnant at that stage.

The good news is that there's nothing in the exam

or the labs to suggest any issues that would stop you

from having a healthy pregnancy in the future.

That's... that's great to hear.

Yes.

Um, thank you, Dr. Simmons.

Are they here?

Okay, great. I'll be right out.

Apologies, but I need to get to that meeting.

Best of luck to you.

I am here if you need anything.

- Thank you, Doctor. - Thank you.

I'm sorry.

Babe.

- Hey. For what? Hey. - I just...

because I just...

like, I should have waited a few days

to tell you or taken another test.

No.

You don't need to apologize to me for anything.

We're in this together.

Every step of the way.

Okay.

This goes against our protocol.

He's been a problem for us repeatedly.

I know. That's why it's called a favor.

Well, we've discussed it internally

and we have concerns.

But ultimately,

we wanna keep these department channels open, so...

we're gonna assign him to Firehouse 51.

Do I have a say in this?

Think you know the answer to that.

But 51 was the CFD's choice for a reason.

So you should be flattered.

- Good morning. - Hey. Morning.

What?

I can't help but notice that uh, you are still in here.

I am?

How long has it been since Mouch made lieutenant?

Do you not see me in the process of moving out?

That has taken you an entire month?

Some of these items are very fragile.

You're not leaving, are you?

You see Mouch complaining?

Look, all I'm saying is,

the sign says "Officers Quarters."

You're not an officer anymore.

And Mouch can't keep using the Squad lunch table as his desk.

Yeah, you know what my favorite part of this office is?

The door.

Hey, you know, the new Truck guy starts today.

You might wanna try setting a good example for once.

Hey!

I am the model of professionalism!

Vasquez.

Yeah, that's me. Good to meet you, Chief.

Same. I, uh, heard a lot about you.

Let's head in.

Here's your new crew.

Briefing room's here.

Here you go.

Pick out a locker, make it your own.

Welcome to 51, Vasquez.

Thank you, sir.

Oh, hey there.

I'm, uh, I'm Sal Vasquez.

Oh, well...

I am your lieutenant, Stella Kidd.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting into it.

You know, meeting the team.

Yeah.

Well, you should know

that you are replacing a hell of a good driver.

Not as good as me.

Ambulance 61, Engine 51, Truck 81, Squad 3,

- structure fire. - Let's move, Vasquez.

9832 South Western.

He's a little heavy on the pedal.

You know what? I was thinking the same thing.

Which house are you coming from, Vasquez?

Uh, 25.

Slow action compared to you guys.

Yeah, every house is.

What the hell?

81 to Main, we have a rolling truck on fire

en route to the gas station.

Whoa! Whoa!

Whoa!

Ah!

Whoa, Vasquez!

Hey! Do not get too close.

Copy, copy.

We'll take the gas station.

♪♪

Synced & corrected by -robtor- www.addic7ed.com

Drop the cross-lay now!

- Ritter, grab the jaws. - Copy.

Let's go.

Hurry up! Let's go!

Yo, this lady's hurt.

Cruz, Capp, Tony, grab extinguishers!

- Get this fire out. - Copy.

All right. Let's get the door open.

- Go! - All right.

One, two, three.

She got attacked by two dudes in a pickup truck

trying to rob her. I saw the whole thing.

- Hit it, Vasquez! - Copy.

All right. See if you can grab a pulse.

I'll try.

I got an injured victim at the gas station.

Okay, I gotta tag this black and get to the other patient.

I'm gonna call for another ambulance and the police.

Copy.

61 to Main, send a second ambo and CPD to our location.

- We got you. - Okay.

What have you got?

Gina here got a gash on the back of her head.

Knows her name, what day it is.

Are you hurt anywhere else, Gina?

I-I don't think so.

She was attacked by two guys in that truck that was on fire.

There was only one person in that truck.

What?

Hey, you called the police, right?

Yeah, same time as I called in the fire.

