Andy Herrera

Andy Herrera is a firefighter at Station 19 of the Seattle Fire Department.

Early Life
Andy was practically raised at the station. She learned to run a hose from her father at age seven.

At age 9, she lost her mother.

Fire Academy
On her first day at the fire academy, Andy met Maya. Andy tried to tell her they didn't have to be friends because they were the only two women. Maya said there's safety in numbers and they ended up sticking together. When Andy struggled with a hose drill, Maya coached her through it. On her graduation day, her father didn't come because he was bailing Ryan out of jail.

Richardson Fire and Helping Meredith
When two boys accidentally set a fire while home alone, Andy was on the team that put out the fire and rescued the boys. While transporting them to the hospital, Andy stuck her hand into an open wound on Zach's abdomen, which resulted in her holding his abdominal aorta in her hand. They very carefully unloaded him from the ambulance and wheeled them into the OR, where Andy had to help clamp off the blood flow so she could remove her hand. After being freed, she left the OR, but wanted to know the outcome of the case, so Ben took her to the gallery, where they watched the rest of the surgery, which Zach survived.

After learning what Meredith was trying to do to continue her research, Andy took the phone from Taryn and spoke with the person on the line and convinced the owner of the patent to meet with Meredith to talk about allowing her use.

Fire at Tiffany's House
Tiffany's house caught on fire when her laptop cord sparked on her bed while she was in the bathroom. Station 19 responded to the fire. He sent Maya and Andy in to do search and rescue while Dean, Jack, and Travis put out the fire. Maya and Andy quickly found Tiffany and brought her outside, where she said Charlie was still inside. With the fire extinguished, they searched for Charlie and quickly found a puppy. Dean carried Charlie out and handed him over to a grateful Tiffany.

Apartment Fire
While fighting an apartment fire, Jack and Pruitt got separated when Jack entered a kid's room to look for a child. When he came back out, he couldn't find Pruitt because of the smoke. He had to tell Andy he couldn't find her dad and she and Maya came to help look for him. They found him on the floor, unconscious and pulseless. They tried to take him out, but they noticed the fire was choking, so they couldn't go out of the apartment. Once Andy got a pulse on her father, they strapped him to Jack and the four of them jumped out the window onto landing pads. Pruitt was then taken to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, where he had surgery and then was diagnosed with mesothelioma. He knew he had to step down as Captain immediately. He said Jack could be in charge until they filled the job. When Andy protested that, he promoted her to lieutenant and said they could share the responsibilities until a new captain was officially chosen.

Frankel came to the station and explained to Jack and Andy the procedure for choosing a new captain, which would take months. She said they'd alternate as captain each shift until then. Andy went first. She had the team do air consumption drills with new partners. Frankel watched for a while and then said she could stop back in anytime.

Middle School Alarm
Station 19 got called out to Stratford Middle School, where someone had pulled the fire alarm. Principal Linsley met them and said it was likely a false alarm. They said they'd won as quickly as they could to clear the building and get the kids back inside. They went through the building and found the alarm that had been pulled. They turned off the alarm and went continue their sweep, but Ben found Tuck still inside the building. He followed Tuck and saw that he was the one who had pulled the alarm. He needed to get Ben to the school for his friend Ava, who was pregnant and in labor. He did everything he knew to do, but still needed help. Ben and Vic delivered Ava's baby and after a brief complication when the amniotic sac didn't rupture, Ava and the baby were both healthy and stable.

Tanker Crash
When a crash caused a tanker to overturn, Station 19 responded. Dean and Travis had to pry Shawn out of his car while Vic and Ben worked on the truck driver, who had gotten out of the cab and fallen. They noticed it was hot around them just as Andy realized it was an ethanal fire. It was surrounding Ben and Vic and they didn't have enough foam to put it out. Vic and Ben couldn't get out without leaving the truck driver there to die. They got him as wet and cool as they could as they treated him and then conserved their air while the rest of the team tried to figure out how to get them out. Andy eventually decided to back the truck over the flames to get them out and drive it back out.

The Langham
After Ben and Dean discovered that The Langham was on fire, they called the rest of the team in to help and started an evacuation. When the team arrived, they went up to the roof. They located the flame under the roof and created a ventilation hole, despite Jack wanting to make a strip. The hole wasn't sufficient to make the fire die down, so Andy authorized them to cut a strip. The strip worked and the fire started to die down. They got off the roof less than a minute before the roof collapsed. Back on the ground, Frankel admonished both Jack and Andy for their choices, saying Andy should have listened to Jack's experience and Jack should have followed orders.

