Brandon Larracuente Talks Chicago Fire and What to Expect from Sal Vasquez

Chicago Fire fans are only just beginning to get to know Sal Vasquez, the newest firefighter to join Firehouse 51. Vasquez is played by Brandon Larracuente, who hints that learning more about the character’s backstory will be something to look forward to this season.

I recently had the chance to chat with Larracuente about what it was like joining the cast of Chicago Fire, what he likes most about his character, and what we can look forward to from Sal Vasquez.

“My favorite thing about Sal has to be the fact that he holds things a little close to the vest. And he might not give you his whole heart at first, but he’ll give you his full effort,” Larracuente said of his character.

“As far as firefighting, he wants to be the best, and everything he does is to make sure that him and his team, his peers, are safe and they get out of there alive,” he added. “I love that about him.”

“What [the writers] pitched me as far as who Sal is, where he comes from, and what they wanted to see as far as his progression throughout the season — it was something really cool for me to sink my teeth into, something different that I hadn’t done before. I mean, I’ve never played a firefighter. I’ve played a cop, I’ve played a doctor, but never a firefighter, so it’s different. It’s a challenge, but it’s one that I welcome with open arms.”

Larracuente also suggested that there’s more to Vasquez than meets the eye, comparing the character to an onion with many layers.

“Some might argue he’s misunderstood, but Andrea [Newman] and the rest of the team do a really good job at — because we have a long runway to do so — slowly unraveling the layers of Vasquez as each episode progresses.”

“So, for me, I always compare it to this, and my wife makes fun of me, but he’s an onion. He’s an onion that takes time to unravel the layers, and the more you get to know him, the more you get to understand him and actually have some appreciation and understanding for him.”

Moving forward, Larracuente said we’ll start to learn more about Sal as we find out more about his close peers. He referenced the interaction we saw on Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 2 with Officer Girardi, whom Vasquez knew from his days in the police academy.

From there, the show has begun to reveal details about Vasquez’s father as well.

“You start to dive into his family world, and I won’t ruin who it is just yet, but once you start to learn about where he comes from, it opens up a whole other can of worms,” Larracuente hinted. “So I’m excited for that.”

In terms of the team at Firehouse 51, Larracuente said he’s interested to see how his character will connect with Lizzie Novak, in particular.

“Whether it turns into something [romantic], or just a friendship, or someone he can lean on, I love the fact that she kind of extended an olive branch to him, saying, ‘Hey, I was in your position a few years ago. I know what it feels like.'”

“I think it was really admirable of her character,” Larracuente noted. “I’m really curious to see where that goes. I only get to read the episodes myself as they come out, so I don’t even know myself where it’s gonna go, later down the line, but right now I feel like it has room for growth, definitely.”

Larracuente also shared that this is his first time in Chicago, and the cast has been helping him integrate into the city.

“They’ve done a really nice job just making me feel welcome. Because, of course, I had nerves. You know, you want to do your best work, especially when you’re joining a show that has legs like this one does,” he said. “But they really welcomed me with open arms.”

While Larracuente is new to Chicago and Chicago Fire, he’s not new to working on a Dick Wolf series. Previously, he played Alex Diaz on the Prime Video series On Call.

“It was nice, because I got to use some of the tools that I learned for On Call, and I got to integrate them into this show, being that Sal has a police background,” he explained. “But at the same time, I was tapping into a whole new world of firefighting that I had no idea — no prior experience [in]. Both of my parents are retired law enforcement, so for On Call, I had that in my back pocket.”

However, he had plenty of resources to help him train to play the role of a firefighter.

“What’s really nice is that we have a couple of FSOs, which are basically firefighters who are active duty, or some retired, and I just love to pick their brains. I even went to a firehouse here in Chicago, Squad 2, and I got to visit them and spend the whole day with them. One of our actors, Tony Ferraris, who I love dearly, he helped set that up,” Larracuente said. “I was just a sponge trying to absorb as much as I could before I stepped on set.”

One of the most interesting things Larracuente said he’s learned so far while filming Chicago Fire has to do with how they film the actual fire scenes. He said all the fires are “practical,” which he was told about ahead of time by Brenna Malloy, a director for On Call. “She actually started out directing on [Chicago] Fire, so she kind of gave me the scoop on everything.”

“Any time that we have an interior fire — let’s say we respond to a fire and we’re going inside of a home — that’s all done on a controlled environment on a sound stage,” Larracuente explained. “We call those burn stage days.”

“I had my first burn stage day a couple of weeks ago, and it was grueling, it was exciting, all at the same time. It felt like you were inside a casino because you walk in there at six in the morning and you leave when it’s dark out as well. You don’t know what time it is, but it’s so interesting how they do it and what the production design team creates as well. They really replicate the entire home on the inside.”

“I mean, there’s no acting involved,” he continued. “They do such a good job of making you just live in the world, that all you have to do is be present, and the rest will handle itself. So that was the most fascinating thing to me.”

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Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

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