- All right. Call them again. - Yeah.

Hey.

Hey, don't move!

Stay put.

Stop fighting!

He's the second attacker!

Hey.

Vasquez went a little rogue on the drive.

He pulled a hard U-ey before Kidd gave the order.

But the man can handle a truck.

Mm, I like the sound of that.

Carver came in with attitude too.

Mm, I remember.

Kidd whipped him into shape pretty fast.

Is there still no contact?

No. We're, um, we're standing on our agreement

to give each other the space to move on.

I am not letting it be all sad, okay?

We got to tell each other how we really felt.

Lots of people never get that chance.

That's true.

Since Dwayne moved to New York,

we've actually been texting.

A lot.

Really?

I was starting to get excited too.

Like, after everything, maybe this really is the guy.

Mm-hmm.

But the last 24 hours, he's been MIA.

Maybe it got too much for him.

You don't know that.

Hey.

What's the deal with Dom Toretto over there?

You know his story?

Nope.

That's quite the move he pulled off on Truck.

That's your old spot. You're not curious?

I get to know Carver, he leaves.

I get to know Damon, he's transferred.

I figure I ignore this guy, he'll stick around.

So that's my plan.

Now, if you'll excuse me,

I would love to finish this report in peace.

You do know that you can do that in your office, right?

I guess that means you'd have to confront your squatter.

Herrmann's just taking his time.

I'm sure he has an end date in mind.

When, 2050?

Look, Mouch, I get it.

The guy, he gave up his bugles for you.

But you're a lieutenant now.

It's time to lay down the law.

Hey, check this out.

They're showing the footage of the gas station attack.

Another brazen daylight attack in Chicago.

But this one did not go as planned.

That's the victim.

Security camera footage captured the moment

where this woman bravely fought off her attackers.

Oh, yeah.

Look at that.

Now one of the attackers is dead

and the other is in custody.

Still wonder what the hell took the cops so long to show up.

And now a statement from the mayor's office.

Oh, great, now we gotta hear the new mayor's talking head

tell us how everything is hunky-dory.

Mayor Benning intends to tackle

this high crime rate we've inherited.

We're facing it head-on

and we have plans to turn this city around.

Oh, just like they always say, and then things get worse.

Vasquez, can I see you a minute?

Sure thing.

I know that tone. She is not happy.

So I have to give my report to Pascal in a minute.

but I wanted to talk to you first.

Yeah. Sounds good.

You did not wait for my orders

en route to that last call.

You made a reckless U-turn

and you started after that pickup without a word to me.

But I... but I... I knew we had to go after it.

And we're not gonna...

we're not gonna let a fireball just roll down Western Avenue, right?

I think what you mean to say

is you are sorry and that will never happen again.

Okay.

Yeah, sure. Won't happen again.

What's wrong?

You wanna see his résumé?

I wanna know why you brought him here.

Well, I heard Vasquez is a great firefighter.

The word I got was gutsy.

He has an attitude problem.

I have dealt with his kind before.

You straightened them out.

He's six hours into his first shift.

So that means what we saw out there

was him on his best behavior.

So what was it that he did exactly?

He acted without waiting for orders from his lieutenant.

And I get the distinct impression

that's not the first time he's done that.

So you wanna cut him loose?

I have to know that my men will fall in line

or I put our entire company at risk.

We've lost a lot of good firefighters lately.

I suggest you take a beat before you risk losing another.

How'd it go?

He seems to think that I'm jumping the gun.

You agree with him?

Well, I wasn't in there to hear it all.

Whatever you decide, I got your back.

Well, that's... that's not an opinion.

Look, you... you've been, like,

walking on eggshells around me lately,

and it's just not helping anything.

So please, say what you think.

I think you've had a lot going on lately and...

You mean I'm bringing my personal life into work.

I didn't say that, Stella.

Truth is, I don't care about this Vasquez guy.

I care about you.

I know.

But when I'm at work, I am at work.

