Chicago Fire’s Joe Cruz survived a near-death experience during the One Chicago crossover — and the aftermath will continue to haunt him this season.
Warning: Spoilers below from season 14, episode 13, of Chicago Fire and the One Chicago crossover.
“There’s an after effect of this [case] that kind of shifts a little bit [of] the perspective that a lot of these guys have,” Chicago Fire showrunner Andrea Newman exclusively told Us Weekly, referring to the traumatic experience Firehouse 51 endured during the Wednesday, March 4, crossover event.
Newman teased, “We’re working on an episode now that is where there’s a lot of ramifications for Cruz in particular, that he’s dealing with in terms of it. There’s ripples. They just keep going and going.”
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During Wednesday’s three-part event titled “Reckoning Part I, II and III,” Firehouse 51 was among the first on the scene when a plane landed in Chicago after losing contact with the tower for more than an hour.
Once safely on the ground, two members of Squad 3, Cruz (Joe Miñoso), Capp (Randy Flagler), as well as two additional firefighters from different trucks, Macy Vasquez (Carlita Tucker) and a new guy named Holt, went into the plane to assess what was going on.
They found the entire plane, including the pilots, dead from an unknown cause. The severity of the deaths — many were foaming at the mouth — left everyone on edge.
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“[In] 20 years on the job, I’ve never seen anything like that,” Cruz said when he exited the plane.
While Chicago P.D.’s Intelligence Unit tried to pinpoint the mystery murder weapon, Cruz and Capp began driving their rig to another location when, suddenly, they both started to seize and foam at the mouth.
It was later revealed that the other two firefighters — the first inside the plane — also showed symptoms and all four were transported into isolated rooms at Chicago Med’s Gaffney Chicago Medical Center.
The murder weapon was later identified as a toxin being smuggled into the city by a drug trafficker that accidentally burst while the carrier was on the plane, killing everyone. (One passenger did survive, but later died at the hospital.)
Without knowing the location of the other tablet of toxin — an assailant who blamed first responders for his family’s death in a fire that happened 25 years prior broke into the morgue and retrieved the deadly toxin — and an antidote, everyone’s lives hung in the balance, including Capp and Cruz.
Luckily for fans, both Cruz and Capp did survive after their police counterparts took down the bad guy, who planned to release more of the toxin at a firefighter’s memorial for maximum casualties.
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Paramedic Lyla Novak (Jocelyn Hudon) also survived after being sprayed with blood while treating the sole plane survivor. The woman later died after Novak helped deliver her baby in the back of their ambulance.
Sadly, Macy and Holt didn’t make it, dying at the hospital before they could find an antidote to counteract their symptoms.
Moving forward, Newman told Us that danger is part of the job when you’re a first responder, adding that viewers shouldn’t expect to breathe easy watching the show — ever.
“I mean, they’re firefighters. Every day is a close call,” Newman said. “There’s no episode where the team is safe.”
Chicago Fire airs on NBC Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
