How old is Christopher Herrmann on Chicago Fire?

Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) is the resident veteran of Chicago Fire. He’s been on the job for longer than anyone but Mouch (Christian Stolte), and he always seems to have a useful bit of advice for the younger 51 members.

Being that Herrmann is the senior member of the team, however, there’s been some speculation about the character’s age, and whether retirement is coming up on the horizon in season 12. Chicago Fire has done a good job of stating his age directly, but we do have some clues that we can utilize to back track and find out just old he is.

Here’s what we know.

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Interestingly, most of the clues we’ve gotten about Herrmann’s age is through Mouch. During an early season, Herrmann goes to Mouch for dating advice, and its acknowledged that the two men are the same age. With this in mind, we can jump to a more recent statement from actor Christian Stolte, who said that Mouch will be turning 61 in season 12.

We can then infer that Herrmann is currently 60 years old, and will be turning 61 not long after (or before) his firefighting buddy. This makes Herrmann slightly older than his offscreen counterpart, David Eigenberg, who is 59, but the discrepancy is so minor that it doesn’t matter much.

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Generally, writers will try to match the age of the character to the actor playing them, but its clear that they wanted there to be an established bond between Herrmann and Mouch early on, so they made the executive decision to line their ages up. It worked in the moment, and it works for the show as a whole.

Of course, with Herrmann turning 61, the concept of retirement isn’t too far off. The general age of retirement for Chicago firefighters is 55 years old, but if some feel physically and mentally capable of carrying on, they can go until 63 (the mandatory retirement age).

Thankfully, Herrmann and Mouch (assuming he survives getting shot in the season 11 finale) have a few years before the Chicago Fire writers will have to figure out how to navigate the retirement issue.

What did you think of the Chicago Fire season 11 finale? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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