This week’s Fire Country, “The Leone Way,” highlights a feature of California firehouses. California has a Safely Surrender Baby law, where people with legal custody of a baby can surrender the newborn within 72 hours of birth, confidentially and without fear of prosecution. Firehouses are safe surrender sites, which new firefighter Audrey James (Leven Rambin) finds out in this exclusive clip from Season 3, Episode 10.
In the episode, the men of Station 42 are out on a fishing trip, leaving Sharon (Diane Farr) and Audrey to hold down the fort. Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila) is there too. She’s not supposed to be working because she’s suspended for walking off the job. But she’s currently living at the firehouse.
While they’re hanging out, an alarm starts going off that Audrey has never heard before. Sharon, however, knows exactly what it is. She goes to the safe surrender drop-off and finds Calvin, a beautiful baby boy who has just been surrendered. She explains the Safe Surrender program to Audrey, who is a little disturbed.
“So someone could just abandon their kid here?” Audrey asks.
“It’s not abandonment,” Sharon says gently. “That’s the point of the Safely Surrender Baby law.”
As the episode progresses, Audrey will continue to struggle with this concept. She herself was abandoned by her parents when she was a child, and it brings up those feelings for her. And things get even more complicated when the baby’s mother comes back for him. Audrey and Gabriela have different ideas of how to deal with the situation based on their own personal histories. And it comes down to Sharon to make the difficult decision about what to do.
In the meantime, Sharon has to call DCFS, and puts Audrey in charge of caring for Calvin, with Gabriela helping. Audrey and Gabriela are one of a few pairs of characters who get closer in this episode.
Take a look at the sneak peek of this week’s episode above. Fire Country airs Fridays at 9/8c on CBS and streams the next day on Paramount+.