History Series / ChicagoFire

** Horribly averted with Jimmy in "A Real Wake-Up Call".

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Season 5's "Deathtrap" has a fire very similar to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Oakland_warehouse_fire Ghost Ship Fire]] in Oakland, CA. To such a degree, some fans thought it was TooSoon.

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: In ''What Happened to Courtney'', Severide follows up on an unsolved search and rescue where they {{never found the body}} when a call takes them to a chimney with a charred skeleton next to a unique necklace. Said necklace belonged to the titular Courtney, whose body was later confirmed through dental records. When Courtney's uncle David visits, he accuses his sister of neglect and snapping her neck, a detail that was never publicized. A fight between Severide and David ensues, and the latter in hauled away in cuffs.

** ''Nobody'' has the authority to forbid a Battalion Chief from closing the door of his own office. Chief Bowden would be entirely within his rights to tell Gorsch to piss up a rope.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In "A Chicago Welcome," a old rival of Battalion Chief Wallace Boden, Jerry Gorsch, returns and offers new equipment for the unit as a peace offering, starting with a fancy new firetruck. Boden is more than willing to let bygones be bygones, especially when Gorsch offers to get new turnout gear for everyone so the crew can change out their gear on duty so they can work in healthier conditions such as reducing their exposure to carcinogenic material while on calls since they can have their gear cleaned sooner and more often. However, a comrade is suspicious when he learns that their usual supplier has not received any new orders, while learning that Gorsch has contacted a new supplier who is offering the same equipment for 25% cheaper. He has a friend investigate, and they find that not only has the new supplier's product never been tested for safety performance, but Gorsch has known the seller of it for years. They alert Boden, and then they tell the city government of their suspicions, which leads to uncovering that Gorsch arranged big money kickbacks for the seller for equipment they can't trust to properly protect them. As such, Gorsch is promptly fired and Boden and company get the thanks of the Mayor's office for avoiding a serious corruption scandal that could have jeopardised Fire Department personnel.

''Chicago Fire'' is an Creator/{{NBC}} drama series, and the first show of Creator/DickWolf's ''[=#OneChicago=]'' Franchise, that premiered in October 2012. It focuses on the fictitious Firehouse 51 of the Chicago Fire Department, which houses Battalion 25, made up of Ladder Company 81 (headed by Lt. Casey), Rescue Squad 3 (headed by Lt. Severide), Ambulance 61, and Engine Company 51.

* NoOSHACompliance: One episode as an Amazon-like distribution warehouse floor manager banning bathroom breaks when the staff are apparently being too slow in their quotas compared to the new robots. Of course, nature called for one worker, and he was so desperate and angry that he urinated on one of the robots. That damaged the robot, which went haywire and rammed into the shelving and caused a major collapse on some workers. The firefighters come to the rescue and then investigate what happened. When they discovered the manager is at fault (and trying to keep a low profile at that moment), they firmly order him to stay where he is since he is going to have a long talk with OSHA about this blatant workplace reg violation.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In "A Chicago Welcome," a old rival of Battalion Chief Wallace Boden, Jerry Gorsch, returns and offers new equipment for the unit as a peace offering, starting with a fancy new firetruck. Boden is more than willing to let bygones be bygones, especially when Gorsch offers to get new turnout gear for everyone so the crew can change out their gear on duty so they can work in healthier conditions such as reducing their exposure to carcinogenic material while on calls since they can have their gear cleaner sooner and more often. However, a comrade is suspicious when he learns that their usual supplier has not received any new orders, while learning that Gorsch has contacted a new supplier who is offering the same equipment for 25% cheaper. He has a friend investigate, and they find that not only has the new supplier's product never been tested for safety performance, but Gorsch has known the seller of it for years. They alert Boden, and then they tell the city government of their suspicions, which leads to uncovering that Gorsch arranged big money kickbacks for the seller for equipment they can't trust to properly protect them. As such, Gorsch is promptly fired and Boden and company get the thanks of the Mayor's office for avoiding a serious corruption scandal that could have jeopardised Fire Department personnel.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In "A Chicago Welcome," a old rival of Battalion Chief Wallace Boden, Jerry Gorsch, returns and offers new equipment for the unit as a peace offering, starting with a fancy new firetruck. Boden is more than willing to let bygones be bygones, especially when Gorsch offers to new turnout gear for everyone so the crew can alternate their gear on duty so they can work in healthier conditions such reducing the exposure to carcinegnic material while on calls. However, a comrade is suspicious when he learns that their usual supplier has not received any new orders, while learing that Gorsch has contacted another supplier who offers the same equipment for 25% cheaper. He has a friend investigate, and they find that not only has the new supplier's product never been tested for safety performance, but Gorsch has known the seller of it for years. They alert Boden, and then they tell the city government of their suspicions, which leads to uncovering that Gorsch arranged big money kickbacks for the seller for equipment they can't trust to properly protect them. As such, Gorsch is promptly fired and Boden and company get the thanks of the Mayor's office for avoiding a serious corruption scandal.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In "A Chicago Welcome," a old rival of Battalion Chief Wallace Boden, Jerry Gorsch, returns and offers new equipment for the unit as a peace offering, starting with a fancy new firetruck. Boden is more than willing to let bygones be bygones, especially when Gorsch offers to new turnout gear for everyone so the crew can alternate their gear on duty so they can work in healthier conditions such reducing the exposure to carcinegnic material while on calls. However, a comrade is suspicious when he learns that their usual supplier has not received any new orders, while learing that Gorsch has contacted another supplier who offers the same equipment for 25% cheaper. He has a friend investigate, and they find that not only has the new supplier's product never been tested for safety performance, but Gorsch has known the seller of it for years. They alert Boden, and then they tell the city government of their suspicions, which leads to uncovering Gorsch arrainging big money kickbacks for the seller for equipment they can't trust to properly protect them. As such, Gorsch is promptly fired and Boden and company get the thanks of the Mayor's office for avoiding a serious corruption scandal.

