Chicago Fire Season 15 premiere sees [spoiler] receive a devastating career setback - Episode 1 recap inside

Chicago Fire Season 15 Episode 1, titled New Blood, aired on NBC on October 7. The platform's beloved firefighter procedural returned with another season, which picked up in the aftermath of the warehouse fire in the Season 14 finale.

According to One Chicago Center, the Season 15 premiere quickly confirmed that all members of Firehouse 51 managed to survive the fire. But Cruz suffered a major injury to his spine, hinting that he might never be a firefighter again.

Elsewhere, Chicago Fire Season 15 Episode 1 welcomed a bunch of new probies to Firehouse 51 and revealed that Severide had accepted the Captain position. His first task was clearing Cruz's name in the investigation, which blamed him for two deaths in the warehouse fire.

Here is the complete recap.

Chicago Fire Season 15 Episode 1 recap: Cruz suffers a major injury

The Chicago Fire Season 15 premiere jumped right back into action with the warehouse fire. While Pascal advised Kidd to wait for the backup team, she entered the building with Vasquez to help free Tony, Severide, Mouch, and Capp. With two groups secured, Kidd, Herrmann, and Severide moved inside the building to rescue Cruz and a bunch of trapped civilians. Cruz cleared the debris and ordered Herrmann to take them to safety. In the meantime, Cruz made his way to the last two remaining victims, who were passed out from the smoke under debris. While Herrmann offered help, Cruz decided to help them alone.

Things took a turn in Chicago Fire Season 15 Episode 1 when the ceiling crashed just as Cruz was about to enter the space in the wall. While the victims perished under the debris, the roof pinned Cruz and badly injured his spine.

Things looked grim for Cruz when Dr. Archer asked him to lift his left leg at Gaffney, but he was unable to. Dr. Archer suggested doing an MRI scan and waiting for the results.

Cruz is blamed for the victims' deaths in Chicago Fire Season 15 Episode 1

Herrmann felt responsible for Cruz's condition. Severide and the others showed up at Cruz's house to install a wheelchair, but Herrmann intentionally skipped, which caught Mouch's attention. He advised Herrmann not to blame himself and to visit Cruz at the hospital.

While things were tough for Cruz at the hospital in Chicago Fire Season 15 Episode 1, a reporter named Jacob from The Telegraph was writing a piece about the warehouse fire. After Severide dodged his calls, Jacob showed up at the warehouse, suggesting he had a reliable source and demanded answers about the civilians' deaths. After things got heated, he left a questionnaire. It turns out Violet went to high school with Jacob, who was just trying to get closure for the victims' families.

Severide visited Cruz at the hospital and showed him Jacob's questionnaire and pointed out how all the questions subtly blame him for the victims' deaths. Determined to clear his name, Severide returned to the fire site to retrace Cruz's steps on the fateful day.

Chicago Fire Season 15 Episode 1 ended on a bittersweet note

The team was shocked when Jacob's article blamed CFD for a cover-up and mentioned a report that proves the collapse was caused by a wall breach, indirectly blaming Cruz. After Violet managed to get a copy of the report from Jacob in Chicago Fire Season 15 Episode 1, Severide used it to clear Cruz's name. With time running out and CFD suggesting Cruz's termination, Severide involved Pascal and used the original infrastructure plans (from Jacob's report) to prove Cruz's innocence. It turns out there was a hole in the beam, which proved that the collapse was caused by the fire and not Cruz.

In the final moments of Chicago Fire Season 15 Episode 1, Herrmann finally visited Cruz in the hospital. Cruz's MRI test results were back and showed that he had only a fraction of healthy tissue left, suggesting he might never be able to fight fires again.

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You can stream the episode on Peacock.

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