I only watch this and Chicago Pd. Both shows are excellent in my eyes. My cousin is a firefighter in North Carolina and he said it was pretty realistic on the fire scenes and the stuff they go threw. His fire house watches the show every week.
shareNot a firefighter, but am an EMT. On that end there are minor things such as not strapping patients onto backboards prior to moving the board.
shareAre you suppose to perform something on the spot like Gabby did if the patient was going to die or wait? Because I have a feeling that is a big no no in real life.
shareWhether you are supposed to or not, if the EMT has to do something 'off the books' to save me, go for it.
They do work closely with the real CFD and even had to go through the academy. Also, they take a lot of stuff from real life. It isn't surprising that it's very similar. I know that there are things that aren't real--like you can't use the thermal cameras the way they do. And their masks aren't real, nor is the smoke.
I don't know much (if anything) about firefighting, so I am able to enjoy the show. I have learned a lot. When the show first started, I always thought all they did was fight fires. I have since learned that's actually only a very small part of their job.
Yes this show made me gain more respect for Firefighters same with Chicago PD for police officers especially in the big cites like Chicago and New York.
shareMany of the background actors are real firefighters, in addition to them being consultants for the show. I assume that means when trucks show up to fires in addition to Casey's and Severide's trucks, that those are the real firefighters. In interviews, they say they try to be as realistic as possible.
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"How do you know this?"
"That's what I do... I drink, and I know things."