Pool Party
Station 19 also responded to a medical call. Dallas called the police after her brother and friends wouldn't wake up when she pulled them out of the pool. They'd made ice cream with liquid nitrogen and poured the rest in the pool to make it look cool. They were able to get the kids all breathing again, but then Jack suddenly jumped into the pool. He emerged with another kid that Dallas thought had gone home. They got her breathing as well and Dallas went to give them numbers to contact parents, but she had trouble breathing and vomited. She was dry drowning. She was put in an ambulance and taken to the hospital.

Later, Andy overheard Frankel tell Jack she worried that Andy had been handed her promotion by her father. She went to her father, who reassured her that he made her lieutenant because she earned it.

Sunken Meadow B&B
The team responded to a fire at a B&B on Sunken Meadow Road. Ben and Vic laid out the hoses, but before they could take the in to the fire, a neighbor drove over it and popped it. They went to get a replacement line, but it turned out to be unnecessary because the fire was small and contained to the stovetop.

They later returned to the Inn when the fire reignited and engulfed the building in flames. When a fire reignited in her face, Vic started to have a panic attack and Ben pulled her out while Andy doused the flames. Outside, Vic's ear was treated where it had been burned. Inside, Andy heard popping. She tried to go toward where she heard Deborah, but there were exploding wine bottles between them. They looked for the fuel that was feeding the fire to stop it off while Andy ran past the bottles to get to Deborah. Andy tied off her leg above a wound and then helped her out, using a tray as a shield from the glass. They were able to turn off the gas to the house, to keep it from reigniting. Once they got Deborah out, they realized she'd inhaled some glass. They couldn't intubate, so they did a crike and got her breathing again. Then they took her to the hospital.

Stakeout
Maya and Andy responded to a call for an Aid Car at a police stakeout, just in case anyone got hurt. They got bored as they waited in the ambulance, unable to leave. After the lost the video feed and heart gunshots, Andy, worried for Ryan, wanted to go in immediately, but Maya reminded her that they had to wait to be called. Not long after, they were called in and they learned that it was another officer, not Ryan, who had been shot and they took him to the hospital for an x-ray because the bullet had been caught by his vest.

The Incinerator
Andy and Jack carpooled to The Incinerator, a test to determine one's suitability to be Captain. They arrived surprised to find so many candidates and only one open spot. They were put in a group with Charlotte Dearborn and Cole Edmonds to take the test. Cole went first and expected the women to watch while he and Jack did the rescue and talked down to them. Next was Charlotte, who was cavalier about safety, though she set a record time. During Jack's turn, they put out the fire, but after multiple sweeps, they didn't find the dummy, so Jack made the decision to leave without it. On the outside, he was informed that very few people mastered that variation of the test and there was no dummy in the first place. Finally, it was Andy's turn. She emphasized them working as a team. She had them hold on to each other due to low visibility. The building started to creak as they crawled along and eventually, the roof collapsed, separating them. Cole didn't respond to her calls, so they had to find him. He was unconscious. Charlotte then called for a mayday over Andy's objections. Frankel ordered everyone out, but Andy decided to stay in and find the dummy. Jack stayed with her and they retrieved the dummy. Once they were out, Frankel berated Andy for her decision to ignore the mayday call. Ripley interrupted and said he understood Andy's call, but they have rules for a reason. It's a Captain's job to remember that. In a real call, they'd all have come out in body bags. He understood, but didn't agree with, her call. On the way home, Jack said he needed to win it because he was still in it, but Andy refused to talk to him about it.

After the test, Andy was ranked last, but was determined not to give up.

Vaccines
Maya and Andy took an ambulance out to give hepatitis vaccines to homeless people. They saw Mason, who declined a vaccine and Maya's help.

Pruitt's Decline
When her father stopped responding to treatment, Andy was surprised at home much her father had hidden from her about his treatment. She told him about her promising her mother she'd take care of him just before her death. After Pruitt crashed due an allergic reaction, he still insisted on continuing the treatment, but asked Bailey to keep Andy included on all his treatment from then on.

Peter
While Andy was captain, they were called out to respond to Peter, who accidentally ran into a dumpster. On their way to the hospital, they came across a party bus that had crashed. Andy left Jack to monitor Peter while they helped the party bus victims. While they were waiting, Peter offered up the gurney he was on for them to use, so Jack left briefly to take it to them. While he was gone, Peter ransacked the ambulance looking for morphine. During the ensuing struggle with Jack, Peter put his hand through a pane of glass and degloved his finger. Jack, with Dean's help, was able to restrain him and bandage his hand before they were able to take him to the hospital.

Party Bus
Despite being on an active call, Andy decided to have her team stop to help the victims of a crashed party bus because the responding station was still eight minutes away. They had to free Susan, who was impaled on a piece of the bus, and Carla, who was pinned under the bus, while also treating Mary and the other six victims who were free. They were able to get everyone out and stabilized before station 23 arrived to take over.

