Chicago Fire's Steamiest Moments Ranked
If you can't handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen — and Firehouse 51. The Truck and Squad team of "Chicago Fire" might fight fires on the streets, but they start plenty of their own in the sheets, to say nothing of the back room at Molly's bar.
Mrs. O'Leary's cow may have started the Great Chicago Fire by kicking over a lantern, but even she would be jealous of how certain moments on "Chicago Fire" pack such heat. Whether catching a case of burning love or just kissing with a fiery passion, Chicago's favorite firefighters haven't been able to keep their hands off each other for 11 seasons and counting.
Since the show's debut in 2012, couples can't stop making up, breaking up, and hooking up — both on and off the job. With a massive core cast, and constantly rotating guest stars, "Chicago Fire" has more potential for romantic tension than you can shake a stick at. Such moments inspired Mouch to write a firehouse romance novel, and us to order them from sweetest to most scorching. Grab a fan and read on for "Chicago Fire's" steamiest moments ranked.
12. Chloe and Cruz's cake pop-drop kiss
Sometimes the steamy moments on "Chicago Fire" come with a touch of sweetness. You can't get much sweeter than when Chloe (Kristen Gutoskie) and Cruz (Joe Minoso) share a cake pop engagement kiss in Season 8's "Buckle Up" — even if it did take a bit of a bitter meal to get to this just dessert.
After helping Lily deal with the crushing loss of Otis (may he rest in peace), Chloe is having "second thoughts" about getting engaged to Cruz. It isn't because she doesn't love him, she explains to Brett. It's because she loves him too much, and is too scared she won't be able to handle constantly wondering if firefighter Cruz will end up home in bed after work, or in a body bag.
After Brett gets Chloe's head back on straight by reminding her that Cruz is "one in a million," Chloe bakes about a million cake pops to surprise Cruz after his shift. He's relieved to see she's spelled out "ask me" in frosting on the cake pops, and pops the question to her right on the street. When she says yes, the artistry of the apology cake pops is forgotten. Joe lays a gorgeous kiss on her, and the sweet treats (like Chloe's cold feet) hit the bricks.
11. Erin Lindsay and Severide's paperweight passion
Detective Erin Lindsay (Sophia Bush) and Lieutenant Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) — ah, what might have been. This sweetly steamy moment between the two happens in a very special television event. Lindsay and Severide first turn each other's heads In "Chicago PD's" Season 1, Episode 10 crossover with "Chicago Fire," titled "At Least It's Justice."
It's a classic meet cute — Severide helps Lindsay identify a murder victim, then he steals her grenade paperweight so he has an excuse to return it at her apartment later that night. For a cop, Lindsay seems pleased as punch to have been robbed by this rascally firefighter. She and Severide exchange flirty banter and bedroom eyes, but alas, Lindsay has to work early the next day.
The pair share a sweet kiss, then an intense little hallway make-out sesh. While it will be another episode until they get super steamy on-screen and their relationship never quite blossoms, this steamy moment is a perfect demonstration of Lindsay and Severide's explosive chemistry.
10. Brettsey finally makes it happen
There's will-they, won't-they, and then there's Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer) and Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer). This firefighter and paramedic are a "Chicago Fire" match made in heaven — but one that took a couple of match strikes (and seasons) to finally catch fire.
After spending seasons exchanging longing looks and fumbling almost-connections, Casey and Brett finally get it together in Season 9's "No Survivors." The title of the episode is misleading because, at the very least, love survives — and the steam factor outright thrives. Casey admits to Brett that he isn't in love with Dawson anymore and that he's finally realized who he's in love with — Brett herself.
While that doesn't exactly sound romantic on paper, the moment is a long-awaited triumph. And the next moment, which involves tender caresses and passionate hair-pulling, is even more of a win for anyone aboard the great ship "Brettsey." Don't let the down-tempo background music fool you — this moment might be sweet, but it's way more steamy than sappy.
9. Dawson and Casey's one-night stand
There's a reason it took Brett and Casey forever and a day to get together, and her name is Gabriela Dawson (Monica Raymund). Back before "Brettsey" was even a glimmer in Dawson's eye, "Dawsey" was a smoking-hot couple. Then they were a couple beset by tragedy and despair. And then, for just one brief evening, Dawson and Brett got to be a smoking-hot couple again.