Vasquez is trouble,

and something is off with Pascal's attitude.

You got a sec?

Uh, yeah.

What can I do for you, Lieutenant?

Uh, I was just curious if you had an ETA on, uh...

on the moving out.

Oh.

I mean, I know you've been working on it.

But it has been a while.

No, you're right.

I probably, you know, could pick up the pace.

- Great. - Yeah.

Yeah, it's just, you know,

it's been a little nuts around here.

You know, I... I didn't realize when I got demoted, you know,

how much, you know, retraining I'd have to do for Truck.

- Right. - It's just taking time.

And then, the... you know, the cut in pay.

I've had to figure out ways to bring in extra income.

And currently, I'm working my way through this.

- "More Money Now." - Yeah.

It's absolutely useless so far.

But, you know, Cindy,

she's looking to pick up some work.

And Annabelle, she may end up in trade school

instead of college, but that would help.

Hey, you know what? Now I think about it,

there's been so much change around here lately.

I don't think we should rock the boat.

So I... you don't want me to move out of here?

I'm just saying you take your time.

There's no rush.

Okay.

If that's what you want.

That's what I want.

All right.

Yeah, yeah.

Cool.

So was this an order from Kidd

or do you just have a thing for bathrooms?

Little bit of both.

Nothing like good old manual labor, right?

Yeah, if you say so.

Hey, for what it's worth,

I was the new guy last year,

and I know it has its challenges.

So if you ever wanna talk.

I appreciate that.

But I don't worry too much about firehouse dynamics.

Is what it is.

Okay.

But you should know you won't find a better lieutenant anywhere.

Okay. Good to hear.

See, a lot of them have more bugles than brains.

You do not wanna underestimate her.

Trust me.

And uh, don't forget the shower stalls.

- Hey, Mouch. - Hey.

Am I interrupting?

It's my lot in life now.

I'm sorry to hear that.

So I was supposed to FaceTime with Dwayne this morning.

He wanted to show me his new apartment in New York.

Uh, but he didn't call.

And I can't get a hold of him.

I-I know he's tight with Trudy,

so maybe you could just check with her,

see if she's talked to him recently?

Okay. I can do that.

Amazing. Thank you.

You're welcome.

You... just make sure that she knows

I am not, like, freaking out or anything.

You know, just curious.

Maybe just take yes for an answer, Ritter.

Of course.

Thank you.

Anything I could do to help?

Peace and quiet. That's all I need.

Copy.

- Thanks again, Mouch. - Mm-hmm.

I just get a gut feeling, you know?

And I trust my gut.

You should. You should trust your gut.

What are you looking for in here?

All right, we used to have a small outdoor shovel.

I am gonna have Vasquez

do a little bit of gardening out front.

How did this get in here?

Ah.

Um...

we got you guys some baby stuff when you thought

you were coming back from Med with a baby.

There's more in the back.

That's really sweet.

It's around for whenever.

Or if ever.

Where are you guys at with all that?

Uh, it's been a little bumpy.

We told Terry to hold off

on the whole adoption process for now.

Yeah, I totally get it.

You guys are on a serious emotional roller-coaster.

I'm gonna go back to being frustrated.

- It's more fun. - Okay.

Where the hell is the shovel?

Maybe Capp took it back to his mom's place?

Squad 3, Truck 81, Ambo 61, house fire.

Northwest corner of Christiana and West 21st Street.

Dispatch said Christiana and West 21st Street, right?

Yeah, that's what I got.

Squad 3 to Main, no sign of fire at Christiana and 21st Street.

Do you have any more information on this?

Squad 3, standby.

Dollars to donuts, the fire's on East 21st.

Main to Squad 3, confirming a single report

of fire at Christiana and West 21st Street.

That's all we got.

No smoke? Single report?

It's probably just a bunch of kids messing around.

We'd better suss it out just to be sure.

All right, Squad, let's check the south side.