Audrey and Oliver's House
The station responded to a fire at the house of Audrey and Oliver. The fire started in a fireplace and was mostly contained to that area of the house. In order to put out the fire, they needed to go through the garage to get to the innermost part of the house. Audrey tried to get them access, but her blistered finger meant the pad couldn't read her print. Dean was sent to put the override code in, but he forgot the code and couldn't radio out because his radio was on the wrong channel, so after two failed attempts, the others were locked in the garage with no way out. With the fire in the house, the garage started to heat up. They searched for anything they could use to try to free themselves. They found a toolkit, which Karen used to pick the lock on the trunk of the car and retrieve a jack. They tried to use the jack to lift the garage door, but it wouldn't budge. As the temperature climbed, Ryan decided to hot wire the car and try to use it as a battering ram. Jack said it was a bad idea, but Ryan started it anyway. Andy was able to stop him before he moved the car. Jack had the idea to use the motor from the internal door to get access to the house. It didn't work and they started to wear out. When Pruitt arrived and gave Andy a pep talk, she used the last of her energy to think of a plan. She saw the water heater and decided they could use the pilot light to create an explosion. They siphoned gas from the car and rigged the water heater up to explode and propel itself through the garage door. It worked and once they were free, they were all cooled down and rehydrated.

Final Captain Interview
While Andy was waiting for her final captain interview, a page came in about a skyscraper fire downtown, so Ripley said the interviews were being postponed until further notice. Jack then told her that if he didn't get captain, he was putting in for a transfer to another station.

Skyscraper Fire
Station 19 anxiously waited to be called in on the skyscraper fire. While they waited, they checked their supplies. When they were finally called in, they responded to the fire and went to base camp to receive their assignments. Most of the team was sent to relieve station 7 working on the active fire, but Ben and Travis were kept for triage and Maya and Vic were sent above the fire to do crowd control at a law firm where they were keeping civilians held in place. At the active fire, they worked with Charlotte, who made the decision to jump through the fire to try to get to a fire door. Then there was a crash and she didn't respond. Andy jumped after her and found her injured. She used an extinguisher sphere to put out the flames and let the rest of the group come help her free Charlotte. Andy took Charlotte down to triage and because the fire was contained, she sent Jack and Dean to the floor above to check it out. On that floor, they found a large amount of combustibles. A rapid evacuation was started. Andy dropped Charlotte at triage and then went back up to the top floor to tell them to get ready for evacuation. Then she went back downstairs and helped Ripley pack up and evacuate base camp. When Jack and Dean found a civilian as they closed fire doors, they called for an elevator evacuation. Ripley said no, but Andy took the elevator key and sent the elevator up. Jack sent Dean down with the civilian and continued his work. He talked to Andy through the elevator shaft. She tried to convince him to find a way out, but he said he wasn't willing to sacrifice the lives of anyone on the team to try to save himself. She asked him to stay on the radio, which he did until it cut out a few minutes later. Then there was an explosion in the building.

Andy refused to leave the building without Jack. She asked Ripley to send more people up to help, but he refused and ordered her to evacuate. She ignored the order and began climbing the stairs to the floor where Jack was. On the way, she met Maya and Vic, who were on their way down. Andy said she wasn't leaving without Jack, so Maya decided to go with her to help while they sent Vic down to find more help. Andy and Maya got to the floor where Jack was and found the door jammed shut. Maya worried that that meant that it was so hot inside that it could kill them instantly. Despite this, she helped Andy open the door and they stepped inside. They immediately heard the beeping on Jack's PASS device, which they followed to find him. He was under a pile of rubble, which they moved to free him. The three of them then evacuated the building and Andy checked Jack out.

New Captain
Six weeks after the skyscraper fire, the team gathered at the station to meet their new captain. Ripley introduced them to Robert Sullivan, who immediately established himself as a strict, by the book boss. He said he wanted to improve station 19's efficiency and wanted to start immediately.

