CHICAGO FIRE: Miranda Rae Mayo Reflects on Stella Kidd’s Real World Impact

January 2, 2025 by Marisa Roffman

CHICAGO FIRE — “Untouchable” Episode 13007 — Pictured: (l-r) — (Photo by: Peter Gordon/NBC)

When CHICAGO FIRE’s Andrea Newman became solo showrunner in season 12 (she joined the series in season 1 and worked her way up the ranks), one of the things she gushed about was the show’s badass female characters—and the real-life impact they’re having.

“I love that we have great strong female characters that we get to write to,” Newman told Give Me My Remote at the time.“There’s a real Girls on Fire—that started after [CHICAGO FIRE’s] Girls on Fire—at a training facility outside of Chicago. [Series technical consultant/former real-life Deputy Fire Chief] Steve [Chikerotis] was telling me that when Miranda [Rae Mayo, whose Kidd started the fictional initiative] went to visit this Girls on Fire, when she got there, it was like the Beatles had arrived to the girls in this [program]. These young girls, who are now learning all about fire department training and being actual firefighters, all just lost their minds when they saw her…It’s cool to know that the show is having an impact like that and characters like Kidd are having an impact.”

It’s equally impactful for Mayo. When she spoke with GMMR earlier this season, she called her experience meeting aspiring firefighters as “wild.”

“I went to one of the camps called Camp Fury, down in Champaign, Illinois, at the Illinois Fire Service Institute,” she recalled. “And those young women, they were very inspiring to me.”

And while Kidd is someone many viewers—both aspiring firefighters and those who have no intention of ever entering the field—look up to, Mayo admitted she has a hard time reconciling any of that might be because of her portrayal of the character.

“I think sometimes I dissociate from it because I don’t ever want to get to a place where, like, I con myself into thinking that I am as noble as Stella is, or any of the [real] female lieutenants and firefighters,” Mayo said. “I mean, we all have our own gifts, and I cherish and value mine. But those women are incredible, and they humble me greatly. So I think that might be a part of why I don’t ever look too closely at that.”

“Being someone’s hero—I think it’s Stella,” she continued. “It’s Stella that is a lot of young girls and women’s hero, and that’s incredible. And I feel lucky that I get to play [her]…But I don’t ever want to conflate [it].”

CHICAGO FIRE, Wednesdays, 9/8c, NBC

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CHICAGO FIRE: Miranda Rae Mayo Reflects on Stella Kidd’s Real World Impact

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