What does the goat crest mean on Chicago Fire?
What’s with the goat? There are tons of different mascots that have been used to represent sports teams and various organizations over the years, and Chicago Fire is no stranger to the trend. The Windy City has Cubs, Bears, Bulls and White Sox logos spread throughout, but the Firehouse 51 goat is a bit of a head scratcher.
A goat is not the most menacing mascot, and it’s hard to imagine a direct correlation between a goat and what firefighters do for a living. There have been lots of theories over the year as to why a goat adorns the Firehouse 51 mantle, but we’re here to set the record straight.
What is the meaning of the Chicago Fire goat crest?
Some of the aforementioned theories have to do with superstition and myth. The NBC store posits that it may have stemmed from the first emergency that fire squad ever responded to was a blaze at a nearby goat farm. Another popular theory is that goats were kept around during the early 51 days so that firefighters didn’t have to waste time mowing the grass.
While these are certainly plausible (the former more than the latter), the truth of the matter is that the mascot was inspired by a character and not an animal. That character is Billy Bukanski, who is the first captain of Firehouse 51 in the world of the show.
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The legendary status of Bukanski has been confirmed by Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker), who had a short but memorable exchange with Otis (Yuri Sartarov) on the subject. When Otis asked about the goat crest and why other firehouses had “cooler” ones, Boden revealed that the crest was meant to honor Bukanski, who went by the nickname “Goat” and who was a mentor to Boden when he first started out.
Needless to say, Otis retracted his complaint right away (“Just forget I said anything.”) So there you have it, the story of the Firehouse 51 goat crest and why it’s so important to the characters in the world of the show.
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