S08.E01: Sacred Ground

[spunky]

1 hour ago, Forsaken said:

Micro managers are the worst. They erode the confidence of their team, then their team stop making decisions because it's like navigating a minefield. Then of course the team get yelled out because they don't know what they are doing. No one can read minds. 

The fire station is pretty lax though, I understand it is a show and all but with so many of them pursuing other high maintenance side projects ie a bar, politics, various hare brained get rich schemes it is amazing it functions at all. 

I believe so yes. 

According to my friend who is a firefighter, a lot of them have side jobs because they work about 3 - 4 days a week. I'm guessing it depends on the city. 

[NJRadioGuy]

20 minutes ago, spunky said:

According to my friend who is a firefighter, a lot of them have side jobs because they work about 3 - 4 days a week. I'm guessing it depends on the city. 

It's very common. And don't forget, in most of the U.S. firefighters are volunteers, not full-time/paid, so it's expected that they're got other things on the go. About the only place you'll see paid firefighters is in cities and larger counties. All the towns around me are 100% volly, and I live a half hour away from New York City. Ditto our EMS teams. Only paid departments are the paramedics and certain EMS rigs a few towns away.

[spunky]

1 minute ago, NJRadioGuy said:

It's very common. And don't forget, in most of the U.S. firefighters are volunteers, not full-time/paid, so it's expected that they're got other things on the go. About the only place you'll see paid firefighters is in cities and larger counties. All the towns around me are 100% volly, and I live a half hour away from New York City. Ditto our EMS teams. Only paid departments are the paramedics and certain EMS rigs a few towns away.

I live in NYC and didn't even know that just 30 minutes away the firefighters are volunteers. As someone who just graduated with a degree in Emergency Disaster Management, I can appreciate their hard work.  I also cringe when I see some truly unrealistic story lines.

[NJRadioGuy]

26 minutes ago, spunky said:

I live in NYC and didn't even know that just 30 minutes away the firefighters are volunteers. As someone who just graduated with a degree in Emergency Disaster Management, I can appreciate their hard work.  I also cringe when I see some truly unrealistic story lines.

Yeah, it's very common in the 'burbs. Not much burns out here. The more middle/upper-class the neighborhood the less the risk. Most of my town's toneouts are either for residential/commercial alarm activations, high CO readings, odor of gas or MVAs. In many cases the on-call chief shows up in his SUV along with PD to assess the situation, so the rigs don't even leave the apron. Our taxes are already through the roof, and if they went full-time paid it would be even worse.

On the down side, if there is a working fire on a weekday it can take longer to muster full crews, and response times can suffer. It's worse on the EMS side, and combined with bad daytime traffic between my town and the local emergency department it's rather nerve wracking to hear 3 toneouts for a BLS rig with nobody able to answer the bell and the call going to mutual aid. Makes me (briefly) reconsider that extra piece of fried chicken or bacon 🙂

That would obviously be impossible in cities; FDNY is one of the best fire departments in the world and consider yourself lucky to be under their umbrella. One of our local vollies (at least one, may be more) is a full time member of an FDNY ladder company and he volunteers here on his days off, always in the station, etc. 

So the whole business with C.F. firefighters (on the show) having all their outside gigs is a very realistic thing. Now that said, Casey as an Alderman probably wouldn't be allowed to happen but that's not something I can say for sure. The potential for conflicts of interest would be too high in real life. At least I hope it would be. The bullshit fake drama is so aggravating on the show, too, but you gotta have that "hook" to keep regular viewers involved. I just wish those B- and C-plots were written far better than they are.

[Spike]

33 minutes ago, NJRadioGuy said:

Yeah, it's very common in the 'burbs. Not much burns out here. The more middle/upper-class the neighborhood the less the risk. Most of my town's toneouts are either for residential/commercial alarm activations, high CO readings, odor of gas or MVAs. In many cases the on-call chief shows up in his SUV along with PD to assess the situation, so the rigs don't even leave the apron. Our taxes are already through the roof, and if they went full-time paid it would be even worse.

On the down side, if there is a working fire on a weekday it can take longer to muster full crews, and response times can suffer. It's worse on the EMS side, and combined with bad daytime traffic between my town and the local emergency department it's rather nerve wracking to hear 3 toneouts for a BLS rig with nobody able to answer the bell and the call going to mutual aid. Makes me (briefly) reconsider that extra piece of fried chicken or bacon 🙂

That would obviously be impossible in cities; FDNY is one of the best fire departments in the world and consider yourself lucky to be under their umbrella. One of our local vollies (at least one, may be more) is a full time member of an FDNY ladder company and he volunteers here on his days off, always in the station, etc. 

