Christopher Herrmann is a pillar on Chicago Fire. It’s hard to imagine the show without him, because the show has never been without him. He provides stability and bravery on the job, and he provides drinks afterwards at Molly’s Pub.
Herrmann, played by David Eigenberg, has been providing this stability for decades. The character has been a part of Firehouse 51 longer than anybody else on the show, since Chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker) has left. With this in mind, some fans may be curious as to what rank the character has. Especially since it looked like he was going to step into the role of chief for a hot second.
Herrmann has been a lieutenant since season 7
Herrmann is a lieutenant. He was introduced as a senior firefigther in the Chicago Fire pilot, but he already had eyes on advancing his career at that point. He tried, and failed, multiple times, to attain the rank of lieutenant. He finally passed the exam in season 2 (after a whopping five attempts).
Interestingly enough, Herrmann’s lieutenant status took a while to kick in. The character wasn’t fully recognized as a lieutenant until the season 7 episode “Thirty Percent Sleight of Hand.” Given that his promotion didn’t come about until the retirement of lieutenant George Didrikson (Torrey Hanson), we can ascertain that Chief Boden was simply waiting for a 51 spot to open up.
The character wasn’t qualified to become 51 chief
Herrmann has remained a lieutenant since. The next step up is captain, which is something that David Eigenberg noted during a recent TV Insider interview. While he would have liked to have seen Boden pass the mantle of chief onto Herrmann, he admitted that it wouldn’t have made sense.
“The character can’t make a shift to a chief unless we were deep into TV falsehoods,” he noted. “He has to become a captain, and then you got to go through a whole thing. I think that the character might be able to make the transition.” It’s a valid point, and a reminder that Chicago Fire does an exemplary job of adhering to real life firehouse practices.
Here’s hoping Herrmann advances his career in season 13.