Max Forrester Rescue
Station 19 was called out to help when Max Forrester fell into a storm drain after disappearing from the hospital. Ben, who had been left behind at the station due to a burn on his hand, was aided by Travis and Pruitt as he located plans for the storm drains' paths to see where Max was most likely to have gone. Station 23 had a feed down a drain that showed a handprint, giving them a clue where he'd gone. They quickly moved downstream from that location and Maya prepared to jump in to grab Max. However, her oxygen tank wasn't working, so they went to get a replacement tank. While she was gone, Andy heard Max's voice down below them. Over Maya and Sullivan's objections, Andy jumped down into the drain to try to get to him. However, the flow of water picked up and while she was pulled under water, Max was swept away. Since they'd lost that chance to get him, they had only one more access point down the line. When they arrived, they learned that the opening was smaller than they expected, too small for an adult to fit down to get him. When they heard Max down below them, they considered using a jackhammer to widen the opening, but Ben found that there was a gas line near them and it's too risky. Since they couldn't get an adult down into the drain, they decided to send down a loop for Max to grab. Max was scared to let go and jump to the loop, even when his father told him to. His father finally told him that his mother was dying and encouraged him as he jumped and grabbed the loop. Max was then lifted to safety.

Personality
Andy is confident and badass, but she plays by the rules.

Ryan Tanner
Ryan is Andy's oldest friend and her high school flame, an attraction that still lingers in their present interactions. After her father collapsed during a fire, Ryan was able to calm her down.

Later, when she heard gun shots while they were on a stakeout, she worried that Ryan was the one shot and was extremely relieved when she learned he wasn't. Later that night, she knocked on his door, but fled before he answered.

After the strip mall fire, Ryan came to Andy, pumped about what he'd done. He was exhilarated and he and Andy started kissing and undressing each other.

They continued having sex regularly in the mornings. However, when Andy learned that Ryan deliberately didn't tell her that her dad was in trouble during the skyscraper fire, she ended things with him, saying they always ended up in the same pattern of him protecting her when she didn't need it.

Jack Gibson
Jack and Andy secretly began sleeping together. When she found an engagement ring while they were having sex, she freaked out. Later, when Jack lost Pruitt while they were in a fire together, Andy got angry with him.

The two continuously bickered because of their different leadership styles, but they began sleeping with each other again after a while to relieve the tension and postpone the conversation they knew they needed to have. He decided that sex was not enough for him, and that he wanted more, to build a home with someone. Andy said she didn't want more and that the team and the station were her home. As they were arguing over this, they failed to properly dress and Pruitt caught them when he came to fetch documents from the captain's office. Under pressure from Pruitt, they told the team about their relationship. The team was mostly supportive, but only worried about who they'd saved first in a fire. Their worries were abated when Jack and Andy said they'd ended things.

Pruitt Herrera
Her father Pruitt was Andy's primary inspiration to become a firefighter. He's her mentor.

Maya Bishop
Maya is a colleague of Andy's as well as her best friend and confidant. They met at the fire academy and banded together as they were the only two women in their class and have been best friends ever since. However, when Andy snapped at Maya that the Captain's race wasn't here fight, Maya backed off and was cold toward Andy. She continued to ignore Andy, but after realizing you should let the people you love in, she went to find Andy, but was shocked to see Jack's uniform top outside the Captain's bedroom. While on a stakeout together, unable to leave, they started talking and sorted through their issues together. When Andy decided she needed to move out of her father's house, Maya supported her and offered to let Andy move in with her. However, later that day, when Andy jeopardized Maya's shot at rescuing a kid, Maya was angry at her.

Jack Gibson
Andy prefers to play by the rules, while Jack has a more fearless attitudes. Sparks fly when they have to work together, but opposites attract.

Career
Andy is a firefighter at Station 19 of the Seattle Fire Department, part of one of the best crews out there. Like all Seattle firefighters, she's also a qualified EMT.

After her father got diagnosed with cancer, both she and Jack became the acting captains of Station 19, with one of them running each shift. This arrangement ended after the skyscraper fire. Lucas Ripley acted as their captain for six weeks until he picked Robert Sullivan as their new captain.

Notes and Trivia

 * Her character was the first one cast for the show.
 * She speaks Spanish.
 * She's not a hugger.
 * Her drink of choice is beer.
 * One of her hobbies is rock climbing.
 * As a kid, she used to sort her Legos by size, color, and function.
 * She and her father live at 2301 Field Pine Place.
 * She gets energetic when she's excited.

Notable Episodes
These episodes are Andy-centric or are otherwise very informative about her life.
 * You Really Got a Hold on Me
 * Stuck

Memorable Quotes

 * Andy: My dad's always run things a certain way around here. He likes us to chase a rabbit on a track, but it's just a stupid trick to keep us all running, just a stupid prize, the Pole Day. I'm done chasing the rabbit. I am the rabbit. The rabbit runs because she loves it. I do this job because I love it. I don't need a prize. Every day here is the prize. Every life saved. Every fire put out. We're Seattle firefighters. Station 19 is where we choose to be. And that pole belongs to us. We earned it, one fire at a time. Which means forget how things are usually done. Every day is a damn Pole Day. Starting right now. Let's go.

Appearances
Andy Herrera