*** Numerous scenes feature patients being intubated, but the endotracheal tubes are very clearly not inserted past the patient's teeth.[[note]] Obviously a conscious actor/actress will not be able to tolerate a plastic pipe being inserted through their vocal cords (gag reflex). For some reason, they skipped the obvious solution of snipping an ET tube short so that it would appear to be properly placed. [[/note]]

** The less said about the show's depiction of fire, the better. Most structure fires generally don't produce much flame that is visible from the outside until it either burns through the roof or the building collapses (there's plenty of flames, just not where you can see them). They produce ''a lot'' more smoke than you see in the show, usually of the dark-black variety. That smoke also fills the inside of the building to the point that you usually can't see across the room, and zero-visibility is not unusual. While the strangely-smokeless rooms on fire can be chalked up to AcceptableBreaksFromReality to show the audience what's happening, the cast standing right next to open flames without even crouching (in a real fire, firefighters crawl to stay below the heat; stand up, and you die horribly, gear or no gear[[note]] NFPA standards require turnout gear to protect the wearer from an ambient temperature of 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and current engineering can't do much better than that anyway. A working structure fire can easily heat the atmosphere inside to 800 degrees--''at waist-height''. Firefighters consider it great if it's actually cool enough inside for them to work from their knees. Often they have to snake-crawl[[/note]]), not so much.
** Matthew Casey and Gabriela Dawson would never, ''ever'' be allowed to work at the same firehouse if they were in a romantic relationship, due to the conflict of interest on hand, and the concept of Casey being allowed to continue as her company officer is especially ludicrous. If that happened in real life, he would be relieved of duty and demoted, same for the Chief who allowed it to happen.

** The firefighters wear custom SCBA masks to allow as much of the actors' faces as possible be visible. The orientation of the air delivery system would actually hinder mobility if used in a real-world situation. They don and doff them like scuba gear, always leaving the regulator connected to the mask, which is put on and taken off seperately with the regulator disconnected. It's also clear that they're not actually sealed or flowing any air, because the masks never fog up.
** Actual structure fire suppression tactics are not something you will see in this show. Truck-81 is always conducting a primary search, and never does ventilation, salvage, elevated master streams, or any other Truck function. Squad-3 and Truck-81 regularly show up at structure fires without an Engine (the Engine has a pump and is primarily responsible for actually putting the fire out, although they can perform Truck roles if necessary), even though Engine-51 was clearly visible in the apparatus bay right before they got the call. For that matter, Engine-51 is only occasionally mentioned and almost never seen.

*** The paramedics frequently do things that would at least get them terminated and their medic certifications revoked. Basic C-spine immobilization for trauma patients ''never'' happens. A medic has committed gross insubordination (the only thing that can and will get you fired ''on the spot'') at least twice so far. Anyone with any kind of emergency medical certification would lose both their certification and their job and would face lawsuits and possibly jail time if they perform a procedure outside of their legal scope of practice, regardless of whether they know how to do it or not (sorry, Dawson).