Dawson comes back to Chicago for a few days in "Best Friend Magic." And if you can suspend the emotional havoc a surprise visit from an ex can have on a person, let alone on viewers finally recovering from the heartbreak that plagued the end of Casey and Dawson's marriage, well — this reunion is super steamy.
After a ballroom dance scene that is loaded with "Bridgerton" levels of tension, Dawson and Casey get reacquainted in Dawson's hotel room with reckless abandon. In the midst of passion, the two pull away, considering how they're about to have a one-night stand with a long-time love. Dawson wonders if it's a mistake, since she's leaving in the morning — and while Casey admits he's staying, he also stands firm that it "doesn't make this a mistake." Swoon.
8. Hawkins and Violet's black-tie kiss
There are two things the gala in "Show of Force" is good for: Putting Chief Kilbourne in his place, and kissing. Severide and Kidd get a good smooch going in a hotel conference room overlooking the sparkling city at night — but that kiss is but a burnt Pop Tart compared to the smoke show first kiss between "Hawkami."
Paramedic Violet Mikami (Hanako Greensmith) and Paramedic Field Chief Evan Hawkins (Jimmy Nicholas) share an attraction when they first meet, which kicks into high gear after they save a newborn baby together. But both Violet and Hawkins have reservations about taking their attraction to the next level due to their professional hierarchy — as if following HR protocol ever stopped any couple on "Chicago Fire" before.
Hawkins even goes so far as to say that he and Violet need to keep their distance from one another. That lasts until the night of Violet's award gala. Once the coast is clear of the crooked Chief Kilbourne and the smooching "Stellaride," Violet and Hawkins can't keep their hands — or mouths — off of each other. While we pity whoever had to Windex away evidence of their up-against-the-windows tryst the next day, we cheer for Hawkami's commitment to steaminess.
7. Hawkins and Gallo's treadmill tryst
Perhaps you love the on-again, off-again dynamic of "Chicago Fire" paramedic Violet Hawkins and firefighter Blake Gallo (Alberto Rosende), perhaps you hate it. However viewers feel about "Hawko" or "Gallkami" (just workshopping ship names here), these two always feel some sort of way about each other — and it's usually both lusty and competitive.
They're never more thirsty for each other or obnoxiously competitive than in Season 8's "Where We End Up." Their respective teams have to spend the night in one station, and there's only one bed — pardon us, treadmill — to be had. That's right — the pair shift from trying to out-workout one another to trying to hook up with one another in a matter of moments, right there in the station gym.
Violet and Gallo are in fine form sassing each other and then locking the doors so they can take full advantage of the facilities with one another. The end result is a super steamy moment that means both of these players take home a win — and hopefully take some disinfectant to that equipment. They bring all new meaning to the phrase "working up a sweat."
6. A crossover kiss between April and Severide
Lieutenant Kelly Severide has history with plenty of his present-day love interests, but no roots run quite as deep as they do with Nurse April Sexton (Yaya DaCosta). April and Severide enjoyed a chaste relationship back when they were both teens — and both feel the need to make up for a little lost time together before April heads on her post-grenade-attack trip around the world in Season 3's "You Know Where to Find Me."
After first taking a pass on dinner with Severide to pack, April changes her mind — and her outfit — then shows up at Severide's door. Severide is already taken by surprise by this sight for sore eyes, but he goes into the steam stratosphere when April tells him how she used to fake being scared of lightning around him because she was curious how close she could get to him.
The two scratch an old itch with a hot kiss that leads to a striptease and so much more. It's rare that Severide gets to meet his match in most of his romantic exploits — Stella Kidd notwithstanding — so it's extra hot to watch him with someone who knows him to the bone, and can really give him a run for his romantically-charged money. While the relationship doesn't blossom into anything more lasting, maybe that's for the best — we're not sure Severide could keep up with this firecracker, however much he might want to.
5. Severide and Nikki hook up in a supply closet
Before "Stellaride" was ride or die, Lieutenant Kelly Severide kept his dance card full — and by dance card, we mean "hook up in the gear closet at work" card. Season 1's "Professional Courtesy" puts Severide's professionalism to the test. While he definitely fails, he wins in the steamy smooch department. His kissing partner in crime is Nikki Rutkowski (Meghann Fahy), a beautiful new payroll clerk at the Firehouse — and the daughter of a friend of Chief Boden's.
Boden (Eamonn Walker) doesn't want Severide to get up to any funny business with the new hire, and Nikki's dad doesn't want her fraternizing with any firefighters. Of course, this means that by the episode's end, Severide and Nikki have made out in a gear closet during working hours at least twice.
