Firehouse 51 might not have a chief in-house any longer, but it seems the Chicago Fire writers are looking to use this to their advantage. The second episode of the season introduced Chief Lowen, who came by the firehouse to evaluate Kidd and the firefighter candidates, and the third episode is about to introduce yet another new chief.
Cast listings for Chicago Fire season 15, episode 3, “Take the Hit,” confirm Desperate Housewives star Doug Savant has joined the cast as Chief Tomlin. Savant played the laid-back, fun-loving Tom Scavo on the ABC primetime soap, making his character a fan favorite among viewers across the show’s eight-season run, though we imagine the circumstances his Chicago Fire character will be introduced under won’t allow for too many similarities between the characters.
While NBC has kept the details surrounding Chief Tomlin’s arrival under wraps, it appears that he will be involved in the episode’s core storyline, which will see a mistake in the field landing one firefighter in the hospital. As is often the case when a firefighter is injured in the line of duty, a formal investigation is opened, and it seems that Chief Tomlin will be the one overseeing the investigation, which will likely put him in an antagonist role as he works to get to the bottom of what happened and hold the individual responsible for the mistake accountable.
At the heart of this investigation will be Kidd’s four probationary firefighters, with one of the four candidates looking like the culprit for the mishap. In the promo for the episode, we see Kidd confront the four candidates about pulling a valve at the scene, which seems to be the catalyst for landing someone in the hospital.
We imagine Chief Tomlin is going to be putting pressure on Kidd to get to the bottom of what happened, and it’s clear she is set on getting those answers. What will be really interesting is to see what consequences the guilty individual will face and also whether there will be blowback on Kidd as their training officer. Hopefully, Chief Tomlin is fair and shows grace, but we’ve seen these types of investigations can often turn south as the CFD holds its firefighters to high standards, and this could cost the responsible party their place in the CFD or, at the very least, result in them being bumped to the floater pool.
It’s certainly going to be interesting to see how the story plays out and whether Savant’s guest appearance will be a one-off or if we might see Chief Tomlin pop up again down the line. It’s clear that Chicago Fire is having fun bringing in new chiefs to shake things up now that there is no permanent chief working out of Firehouse 51, and we're enjoying the influx of new faces. Hopefully Savant's Chief Tomlin will be more of a friend than a foe, and the show will give us reason to want to see him back in action, but even if he ends up being an adversary, it's always fun when the show gives us someone new to root against.
Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
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