LA Fire & Rescue Season 1 Episode 5 Review: Fire is in the Blood

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, LA Fire & Rescue being covered here wouldn’t exist.

LA Fire & Rescue Season 1 Episode 5, “Fire is in the Blood,” continues to expand on the father/son relationship of Dan and Jeff Olivas. The language that Dan uses when discussing his son’s future, as well as his own, is riddled with clues that he will be retiring sooner than later.

Reflectively, this episode introduces us to Siene Freeman at Claremont, Station 101, who has a familial reason behind her choice to join as well. This ties in beautifully with the emotions running high between the Olivas’ in a way that pulls viewers in to care about yet another firehouse in LA County.

While these stories and experiences are overall positive, we do get to see a more disastrous side to the job with Inglewood, Station 172. It isn’t often that this docuseries even gives focus on the bad outcomes, so it’s refreshing to see the matter discussed at length during “Fire Is in the Blood”

Family — The Ties That Bind

Ultimately, what LA Fire & Rescue aims to teach us is the connection of family. Being a firefighter is more than putting out fires, there is also loyalty and love that forms when you trust each other with your lives on the line.

This comes out the strongest out of all the episodes, even more so than LA Fire & Rescue Season 1 Episode 6, “Three Alarm.” That episode dives deep into how Station 16 is there for Paco Lomeli in big ways. 

This time around the familial bond comes out extremely strong through Olivas and his son. In fact, Olivas is seen crying with pride and joy on several occasions when talking about passing the baton down. 

Having the heart to show both men and women expressing emotion and care for one another is what makes this docuseries truly stand out among the crowd. It isn’t often that men are allowed or even encouraged to show all their layers, not just their strong, sturdy sides.

We also get another dose of family strength with the introduction of Siene Freeman, the paramedic at Claremont. She is who she is because of her sister’s death — which inspired her to take on the challenge of being a part of the LACoFD.

This female firefighter shows us all that firefighting isn’t a gendered role and it never should have been. Being a firefighter and a paramedic has allowed Freeman to give back a bit of the solace and comfort paramedics gave her family when her sister passed away.

There is something so relatable about pursuing a career because family circumstances have led you there. It doesn’t have to be just firefighting where this happens — in fact, it happens everywhere.

Freeman has the opportunity to bring a smile to difficult, sometimes scary situations and she knows that skill comes from her sister. That loss drives her to ensure her fire family has a chill, laid-back place they can rely on when calls go bad. 

There is strength in a chosen family, and Freeman and her fellow firefighters at Station 101 are a testament to that.

Sometimes You Try Your Best and Still Lose

Inglewood or Station 172 is another testament to how the strength of fire family can get you through even your worst days. These guys get called to a possible gang shooting and work their hardest at saving the victims.

Unfortunately, they lose one of the young men on the way to the hospital, and it’s something they all have feelings about.

Going back to what I said earlier, LA Fire & Rescue stands out because it chronicles men being less than when times get tough. It also shows these same men banding together to ensure they talk it out instead of bottling it all up.

Losing a patient can’t be easy and to see them all sit down and talk about how they wish they could’ve done more is beautiful. And then their captain tells them that they all did a great job and couldn’t have done anymore which is so reassuring. 

These guys all grew up in situations where their own lives could’ve made a turn toward gangs or trouble, but they were all given an opportunity to do good.

They all acknowledge that their role in the community is crucial toward keeping more of the young people around them out of dangerous situations and into ones where they too can change lives. 

Seeing all of this transpire through natural reaction to difficult calls proves that LACoFD firefighters are some of the greatest heroes in this country. They witness so many things from day to day and still manage to get back out there tomorrow to do it all over again.

 

What did you think of this episode of LA Fire & Rescue? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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LA Fire & Rescue airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC.

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