One Chicago questions of the week: Week of March 13

4. When will Firehouse 51 Investigations open its doors?

Also in the Chicago Fire episode “Hiding Not Seeking”, we were introduced to the investigative team of Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) and Chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker). While Chicago PD analyzed the contents of the C4 dealer’s computer for clues, and the Office of Fire Investigations scrutinized the physical evidence that Severide had already covered pretty well, it was Boden who did the real critical thinking that cracked the case.

Boden took the tidbit of information he gleaned from Intelligence about how a serial bomber might escalate, and mulled it over with Severide to come to the logical and invaluable conclusion that the bomber would have needed someplace to build and practice with his devices. And since we all know that practice is a process of trial and error, it was likely that there might have been some mistakes along the way that necessitated an emergency response.

Off to OFI Severide and Boden went, to try to identify any fire calls to the possible “practice house,” and it didn’t take long for them to isolate calls within a couple of miles of the suspect’s home. PD could also link the suspect to those calls with some evidence from the computer forensics, so this turned out to be the most important piece of evidence to stopping the bomber and identifying who the next intended victim was.

This isn’t the first time that Firehouse 51 has gone above and beyond, and been the key to breaking cases. Tracking down Leslie Shay’s murderer was largely the result of the dogged determination of Severide after OFI stopped the investigation. Matthew Casey’s (Jesse Spencer) critical thinking broke open an embezzling scandal involving a city Alderman.

And just this season, Severide and Casey were suspicious enough to do some digging and discovered the truth behind Hope Jacquinot’s (Eloise Mumford) scheming to get Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) reassigned from the firehouse to public relations.

If Boden and company ever tire of being trapped in, blown off of or taking control of burning buildings, we can see a bright future for them as Chicago’s next premier private detective agency.