- Copy that. - All right. Herrmann, Ritter,

check the bravo side of this building.

Work your way east on 21st.

- Vasquez, you're with me. - Copy that.

We'll come up this way.

He shot me.

We got a gunshot victim over here.

Copy!

- Hey. - Vasquez. We got a GSW!

Lieutenant, get down! Get down! Gun, gun, gun!

Squad 3 to Main, we need police backup now!

Copy, Squad 3. Will notify CPD.

Hey, Lieutenant, we're code 4.

Doesn't look like they're doubling back around.

Are you all right?

- Are you okay? - Yeah.

All right. Hey, we're clear!

Everyone all right?

Yeah, we're good!

Come on.

Stay with me.

Need a jump pack and the stretcher over here.

Coming to you.

- Hey, Ritter, give her a hand. - On it, Lieutenant.

I'm sorry. I know. I gotta put pressure on it.

- What's your name? - Caleb.

Hang in there for me, Caleb. We got you.

Anybody catch a look at the dirtbags?

Yeah, they were in a black 4Runner.

No tags. Male Hispanic driver.

Squad 3 to Main, we got an offender in a black Toyota 4Runner

heading northbound on Christiana.

GSW victim being treated on-scene right now.

Main to Squad 3,

waiting for an available CPD unit to respond.

We'll update with an ETA.

Well, damn. Thanks for nothing. Hemostatic gauze and Kerlix.

- Through-and-through? - Penetrating.

Cut the shirt, please.

Here's that gauze.

Okay.

I know. I know it hurts.

We're gonna get you the pain meds.

We just gotta try to stop the bleeding first.

Heart rate's 104. BP's 92, palp.

All right.

Let's get him in the rig.

Give him a 16-gauge. Run it wide open.

We'll give him 50 of fentanyl en route.

- Copy. - On three. One, two, three.

Like the OK Corral out here today.

Still no PD?

Yeah.

Okay.

Looked like a gang thing.

The victim must have been hiding out till he heard the sirens.

He probably thought the SUV would just take off

once he saw us rolling up.

It turns out they were happy to take all of us down with him.

Yeah, but you, you were a beat ahead of us.

You seemed to know the bullets were coming.

Uh, yeah, yeah.

I did some time at the police academy.

You know, before I got in the firefighter track.

I, uh, I guess I honed some instincts.

Yeah. Huh.

Sh...

I can't work with all this noise.

Vasquez probably saved all of our lives out there.

You think that might warm Kidd up a little?

I think it's all about his attitude.

He's got confidence to spare.

Hope that he gets that he's on the ropes.

Yeah, but it's kind of like a charming confidence,

don't you think?

No.

I don't.

We got another GSW here.

I'm gonna call Abby who works over at 911,

see if she knows why there have been so many delayed responses

the last few shifts.

Vasquez was at the police academy.

And that was before he switched firehouses a bunch.

This guy is all over the place.

I wonder if he's the one who decided to do all the jumping

or if he got booted.

I'm gonna call around a bit,

see if I can get some background and just fill out the picture.

You two. Follow me.

We can go through your reports on the shooting call.

Once the shooting stopped, I tried to grab a plate,

but SUV didn't have one.

What did PD say when they got there?

Nothing. They never showed.

What do you mean they never showed?

Maybe they showed up after we left.

So PD was late to the first call

and a no-show on the second?

That's right.

Yeah. Come in.

I'm sorry to interrupt,

but you're gonna wanna hear this.

Go ahead.

I have a friend over at 911.

After the shooting, I gave her a call to see

if she could explain what is going on over there.

Yeah, we were just trying to make sense of that ourselves.

She said that over the last couple months,

a bunch of dispatchers have quietly been let go.

And apparently, it is the same at PD.

Did she say why?

No one has said anything.

But now they're drowning in calls

and apparently, they don't have the resources

to respond to them.

That's why PD didn't show today?

They literally don't have the manpower.

If they're not responding to a shots fired call,

what else are they missing?

