‘Fire Country’ Star Addresses ‘Angry’ Fans After Character’s Death

Fire Country star Diane Farr is addressing the angry reactions to the major character death.

Billy Burke’s Vince Leone died in the Season 4 premiere of the CBS drama as a result of a fire.

The Eye network spilled the beans prior to the premiere by way of the season trailer, but fans were still shocked during the episode. And some were even angry about it. Farr, who plays Burke’s on-screen wife Sharon Leone, took to Instagram with a lengthy message about the reactions and the risks that the show takes when it comes to portraying firefighters.

“I know some of y’all are angry,” she wrote alongside a carousel of photos of her and Burke, as well as fan comments praising her performance and portrayal. “I see those notes also. And I FEEL you. But let me ask you an honest question. If we only show the risk in this vocation week after week, without at least attempting to portray the profound loss that comes to both a firehouse and a family when a key player – when one of their own – falls … wouldn’t we be skipping the deepest part of portraying firefighters?”

“42’s chief is not going away easily or silently,” Farr continued. “Our writers have much to share on this. That honors the impact this character and this actor has made.” Among the photos included in the carousel, Farr admitted, was one from her uncle’s funeral, which included the American flag being held by ladder trucks.

“A firefighter who died peacefully in retirement long after he served his community,” she explained. “I offered it to our showrunner to share how big this loss is in every town in America when someone gives their life to service. You might see the photo is matched pretty closely in last night’s premiere. Big feelings for the exit of Billy and Vince are a testament to his beautiful work. We have filmed half of Season4 @firecountrycbs so far and we are honoring it all year long.”

Fans had assumed that Vince would be the one to die after it was revealed that Burke would be departing the series, but his death definitely still hurt. The entire station is mourning, and even though people are upset over what happened, it was only a matter of time before a major death shock 42 because of their line of work. It’s going to be hard watching Fire Country without Burke, but it’s clear that Vince will still be brought up pretty frequently, and 42 will always honor him.

New episodes of Fire Country air on Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS, following Sheriff Country.