Picking up right where the Chicago Fire season 14 fall finale left off, the winter premiere opens with Severide and Van Meter showing the principal comments from social media as Severide notices a person in a hoodie walking away from the building outside.
Kidd calls Severide to give him an update on Isaiah’s mom, but he sends it to voicemail as he and Van Meter hear smoke alarms going off from the stairs. Severide opens the door to find fire engulfing the stairs as well as the back stairs. He and Van Meter begin using bedsheets to make a harness and rope to rappel down from the apartment.
They secure the harness to the principal and then secure the other part to the bed frame as he climbs out the window to safety. Van Meter begins to collapse as a ball of flame comes in and injures his shoulder. Severide sends Van Meter out next before following him out the window. Van Meter sends the principal with a good Samaritan to the hospital before collapsing as the ambulance arrives at the scene.
At the hospital, Severide calls Kidd to let her know what happened and she fills Isaiah in, who quickly chimes in that he’ll pack his bags.
We cut to Severide at Med getting checked out as he goes down the hall to Van Meter’s room. Archer comes in and tells Severide the next few hours will be critical as if Van Meter’s oxygen levels don’t stabilize soon, he might not make it through the night. After an undisclosed time jump, Kidd and Isaiah arrive at the hospital and Severide informs them that things are still touch-and-go. Severide notices Detective Gerard arrive and he notifies him that PD is here to help with the case as Severide brings him up to speed on the online hate group.
Detective Gerard shows up at the hospital with the name of the creator of the Facebook group. Severide and Gerald ask the principal about the student, Lily, who made the page, but he’s never had any direct run-ins with her. As they prepare to leave, Archer pulls Severide aside and tells him they had to put Van Meter in a medically induced coma. Severide is worried that Van Meter won’t come out of the coma and takes a tear-filled moment as he assures him he’ll find who did this to him and will make them pay.
Severide and Detective Gerard go to interview Lily and question why she made the Facebook page. She says she barely knew him, but it was fun to watch people vent. They ask Lily where she was the night the fire was set as Lily's mom tries to shut things down as Lily says she was home in her room watching videos. The mom chimes in that she was home. The mom asks about Lily taking the page down to put things behind them, but Severide tells them to keep the page up to keep monitoring.
As Severide continues to investigate the case, Kidd informs him that she and Isaiah have a Zoom call with his mom’s care team and it sounds like good news. She lets him know she has it handled as he assures her he wants to be there, just then a video is posted to the page the night of the fire by a Malcolm and he heads out to chase the lead.
Severide and Detective Gerard go to the apartment looking for Malcolm. They notice that he’s fled down the fire escape and follow after him. Severide notices him climbing to the roof above and chases after him. He finds the kid on the roof and Severide says they know he didn’t start the fire.
Kidd and Isaiah prepare for the Zoom and it becomes clear Severide isn’t going to make it. But Isaiah is understanding, knowing he can’t take breaks and needs to find the guy who did this to Van Meter.
Severide and Detective Gerard question Malcolm about what he saw. The kid confesses to posting the video for clout and he walks them through where the arsonist was fleeing. Severide realizes their original suspect, Wyatt, lives on the street the arsonist was seen fleeing. Severide notices in Van Meter’s notes there was a possible pattern of behavior and wonders if Lily went to Wyatt’s home after setting the fire. While she wasn’t at home, Detective Gerard found photos that proved that Lily wasn’t at home, but also isn’t the arsonist. He gives Severide a list of IP addresses and walks him through some of the anonymous users. Severide realizes that while Wyatt has an airtight alibi, his father doesn’t.
As the episode ends, Severide and Detective Gerard bring in Wyatt’s dad for questioning. They tell him about the second IP from their house, Wyatt’s dad pushes Severide’s buttons and he loses it in the interrogation getting sent out. The officer tells Severide he’s off the case, and the episode ends with the story unresolved with no arrest made and Van Meter’s life hanging in the balance.
Pascal and Mouch fight to save Mouch’s job in the CFD
After learning that Engine 51 is going to be decommissioned, Pascal wants to jump into action to save Engine 51, but Annette tells him it’s already in motion.
Not wanting Mouch to be left in the dark, Pascal calls Mouch into his office and informs him that he’s learned that the CFD wants to decommission Engine 51. Mouch is confused about the idea as Pascal assures him he’ll fight. Pascal says he worries that with all the cuts, the CFD isn’t likely to find a place for him at another house.
Mouch meets with the union rep, who informs him that the city has found a loophole to make the budget cuts fit as just cause. He tells him there is another way he could go about things, just not through the union, as he asks him about the Civil Service Commission.
Pascal meets with the chief who made him take in Vasquez and tries to use it as a bargaining chip, but he tells Pascal that call came from someone above his pay grade. He then tells Pascal that the CFD didn’t pick the rigs to decommission: it was a request from the mayor’s office.
As Pascal chases the lead, Herrmann goes to see Mouch and asks him why he’s going over old performance reviews. Mouch tells him about the CFD wanting to decommission Engine 51 and let him go. Mouch says Pascal is looking into an angle, but Mouch is reading old performance reviews to make an appeal to the Civil Service Commission board and Herrmann jumps in to help.
After being informed that it was the mayor’s office who made the decision to decommission Engine 51, Pascal heads down to City Hall and confronts Annette. He questions why she lied to him, and she mentions there were a number of rigs on the chopping block. She asks what if he could fight for the entire CFD as she sees a future for him beyond battalion chief. He says they could do a lot together, but not at the expense of his people. She asks him to think about what she said as she leaves.