Do we have any idea how many calls they aren't getting?

Apparently, City Hall is sitting on a report

that says of all calls coming in to 911,

49% of them are going unanswered.

Half of all calls?

- That can't be right. - That's what she told me.

And the city is doing nothing about it?

Why weren't we notified?

I don't know.

What the hell's going on here?

Well, if it isn't my better half.

Oh, my God.

Mouch, what's wrong?

Trudy got a call from NYPD.

Dwayne?

He's in the hospital for a gunshot wound.

How bad?

They just took him into surgery.

That's...

That's all we know right now.

I'm so sorry, brother.

I told Ritter to just go.

So McKenna from first shift will be here any minute.

I hope Dwayne's okay.

Trudy sounded pretty shaken up.

Just called the new mayor's office.

Don't expect to hear back, but in the meantime,

we gotta start kicking down doors

with anyone we know in city government.

Mm? Who do we know?

We could call the commissioner, DC Boden.

I checked with headquarters and Boden.

They didn't know anything about it.

I think it's probably over the department's pay grade.

If they knew anything, we'd know too.

We have helped out a lot of aldermen over the years.

Yeah, I made a connection with Alderman Molina last year.

- I can reach out to him. - That's right. Good. Who else?

Herrmann's pissed off the city treasurer.

Does that help?

He'd probably remember Herrmann's name.

Right. Dale Andrews. I could give him a call.

I feel like there's someone...

It's the mayor's office.

Well, that was fast.

Pascal here.

Yes, I did.

Yes, I can.

Thank you. I appreciate it, Ms. Davis.

Yes.

Mayor Benning's chief of staff.

She wants to meet with me in her office

first thing tomorrow.

Maybe you'll get some answers.

Maybe.

I got the feeling there's more to it than that.

Hey, Novak.

Hey. What's up?

You okay?

Yeah, yeah. I was, um...

I was just thinking about Ritter's friend

in New York, Dwayne.

Yeah.

I hope he's okay. He's a... he's a great guy.

Yeah, I'm... I'm really sorry to hear about that.

Do you need something?

I do, yeah. Actually, I, um,

I have a favor to ask of you.

What kind?

Uh...

Oh. How did that happen?

Well, when the bullets started flying

and I dropped to the ground, I...

I landed on my Halligan.

- Ouch. - Yeah.

And you stitched it up yourself.

Yeah, I don't wanna make a thing of it.

You know, 'cause Lieutenant Kidd already thinks

I'm a big pain in the ass, but...

yeah, I found a suture kit and I gave it a go

with the needle and stuff,

but it turns out sewing's harder than I thought.

Yeah, you're a lunatic.

Not the first time I've heard that.

Okay. Well, get in the ambulance.

I'll clean it out and stitch it up for you.

Thank you.

I did a pretty good job if you don't...

Ah, that's what you think.

Hey.

You're still burning the midnight oil?

Not by choice.

Pascal lit into me 'cause I still haven't turned in my incident report.

No rest for the weary.

Been there.

Well, unlike you, this wasn't my fault.

I can't find a moment's peace in this godforsaken place.

Hey, listen, Mouch.

About the office, um...

I fought hard for it, really hard.

And I'll be honest, it's tough to let it go.

But you earned it too.

And in some ways, it's just as much yours as it is mine.

It is actually literally just his.

Okay, so with all that in mind, I thought, what if...

what if we split it?

You know, some days it'll be mine, some days yours.

I mean, we can even make up a calendar,

you know, to make it official.

So like a time share?

Exactly, yeah.

I mean, I can take down some of Kenny's drawings if you want

and clear out some wall space.

I wouldn't ask you to do that.

Oh, please do, because his drawings are awful.

So come on.

Say yes.

Before I regret it.

Deal.

I'll start clearing out some space.

I guess the guilt finally got to him.

I saw you turn in that report hours ago.

Oh, did I?

Thank you.

Hey.

