David Eigenberg Breaks Down Herrmann’s House Burning Down (Exclusive)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 4 “Mercy.”]

“Our whole lives were in that house.” So says Herrmann (David Eigenberg) when, in one of the most personal episodes of the series so far for him, it’s his home that 51 is called to for a devastating fire.

That fire does result in the Herrmann family’s house burning down, and 51 does what 51 does best and helps him find a temporary place and with supplies since they lose everything. (Herrmann worries he was responsible for the fire when it looks like faulty wiring he did caused it. It turns out that wasn’t the case. It was a problem with the stove, no one’s fault.) And thanks to Mouch (Christian Stolte), Herrmann is able to bring his wife Cindy (Robyn Coffin) her mother’s ring. Below, David Eigenberg talks about that major loss, that important moment at the end, and more.

Herrmann’s house burns down and this is a location that’s been on the show for years. So how does it feel to lose that for the Herrmann family for you?

David Eigenberg: Yeah, it is funny for the character, it was written much more devastating. Dave Eigenberg and one can only imagine, but I’ve been around long enough I think I can imagine rather accurately — I, Dave Eigenberg doesn’t give a s**t as long as everybody’s out. I’m not terribly sentimental, so I had to kind of fight against it. And a couple of times I was getting notes. All I wanted to do was, let’s go. They’re making me act, which is hard for me. I’m not a very good actor. I like putting on the s**t and then turn the fire up and then we do that. But yeah, losing the house, I think the character is devastated by it. Kids are going to college, and there’s a lot changing in Herrmann’s life.

It is wild Herrmann’s kids are old enough to go to college. How are Herrmann and his family doing going forward? Because I know they have a temporary apartment right now, but what is their housing situation? Do we see a new house this season?

I don’t know that answer. We’re always left in the dark, so I won’t say anything about that. The kids moving out and stuff is crazy. We were working with a young guy who’s a background actor yesterday, and he was like, I don’t know, 25, 28, and he was like, “I grew up with this show.” And you go, “Wow.” He started watching it when he was 10 or nine or something. Now they’re a full blown adult. They’re not just like a kid. They’re into life. And you go, “That’s crazy.” In some ways, it seems like forever; in other ways, it seems like yesterday. My kids have grown up and so much, it’s going on 14 years. So it’s crazy. And we’re really lucky. We’re really blessed and very grateful.

So it seems like this is the worst time for Herrmann to have gotten a pay cut because he gave up being an officer and now Mouch is lieutenant. Is that going to be weighing on him going forward? Are we going to see that aspect of it?

Yeah, some of it. It’s stitched into my mind that that’s the decision that Herrmann made. Whether it was the right decision or not, one would say it was the right decision, but I think Herrmann questions it constantly. I think people make goofy decisions in life, and I like that we do that on the show and don’t just follow a standard protocol of X plus Y equals Z. And so yeah, we’ll have to see how it unfolds.

How much did Herrmann need to find Cindy’s mother’s ring and have that moment of showing it to her to have a bit of hope going forward? Also, I just love their relationship.

Yeah, Robyn Coffin is an incredible actor and she brings so much. She raises the bar, she challenges me. She’s a wonderful person, she’s wonderful to work with. And I love their relationship because from the jump, I said, “Please make this relationship as real as possible.” And I feel like it might’ve had — I mean, I don’t know what their intentions were. She’s just great and she’s just a good lady, and it’s fun to be on the adventure with her.

[As for the ring], yeah, it gets intense in that house, and I really liked that scene. I liked that they added that because as a firefighter and just going, “It’s gone, but I’m going back in,” and he just kind of goes to town trying to find stuff to help still the sense of loss that the family has had. And it’s harsh. It’s harsh to lose everything. … Nobody likes to see their kids suffer, nobody likes to see their kids cry, and he wants to find something — and for his wife, too. You don’t want to see your wife cry, so he’s hungry to piece something together. I think that ring is a great find. I love that the writers, how they resolved it. And Herrmann says, I couldn’t find anything. And then he drops his head or we see her disappointment. He says, because Mouch did. And he’s the best.

Chicago Fire, Wednesdays, 9/8c, NBC