From the very beginning, Mouch has been a crucial part of the DNA of Chicago Fire. Mouch might have entered our lives as a character who obtained his nickname due to his love for passing the time between calls on the couch watching TV – Mouch (noun): half-man, half-couch – but over the years he evolved into so much more.
We’ve watched Mouch go on quite a journey over the course of Chicago Fire’s run, with season 13 bringing about one of the character’s biggest career moves yet. Looking to finally rise through the ranks, Mouch pushed himself to complete the needed courses and passed his lieutenant’s exam, achieving his dream by becoming the lieutenant of Engine 51.
As season 14 arrived, Mouch began settling into his new role which came with some growing pains as he adjusted to a leadership position in the firehouse. Sadly, his time as a lieutenant of Engine 51 came to an abrupt end.
Engine 51 was decommissioned resulting in Mouch leaving Firehouse 51
In the Chicago Fire season 14 fall finale, Chief Pascal was made aware that the CFD was forced to make additional cuts to its budget which would impact several engine companies within the CFD. Among the engines on the list to be decommissioned was Engine 51, the same engine that Mouch had been promoted to oversee as lieutenant.
Upon learning the news, Chief Pascal worked as hard as he could to fight back and quickly shared the news with Mouch. This gave Mouch the chance to fight for his job within the CFD as Pascal chased down possible leads on his end as well.
With help from the media, Mouch was able to get his story out there and the story created enough buzz that it saved his job within the CFD. What the story did not do was save Engine 51. The CFD proceeded with the decommissioning of Engine 51 which meant there was no longer a place for Mouch at Firehouse 51.
As we learned in season 14, episode 9, Mouch was set to be transferred to Firehouse 40. This brought about an end to his time at Firehouse 51 and has kept Mouch off the screen for a few episodes. The good news is that he still has a job within the CFD. The bad news is that he's just no longer has a job at Firehouse 51 due to the budget cuts.
The hope is that Mouch will return to Firehouse 51 before the season’s end, but it doesn’t look like Mouch will be brought back to Firehouse 51 any time soon. But fear not! While Mouch might not be working at Firehouse 51, we'll still get to see him in the show as Christian Stolte is not going anywhere! He's still part of the cast and will continue to appear on the show, just in a unique capacity now that Mouch is not working out of Firehouse 51 alongside his friends and colleagues.