‘Chicago Fire’: Joe Miñoso Teases Cruz as Lieutenant When Firefighter Is Hurt

Chicago Fire‘s Joe Cruz (Joe Miñoso), first the driver of Truck 81 and now part of Rescue Squad 3, hasn’t had an easy life, but he always did a stalwart job as a firefighter. A good man raised in a tough neighborhood, early in the show, he let a gang leader die in a fire, in order to save his younger brother’s life, and was wracked with guilt, but his boss Lt. Casey (Jesse Spencer) refused to fire him.

Cruz has been an acting lieutenant several times on both Squad and Engine 51 and in the February 4 episode, he’s in that position once again.

“You’re getting to see his growth as a leader and just how capable he is,” says Miñoso, who’s been on the show since its inception. “It was great to take on that responsibility and reveal how much Cruz has changed over the course of 14 seasons.”

Below, the actor shares more about the episode and Cruz’s role in his leadership role.

Joe Cruz used to be pretty impulsive. How would you describe him these days?

Joe Miñoso: As a fan of the character, I’m so proud of him. I am proud of what the writers have put him [through] and how he’s now this capable, strong family man that everyone has learned to be able to rely on. To be able to play that is such a joy, especially as a Latin man today.

Peter Gordon/NBC

There’s a major fire this week. Can you set up that situation?

There are a lot of people in the building when the team arrives. It’s a big industrial commercial building with a lot of tricky ins and outs, so it’s like a giant maze and there’s nothing but smoke and fire. It becomes a really precarious situation for really the entire company. Almost all of us go in, and definitely one of us will have a lot of trouble getting out.

What can you say about that?

One of 51 is definitely going to be in a pretty bad spot for sure.

I’ve been officially told that Cruz gets separated from Rescue Squad 3, Cap (Randy Flagler) and Tony (real-life firefighter Anthony Ferraris), in the building? Does he go after them to try and extract them?

I will say that we’re in the middle of rescuing a lot of people in this giant maze. Yes, I get separated from the two of them, and we’ll see if I make it in time to find them or not. The team is at its best, and a lot of lives are saved in this particular fire.

How is Cruz involved?

Well, we all get in the muck — that’s the job — but yes, I’m involved in that.

I hear someone from the house is injured? Is that correct?

That is correct.

The logline share that Chief Pascal (Dermot Mulroney) finds himself in trouble with the brass and is under scrutiny over the firefighter’s injury?

Whenever a firefighter gets hurt on a serious call like that, they’ll always bring in the Chief to ask if there is something they have done incorrectly. It’s quite normal, but I think you will see that he finds himself in some hot water as well.

Will this fire and its aftermath affect Cruz emotionally or professionally?

Definitely the fact that he’s in a leadership role on this call, he’s going to feel a deeper level of responsibility toward his men and everyone in the company because he has to make some of the tough calls. We haven’t really to see that aspect in Cruz’s sort of newfound leadership position yet.

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We have seen more and more of Joe Cruz in that position, so…

We’ve definitely seen him in a couple  of situations, though smaller. One for instance, we had to remove this tire from underneath this car to help a victim who was caught in the axle. That was kind of the first real test for Cruz as an acting lieutenant. So we’ve seen some bits and pieces of him in that role, but I would say this is the most you get to see Cruz really be a leader.

Will this help Joe want to move up in rank?

That is the question, isn’t it? And I feel like what’s crazy about it is like it’s a lot like my real life right now because I’ve been here 14 years. We’ve done so much with the character, it’s like, should I be opening myself up to newer things? But then I go back to thinking about my experience here and my experience with this family, and I don’t want to go anywhere. [Laughs] I love being here. I love being with the people. I love working with my crew. I love working with my actors. We all love it. We have such a shorthand. I mean, we vacation as a family. I don’t think there’s very many shows that can say that.

Wow. That is solidarity.

That being said. I think that Cruz has the exact same sort of experience. He recognizes that becoming a lieutenant would be helpful in moving up in rank, which would lead to perhaps a better paycheck and better pension. And you’ve got a family at home to take care of. But again, this family at 51 is so unique. Once you are mixed into the stew that is Firehouse 51, you become  one of the main ingredients and it becomes impossible to leave because it won’t be the same without you. That’s why you find Cruz, as much as he may want to move up and become a lieutenant, not really interested in leaving the family that he has at 51.

Are these the kind of fire scenes that are really complicated to film and difficult for the actors to play in?

Yes, 100 %! It is a full blaze and once again, it’s amazing props to our effects team and our stunt team. It really amazes me week in and week out, when we do these things, how they just love kind of trying to top themselves and seeing how we can make it bigger and more exciting and more precarious. I’m like, “I think the fire’s close enough to me.”  I’m joking, they’re very safe, but this really is a huge fire. It took four or five days to film everything involving the fire. It was one of the biggest sets we’ve ever created for one of our fires. There were a lot of moving pieces.

From the tone of this conversation, it seems that you wouldn’t mind a 15^th season.

I wouldn’t mind a 20^th! [Laughs] Fifteen gets us halfway there. I have no interest in leaving. There’s always ways to tell new stories, and I think that we’ve built a world where we get to do this week in and week out. I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting so many fans who are wonderful about speaking out about how much they love Chicago Fire, and it’s like the one thing that they watch every week with their family. What an honor to have with those people who choose to spend what precious time they have and even more so to do it with their families.  We’re the ones getting the reward.

Chicago Fire, Wednesdays, 9/8c, NBC