You came.

Of course I did.

Ms. Davis, Chief Pascal is here.

- Chief. - Good morning.

- Thanks for coming in. - Of course.

Sorry about the disaster zone.

It's been a messy transition.

I appreciate you making the time.

Please have a seat.

I was just reading up on you.

Commendations, Award of Valor.

You've got quite the reputation.

Just doing my job.

Lucky me.

My house is in your district.

Well, let's hope if the worst happens,

your call is one that actually gets answered.

I guess bad news travels fast.

So it's true.

What have you heard?

The city's sitting on a report,

one that says that half of 911 calls are going unanswered.

That is correct.

Do you realize what a serious problem this is?

Of course I do.

But we inherited this mess. We didn't create it.

Well, I don't care whose fault it is.

I wanna know something's being done about it.

There is.

But you're not going to like it.

I got a bad feeling about this.

51, thank you for gathering, everyone.

I just got back from the mayor's office,

and this is what I learned.

The city's in worse shape than it's led on.

Budget-wise, they're completely underwater.

They've already reduced services at 911 and PD.

Let me guess. We're next.

Now, the good news is that 51's not shutting down,

but to conserve resources,

the city's implementing strategic brownouts

and rig reductions, effective immediately.

- We're losing rigs? - Which ones?

Well, it'll be on a rotating basis,

sometimes Engine, sometimes Truck, sometimes Squad.

Does this include the medics?

EMS doesn't lose any rigs,

but you'll be covering more ground

filling in for houses that go offline.

- How much more? - Still TBD.

But I'm not gonna sugarcoat it for you.

Your runs will be longer and your shifts will be busier.

Bottom line is, this is our new reality.

At least for the foreseeable future.

What about response time?

Our response times are already...

All good questions. I know, I know.

And I'll get answers.

But for now, just know you'll be working harder,

sleeping less, and carrying more.

But this is when the best show what they're made of.

And if I learned one thing in this last year,

you are the best.

So let's show the city how it's done.

- Yes, Chief. - Copy that, Chief.

- Thank you. - Thank you, Chief.

Chief.

I wanted to let you know I called around about Vasquez.

I got some negative feedback.

Meaning?

He has a rep

for insubordination with his officers,

always pushing back, not following the rules.

It's why he's been bumped around so often.

Yeah. I had heard about that.

Well, if these budget cuts

mean we'll be paring back staff on rigs, it seems like

it's best to let him go.

Vasquez is staying.

May I ask why?

Vasquez needs a leader like you,

one who has the confidence to take him on,

show him who's boss, elevate his game.

Okay, but...

why... why bring someone like this into the firehouse at all?

How good a firefighter can he be, Chief?

The only answer I can give you right now

is that this job is Vasquez's last hope to stay in the CFD.

And I need that to happen.

Why would Pascal need Vasquez to stay?

I have no idea.

So you were right.

Something is off about the whole thing.

It's...

hi, Terry.

- Hi, guys. - Hi.

Apologies for just showing up,

but I have an issue that's extremely time-sensitive.

Terry, I thought we said that we were

putting a hold on adopting a baby.

You did, yeah.

This isn't about a baby.

Before Natalie and her sister reconnected,

you asked me about the possibility

of officially taking her in as a foster.

But then she moved in with Julia,

and she's really happy there.

Which is terrific.

Truth is, uh, there aren't a lot of people

willing to take in teenagers.

Right? There are no months-long waiting lists like there are

with the youngest children.

But it did seem like it was something you guys were open to.

Look.

Right now, there is a great kid

who's about to be removed from his group home

and he has nowhere to go.

So I have to ask...

would you two be willing to meet him?

Okay, I'm gonna call Ritter, fill him in,

and get the update on Dwayne.

His last text said that Dwayne was out of critical,

but no other details.

- Oh. - Have a good one, Vasquez.

Hey, and now don't try and take out your appendix

while you're off-shift, okay?

Can't make any promises.