• Many of the extras in the film are actual Chicago firefighters. A casting call was put out in a Department memo prior to the start of shooting. In addition, many suburban firemen participated in the funeral procession.
• Robert De Niro's character, Don Rimgale, is a real arson investigator with the Chicago Fire Dept's Office of Fire Investigation. Don Rimgale also appears in the movie.
• #
  
  
  # There are three arson victims, Donald Cosgrove, Alan Seagrave, and Jeffrey Holcomb. Cosgrove is after the real life Chicago Fireman/Author William Cosgrove who served as Robert De Niro's technical advisor for the movie. Seagrave is the name of a fire apparatus (fire and ladder truck) manufacturer. The firehouse where Engine 17 and Truck 46 were quartered is the real, in-service firehouse of the Chicago Fire dept's Engine 65 and Truck 52.
• The numbers of the fire companies are all "dead" numbers in the Chicago Fire Dept. Engine 17, Truck 46, Engine 24, Truck 6 (now back in service as of March of 2004), & Engine 33, (referred to, not actually seen in the movie), are all out of service. The Chicago Fire Dept. has 24 battalions, battalion 25 was created for the movie.
• The production company totally refurbished 6 pieces of fire apparatus, and upon completion of filming, donated 5 of them to the Chicago Fire Dept., who used 4 of them as front line equipment for several years, and one as a spare. The only one that was not donated to the city was the truck that was flipped over, which was totaled for that shot.

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