** The arson investigations depicted could be compiled into a video titled "How Not To Investigate A Fire." Hardly any documentation is made of evidence (something that even police are taught for fire scenes), personnel enter the scene without a warrant after the incident has been concluded and the scene is no longer under Chicago Fire Department control (that's legally considered breaking and entering)...

** Matthew Casey and Gabriela Dawson would never, ''ever'' be allowed to work at the same firehouse if they were in a romantic relationship, due to the conflict of interest on hand[[note]]the conflict of interest in this case being that such feelings could impair their ability to make proper judgment calls during an emergency call[[/note]], and the concept of Casey being allowed to continue as her company officer is especially ludicrous. If that happened in real life, he would be relieved of duty and demoted, same for the Chief who allowed it to happen.

** There is no Firehouse 51 in the Chicago Fire Department, and although the trucks and ambulances used are fully functional emergency vehicles (that formerly were used by the CFD, and still used by them as reserve vehicles for the real firehouses if a regular engine has to go out of service for any reason), they are all given fictional numbers so as to avoid confusion with real CFD truck and engine companies. The firehouse used for shooting is at 1360 South Blue Island Avenue, quarters of Engine Company 18 and Ambulance 65.

** The Springfield Fire Commissioner comes to Chicago and offers Kelly a job. Only problem, Springfield, IL doesn't have a Fire Commissioner. Additionally, fire departments, being low-level government agencies, don't make corporate-style headhunting salary offers. Severide would get paid the Battalion Chief's salary on Springfield FD's pay scale.
** Cruz's "Slamigan" tool, touted as a brilliant invention, takes a highly-versatile Halligan Bar and [[CripplingOverspecialization removes its ability to do all but a single function]] (prying with the adze). To make it worse, a Halligan will most often be used to pry with the forks, which Cruz's modification renders useless, rather than the adze. Not that great of an idea after all.
*** Sure enough, when he is finally shown using it to force a door, [[RealityEnsues it doesn’t work]].
** The show sometimes has a single resource handling a call that would, at minimum, require an engine, a truck, and a chief officer. The underground rescue that results in the deaths of several guys from [[spoiler: Squad 6]] is a shining example. In real life, there would've already been several other rigs assigned to such a call, including paramedics and a battalion chief. An entire company also wouldn't go underground like they did without a designated Incident Commander, someone assigned to air monitoring, and other safety measures in place. See IdiotPlot.

** A parolee with an ankle monitor would not receive a violation for being transported to an emergency room with a major injury.

** Thermal imaging cameras do not work that way. Period. They don't make noise. They don't see through walls. In fact, they can't see through a transparent glass window. They measure differences in heat to form an image, so a hot spot in a wall, for instance, will show up brighter. They do have a limited ability to see through smoke, provided the room isn't too hot. Oh, and the ''cheap'' ones cost about $10,000, [[CaptainObvious so nobody gets to take them home for personal use]].

* FirstNameBasis: Done [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesomely]] by Isabella to Gail [=McLeod=]. ''Twice''.

** The paramedics frequently do things that would at least get them terminated and their medic certifications revoked. Basic C-spine immobilization for trauma patients ''never'' happens. A medic has committed gross insubordination (the only thing that can and will get you fired ''on the spot'') at least twice so far. Anyone with any kind of emergency medical certification would face lawsuits and possibly jail time if they perform a procedure outside of their legal scope of practice, regardless of whether they know how to do it or not (sorry, Dawson).
*** As of the 2017 season, they are finally attempting (poorly) to put patients who need it in C-spine stabilization.

It quickly proved to be a solid show and, within the space of four years, has ''three'' spin offs: ''Series/ChicagoPD'' (debuted in 2014), ''Series/ChicagoMed'' (debuted in 2015), and ''Series/ChicagoJustice'' (debuted in 2017).

* TheNiedermeyer: Deputy Commissioner Gorsch in Season 7. When Gorsch was a candidate, Chief Boden gave him a bad performance review, recognizing rightly that this guy was a desk jockey, not a smoke eater. Gorsch then slimed his way up the ranks to a position where he could hover around the firehouse and try to drive Boden to quit -- and make everyone's life miserable in the effort.