So the whole business with C.F. firefighters (on the show) having all their outside gigs is a very realistic thing. Now that said, Casey as an Alderman probably wouldn't be allowed to happen but that's not something I can say for sure. The potential for conflicts of interest would be too high in real life. At least I hope it would be. The bullshit fake drama is so aggravating on the show, too, but you gotta have that "hook" to keep regular viewers involved. I just wish those B- and C-plots were written far better than they are.

In Chicago alderman is a full time gig that pays in the six figures, so that storyline was silly.

[The Ringo Kidd]

4 hours ago, jewel21 said:

The "friend" that Sylvie ran into back home, that wasn't her friend who came to work at the Firehouse for awhile and was later fired, was it? She was after Severide and messed with Kidd's paycheck?

No that was a different person. I wondered if she was the one who hooked up with her finance and blew up her wedding.

There is no possible way she is not returning to the firehouse.

[dovegrey]

Just now, The Ringo Kidd said:

No that was a different person. I wondered if she was the one who hooked up with her finance and blew up her wedding.

There is no possible way she is not returning to the firehouse.

No, it is Hope from season 6 - Sylvie's childhood friend from Fowlerton who manipulated her way into 51, wreaked havoc, and got fired. Same actress, same character name, different hair. Derek Haas has been all over Twitter about Hope/Eloise Mumford coming back in this capacity.

To me, it seems that Sylvie has regressed to her small-town, keep-sweet, soft-spoken attitude. Chicago Sylvie would've ripped Hope apart at the Fowlerton firehouse. But you can't be Chicago in Small Town, Indiana - especially not in a tiny town like Fowlerton - and expect to keep a job or have friends. (Seriously, why are they not living in Indianapolis?!) 

[spunky]

1 hour ago, NJRadioGuy said:

Yeah, it's very common in the 'burbs. Not much burns out here. The more middle/upper-class the neighborhood the less the risk. Most of my town's toneouts are either for residential/commercial alarm activations, high CO readings, odor of gas or MVAs. In many cases the on-call chief shows up in his SUV along with PD to assess the situation, so the rigs don't even leave the apron. Our taxes are already through the roof, and if they went full-time paid it would be even worse.

On the down side, if there is a working fire on a weekday it can take longer to muster full crews, and response times can suffer. It's worse on the EMS side, and combined with bad daytime traffic between my town and the local emergency department it's rather nerve wracking to hear 3 toneouts for a BLS rig with nobody able to answer the bell and the call going to mutual aid. Makes me (briefly) reconsider that extra piece of fried chicken or bacon 🙂

That would obviously be impossible in cities; FDNY is one of the best fire departments in the world and consider yourself lucky to be under their umbrella. One of our local vollies (at least one, may be more) is a full time member of an FDNY ladder company and he volunteers here on his days off, always in the station, etc. 

So the whole business with C.F. firefighters (on the show) having all their outside gigs is a very realistic thing. Now that said, Casey as an Alderman probably wouldn't be allowed to happen but that's not something I can say for sure. The potential for conflicts of interest would be too high in real life. At least I hope it would be. The bullshit fake drama is so aggravating on the show, too, but you gotta have that "hook" to keep regular viewers involved. I just wish those B- and C-plots were written far better than they are.

Pretty cool. You  learn something new everyday. As for their storylines I sometimes wonder if the real firefighters on set (Tony/Capp) have no say in what's real and what's absolutely ridiculous.

[The Ringo Kidd]

4 minutes ago, cbsspecialreport said:

No, it is Hope from season 6 - Sylvie's childhood friend from Fowlerton who manipulated her way into 51, wreaked havoc, and got fired. Same actress, same character name, different hair. Derek Haas has been all over Twitter about Hope/Eloise Mumford coming back in this capacity.

To me, it seems that Sylvie has regressed to her small-town, keep-sweet, soft-spoken attitude. Chicago Sylvie would've ripped Hope apart at the Fowlerton firehouse. But you can't be Chicago in Small Town, Indiana - especially not in a tiny town like Fowlerton - and expect to keep a job or have friends. (Seriously, why are they not living in Indianapolis?!) 

Wow that is amazing. I didn’t pick up on that at all. Interesting.

I think you are right that she will not be all “Chicago” until she can’t take it anymore and blows up and leaves.

[dovegrey]

20 minutes ago, The Ringo Kidd said:

Wow that is amazing. I didn’t pick up on that at all. Interesting.