While Severide initially tries to keep his distance, Nikki works on closing the gap between them. Nikki clearly has a thing for firefighters, and Severide has a thing for women who have a thing for him. He is helpless to resist Nikki, and the two hook up mere steps away from their crew. All hail the sound-absorbing qualities of a closet full of flame-resistant fabric, even while Nikki and Severide's chemistry does its best to burn it all down.
4. Mills and Dawson have a steamy anatomy lesson
While Severide, Casey, and Otis all captured audiences' attention in one way or another, Peter Mills (Charlie Barnett) was the secret steamy king of Seasons 1 through 3.
Mills is deeply into Dawson, even if she's torn between two interests. While any sort of long-lasting relationship between the two characters is doomed — the ship name everyone knows is "Dawsey," not "Mawson," after all — the energy and connection between them is undeniable. In Season 1's "God Has Spoken," the pair turn an anatomy study session into a lesson on chemistry.
The steamy moment starts out innocently enough, with Mills encouraging Dawson not to give up on her dreams of going to med school, after she admits that sometimes she can't remember the names of all the bones in the body. Mills gives her a pop quiz, and gets her flustered somewhere between the sternum and the coastal margin. The resulting make-out session is a fantasy straight out of study hall — and the steam factor passes with flying colors.
3. Dawson and Casey's big kiss
After a rough relationship rollercoaster in Season 1, "Chicago Fire's" Dawson and Casey finally get their acts together — and viewers hot under the collar — in Season 2's "Rhymes With Shout." This episode packs in a lot of "Chicago P.D." crossover, as well as a whole lot of PDA. (Even though most of the kissing happens indoors, we're counting it as PDA because it technically starts in a doorway.)
The episode begins with Casey timidly inviting Dawson to hang out one-on-one. Dawson, hesitant because of everything that happened in Season 1, politely passes. But by the episode's end, she's resolved to go see Casey. She gets dressed up, puts lipstick on, and opens the door — where she's shocked to discover Casey is on her doorstep already, staring at her with desperate longing. Of course, Dawson stares back with a hunger to match.
The two finally break their tension, not with words, but with a powerful kiss that never seems to end. Dawson is so caught up in Casey, that she doesn't even take the keys out of her hand when she grabs his neck. Casey kisses Dawson's lipstick right off her mouth, and the episode ends with a very steamy new beginning.
2. Severide and Kidd's big bar kiss
There are so many steamy moments between Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) and Severide, they could fill their own list. But we have two here that really take the cake. The first comes in "The Chance to Forgive." Kidd and Severide have a history together, sure, but it's the intense friendship they've developed since Kidd joined the Firehouse that has both of them frustrated.
For Kidd, it's because Severide is never straight with her about his feelings. For Severide, it's because he can't handle or articulate just how deeply he feels for Kidd. After trying (and failing) to get Severide to open up about whatever's going on between them, as well as the many traumas they endure both personally and professionally, Kidd focuses on doing bar inventory at Molly's. But Severide shows up to throw a very steamy wrench in her plans.
Severide asks Kidd to grab a bite, but turns to leave when she can't. Kidd says she knows "communication isn't your first language," but gently demands some answers. She gets them in the form of Severide laying a deep kiss on her. The two make out passionately in the middle of the closed bar — and then right on top of it.
1. Stellaride in the cabin of redemption
Despite their deep connection and scorching attraction, Kidd and Severide don't always see eye to eye. Especially when either of them is in full-on angst mode, however deservedly so. By Seasons 6 and 7 of "Chicago Fire," Severide has seen his share of loss — and when his dad, Benny, dies, he definitely blames himself for it. Which, you know, puts a bit of a damper on the romantic side of life.
Kidd and Severide generally give each other some space, but reconnect when they work on one of Benny's old arson cases in Season 7's "I'm Not Leaving You." Still, Kidd is concerned about how withdrawn Severide is when he isn't obsessively trying to solve his dead dad's old cases. When she loses track of him at Molly's, she immediately leaves her shift to find Severide up at the cabin.
Severide has been doing more reflecting than angsting, however, and he vows to be the kind of man she deserves. Making a genuine promise to be a better person acts as an instant aphrodisiac, and the two share a powerful kiss. Their reunion goes from deeply connected to sky-high steamy when they move the action into the cabin. Kidd and Severide are out of the frying pan and into the fire now, literally — as "Stellaride" is reborn in flames.