The Burning Question That Some Chicago Fire Fans Need Answered

"Chicago Fire" has been known to have some pretty extraordinary rescue scenes. In Season 3, Episode 8 ("Chopper") involved a helicopter crash that kept viewers on the edge of their seats as the pilot and passengers are forced to hold still as the helicopter sat precariously on the edge of a rooftop. The Baptist Retirement Home in the Maywood neighborhood was used as the location, with the crew landscaping the front of the building with flowers, trees, and even new grass to make it look more like the apartment building it was said to be in the episode. "It's never looked so good," a nearby resident said about the beautification (via Village Free Press).

"Chicago Fire" often goes to painstaking detail to make their accident and rescue scenes look as real as possible — so real that when they were filming a scene involving an airplane crash in Season 1, a local news station started reporting on the incident. The cast also gets excited about being challenged by the rescue scenes, with Joe Minoso, who plays Joe Cruz, telling NBC Insider that his favorite scene involved the squad having to rescue themselves when they were trapped under a boat on Lake Michigan in Season 9, Episode 16 ("No Survivors"). "Going in I had no idea what scuba diving was like," Minoso said. "And by the end of it, it was just the most thrilling experience that we ever got to do."

With how enthralled "Chicago Fire" fans are with the intense scenes in the show, it makes sense that they have even more burning questions.

On a "Chicago Fire" Subreddit, MaisieStarkHere asked "How are the rescue scenes shot in "Chicago Fire"? I have searched a lot for some BTS [behind the scenes] details on how the outdoor rescue operations shot, but couldn't find any. Those are really interesting. Really interested to know more about them." Cinematographer Jayson Crothers told American Cinematographer that outdoor fires are shot on location, but anything that's inside is shot in the Cinespace Chicago Film Studios' "Burn Stage."

A 50-foot technocrane is used in most outdoor scenes that require the camera to look down at a dramatic situation. Close-up shots usually use a handheld camera or a truck with a camera attached for moving shots (via Director's Guild of America). But many outdoor rescue scenes are actually shot in two different locations — on scene, and on a set created on the "Chicago Fire" stages.

In Season 10, Episode 3, a teenager — Grace — falls down a sewer drain, which is one example. "On our stage, our #ChicagoFire team built a 20ft storm drain hole set with 4ft wild sections; debris/trash in flowing water," Wolf Entertainment tweeted. "We had a bicycle support seat for Grace and SPFX had feeder pipes dripping water!" So while it appeared to the audience Joe Cruz and Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) were actually crawling down into the sewer, it was a creation that had been built on their stages. The scene was just one of many great example of "Chicago Fire" striving for as much realism as possible in their rescue scenes.