I think you are right that she will not be all “Chicago” until she can’t take it anymore and blows up and leaves.

Yeah, Haas is being all self-congratulatory about bringing her back, and it's like....nope. She wasn't that remarkable or memorable. I binged the whole series this summer, so I saw season 6 for the first time about a month ago; it's fresh. I don't think I would've realized who she was if I hadn't just seen the episodes.

It'd be great to see minor characters return who bring real value to the characters, like Christie, Katie - or, hey, the oldest Darden kid should be turning 18 soon. Does he want a spot on Truck 81 as a candidate? 

[Kel Varnsen]

I just realized something. Being an owner of Molly's is not good for your career with the CFD. Shay is dead, Otis is dead, Dawson moved to the Dominican Republic. Hermann is still around but does this mean he is now 100% owner?

[Chas411]

Was Shay an owner? I don’t remember that.

[Kel Varnsen]

17 minutes ago, Chas411 said:

Was Shay an owner? I don’t remember that.

Didn't she bail them out after receiving a bunch of money frotma dead patient?

[Waterston Fan]

47 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Didn't she bail them out after receiving a bunch of money frotma dead patient?

I thought they made her part owner after she bailed them out. I do remember she did bail them out. 

[Forsaken]

8 hours ago, spunky said:

According to my friend who is a firefighter, a lot of them have side jobs because they work about 3 - 4 days a week. I'm guessing it depends on the city. 

I'm Australian so didn't know that you guys had volunteers as well. In regards to this show however we know they get paid as there was that story the other season where the new admin woman hides someone's pay check. We also know that before Molly's they weren't making money from anywhere else, at least from memory. With the exception of Casey and Kelly who did explore some other opportunities. 

[Spike]

5 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I just realized something. Being an owner of Molly's is not good for your career with the CFD. Shay is dead, Otis is dead, Dawson moved to the Dominican Republic. Hermann is still around but does this mean he is now 100% owner?

I think Dawson went to Puerto Rico to rebuild after the hurricane.

[NJRadioGuy]

57 minutes ago, Forsaken said:

I'm Australian so didn't know that you guys had volunteers as well. In regards to this show however we know they get paid as there was that story the other season where the new admin woman hides someone's pay check. We also know that before Molly's they weren't making money from anywhere else, at least from memory. With the exception of Casey and Kelly who did explore some other opportunities. 

Casey has a construction job on the side and I think Severide has helped him at times.

I'd imagine in real-life firefighters' wages are directly deposited but it's possible that policy is paper cheques. Unlikely in this day and age, but who knows.

VFDs are a good way to keep taxes reasonable, especially in high tax states. Funding for things like radios, apparatus and gear may or may not be provided by the state or municipalities, various grants and handouts, as well as "boot drives" once or twice a year, where you'll see the local vollies out at the mall or in town, usually with the ladders raised and the lights flashing, and passing around a tall firefighter's boot for folks passing by to fill with cash.  At least out my way it's an old tradition. Not to mention mailers to town residents asking for donations.

In the case of our town's basic life support EMS, service is provided at no cost to the patient and has been for over 75 years. They also do fundraising drives by mail. On the opposite end of the spectrum, paid EMS (both BLS and ALS) bill the patient or their insurance for their services, and as I found out in 2018, a 20 minute ride in this privately run rig is billed over $2500. Even with insurance, I was responsible for $550. So basically unless you're on fire or having a stroke or heart attack, the magic words "cancel the medics" will save you a fortune here. Needless to say, I have no use for privately for-profit EMS companies, but their personnel are absolutely first-rate and rigs are 100% state of the art.

[Dowel Jones]

Another method, although not so common anymore, is  prepaid protection by subscription.  The FD charges each household/business a fixed amount per year for any and all service specified by the contract.  If you don't subscribe, either the FD doesn't respond to your house fire, or they do and send you a bill afterwards.  As I said, not very common for obvious reasons, but some rural areas still use it. 

[Crs97]

I don’t understand how the memorial is better than the photo on the wall.  I really thought with the mention of Cruz’s fundraising, the episode would end with a scholarship in Otis’ name or on behalf of all fire fighters.  Each year they could have some sort of essay contest about the fire fighters and the award ceremony could talk about Otis or Shay or somebody highlighted that year.

[Mswldflwr]

On 9/28/2019 at 10:03 AM, jewel21 said:

The "friend" that Sylvie ran into back home, that wasn't her friend who came to work at the Firehouse for awhile and was later fired, was it? She was after Severide and messed with Kidd's paycheck?

Yes, indeed.  That was Holly, the troublemaker.