'Chicago Fire' Films Scene At Gardner Family Home In West Beverly

CHICAGO (BEVERLY) — The hit NBC television series "Chicago Fire" was filming in the neighborhood again earlier this month, this time taking their set to a neighborhood family's home for a fire scene. Rich Gardner, who owns the home at 105th and Maplewood with his wife, Debbie called it a "great experience" and looks forward to watching the episode featuring the home when it is set to air on Wednesday, March 18.

The Gardners brush with primetime fame began on Jan. 18 when Rich found a notice attached to the home's front door that said "Official Location Scouting Notice," noting that the home was being considered as a possible filming location for episode 17 of the eighth season of Chicago Fire.

It turns out the show was looking for a home in which the stairway to the second floor is not visible at the entrance for one of the scenes, Rich said.

The Gardners met with the show's assistant location manager at their home and then with a production crew that Rich said determined their house "was perfect for the 'quaint' home that the script called for."

Just two days later, Rich said they met with the show's special effects team who explained part of the filming process.

"We met with the special effects team who explained how they would remove our windows in the front bedroom, bathroom and stairway and replace them with 'fire boxes'," Gardner said. "To create the Hollywood magic the special effects would be running propane gas lines from the backyard through the back bedroom window to the fire boxes, which creates the elusion of fire coming out the windows."

After a walk-through was held and a contract signed, filming was all set for Feb. 4, Rich Gardner said. But he and Debbie would have to leave their home for eight days to allow the show to turn their house into a set.

"We found a nice AirBnb in Mount Greenwood to setup up camp during the filming," Rich said. "Prep days were scheduled for Thursday 1/30, Friday 1/31 and Monday 2/3, which would involve moving our larger furniture to storage, installing the fire boxes and placing the furniture and other fixtures needed for the scenes that would be filmed. Prep also included trimming the larger tree by the Chicago Bureau of Forestry and posting no parking signs on the block."

On the day of filming, Rich said workers from props, wardrobe, makeup/hair, the art department, special effects, camera, electricians along with the cast began flowing in as early as 6 a.m. Rehearsals began around 8 a.m. and neighbors "were lining up across the street to watch all the action."

The episode that includes the scenes filmed at the Gardner home is titled “Protect A Child” and involves a wheel chair bound mother and her son who live in the house, Rich said.

"A fire breaks out, and the mother who is on the first floor is trying to reach her son on the second floor and the automated chairlift has lost power," he said. "The Chicago Fire team are called to save the mother and son."

Filming went on throughout the day and moved from outside to inside and continued until about 7 p.m., Rich said.

The Gardners' home wasn't the only spot in the neighborhood the show used that day. St. John Fisher Church was used as the show's "base camp" for the day and crew members and extras were also stationed at the Ridge Country Club, which provided breakfast and lunch for the crew.

This isn't the first time Chicago Fire filmed in Beverly. Last year, a scene for an episode was filmed inside the County Fair Foods grocery store on Western Avenue. More recently, the show filmed at Mount Carmel High School in the Woodlawn neighborhood.

After one day of wrap up, all was back to normal at the Gardner home by Feb. 6.

"Our furniture was brought back and everything was put back in its place," Rich said.

For the Gardners, it was a one-of-a-kind life experience. Rich shared photos from the staging and filming in this video montage:

"Debbie and I had a chance to meet Jesse Spencer who plays Mathew Casey, Christian Stolte who plays Mouch and Miranda Rae Mayo who plays Stella Kidd," Rich said. "Kara Killmer (Sylvie Brett) and Alberto Rosende (Gallo) were also on location."

Also, find a video recap of some of the filming in three parts here: