‘Chicago Fire’: Major Character Gets in Serious Car Accident in Fall Finale

All the pressure finally got to Stella Kidd during the Chicago Fire Season 8 fall finale. The fan-favorite character found herself in a dangerous situation as she continues to push herself after Otis’ (Yuri Sardarov) death, along with expectations from Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker). The scary episode hopefully will serve as a wake-up call for Stella (Miranda Rae Mayo) to reexamine her priorities.

Spoilers ahead for Chicago Fire Season 8, Episode 9: “Best Friend Magic.”

Stella has been thriving this season as she shone in the firefighter academy and continues to strive for more in her position at the firehouse. All of that hard work and going on overdrive caught up to her in Wednesday’s episode, when the firefighter had two separate life-threatening moments.

As the firehouse reacted to Gabby Dawson’s (Monica Raymund) surprise return for a visit, they get a call for a frightening rescue mission of a man climbing a tall building that could fall to his death.

While they find a spot to retrieve the climber safely, Stella helps to take down one of the big glass panels and attempts to grab the man. When she steps on the edge, her exhaustion kicks in and she simply stares out the window. Casey (Jesse Spencer) has to make her snap out of it to continue the rescue mission.

In the end Casey, Stella and Blake Gallo (Alberto Rosende) safely rescue the climber before turning him in to authorities for his reckless actions.

Later in the episode, things take a scarier turn when Stella keeps falling asleep. The team tells her she is working too hard and they tell her to go home and finally get some much-needed rest. As the team is getting ready to leave, viewers see as Stella drives out of the station and to the nearby intersection, when she skips the stop sign she hits a car and causes a frightening accident.

The team rushes into action and help Stella, who watches in shock as she sees how her mistake and exhaustion almost injured a woman and her young daughter. After they are all transported to Med, the firefighters are relieved to find everyone came out of the accident unscathed, but Stella knows something needs to change.

After getting some much needed rest, and a cute tucking in scene with Severide (Taylor Kinney), Stella meets with Boden about what happened. She assures him she can handle all the responsibilities, but he says that he failed her. After Otis’ death he took on mentoring her as his coping mechanism and pushed her too hard. He promised to be better and that they will both me sure it doesn’t happen again.

Will Stella figure out her problems? Chicago Fire will return in January on NBC.