Pruitt Herrera

Pruitt Herrera was the Captain of Station 19 of the Seattle Fire Department and is the father of Andy Herrera.

9/11
After the 9/11 terrorist attack, Pruitt went to New York to help out. He only came home when Andy flew to the New York and demanded that he come home.

Training Ben
Ben joined the station as the newest recruit, while his wife still wasn't on board with his decision. During a training exercise, Ben ran off after finding out that Bailey had had a heart attack. He then called Pruitt to let him know he was quitting his job in order not to cause Bailey more stress. However, Bailey talked to him about doing what makes you happy and convinced him to call his boss back and reverse the decision.

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. Pruitt's team 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 and Diagnosis
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.

Release
Once Pruitt was released from the hospital, Ryan came to pick him up after seeing that Andy was busy with a call. He tried to take Pruitt home, but Pruitt insisted on going to the station instead, where he congratulated the team on a successful rescue and making the news.

From there, Ryan took him home, where he checked the news for the fire the team was called to next.

Working Reception
Pruitt told Andy of his intent to find a desk job somewhere. She didn't like the idea because she wanted him at home healing. Despite this, he went behind her back and Jack hired him to work reception at Station 19.

Helping Dean
After Pruitt overheard Travis and Dean talking about Dean trying to get with JJ, Dean decided to go back to Pruitt for advice. Pruitt suggested he just go to JJ if he wanted her. He suggested Dean go get a new incident report from her because hers had been damaged and when Dean pointed out that it hadn't, Pruitt spilled juice on it.

Discovering Jack and Andy
While looking for some paperwork, he saw Jack and Andy in an intense moment and realized they'd been sleeping together. He confronted the two of them and told them they had to tell the team or he would tell them himself.

Bailey's Visit
Ben brought his wife over to visit and she was surprised to see Pruitt at the station instead of at home. After the team was called out, she talked to him about letting his body heal, but he tried to say that he was better off helping people at the station than sitting at home.

Getting Sicker
Pruitt got sick at work, which was noticed by Dean Miller, though Pruitt brushed it off when Dean asked about it. Later, he told Dean he'd decided to go home and rest and asked him not to say anything to anyone else about what had happened. Dean agreed. Instead of going home, Pruitt went to the hospital, where he asked them to page Bailey.

He asked Bailey to give him medicine to help him get through his work, but she insisted on a full exam first. He decided it wasn't that bad and left the hospital.

Later, at the station, Dean and Ben sat Pruitt down and told him they'd both noticed he was sick and knew he needed medical attention. He tried to refuse, but when he nearly collapsed, Andy took him to the hospital, despite his objection that she needed to stay at the station.

At the hospital, tests showed he wasn't responding to his treatment anymore. Bailey suggested adding a new agent. Pruitt agreed to it. Andy wanted to be there for her father, but he said she didn't have to do that. She revealed to him that she'd promised her mother she'd look out for him. Suddenly, he started crashing. Bailey stabilized him and determined he'd had an allergic reaction to the new agent. Despite this, she wanted to continue the treatment as planned. He told her he wanted his daughter kept up to date and involved in all his treatment from that point on.

Interview
Insistent that his opinion should have weight in the decision of who should run the department, Pruitt was interviewed by Ripley in his hospital room while he received chemo. At the end of the interview, Pruitt said he wouldn't recommend either of them for the Captain position.

Helping Andy
When Pruitt learned from Vic that Andy and others were trapped in a garage that was heating up, he remembered a time when he'd lost part of his team when a similar thing happened. He came down to the scene and coached Andy to fight and figure out a way out from the inside. It helped and Andy and the others were able to use a water heater to escape. Later, while they were at the bar celebrating, Pruitt confessed that he hadn't backed either Andy or Jack for Captain, which upset Andy.

Trouble Breathing
While the firefighters battled a skyscraper fire, Pruitt called Ryan because he was having trouble breathing and didn't want to pull and aid car away from the skyscraper. Ryan showed up just after Bailey arrived because she was worried about him having missed his scheduled appointment. They found Pruitt not breathing and pulseless. Bailey started CPR and Ryan went to get his car so they could get him to the hospital.

Personality
Headstrong and hard on the outside, Pruitt is actually caring when he shows it, especially around his daughter, Andy.

Romantic
He was married to Andy's mother until her death.

Andy Herrera
Pruitt was his daughter Andy's primary inspiration to become a firefighter. He also functions as her mentor. He taught her to run a hose when she was seven.

Jack Gibson
He is Jack's mentor.

Career
Pruitt was the Captain of Station 19 of the Seattle Fire Department until his cancer diagnosis, after which he had to step down.

While recovering, he agreed to be a temporary receptionist at Station 19, often answering calls and fetching papers from the Captain's office.

Notes and Trivia

 * He is the first character of Station 19 to be mentioned on Grey's Anatomy.
 * He was 62 at the time of his cancer diagnosis.
 * He gets quiet when he's mad.
 * He and his daughter live at 2301 Field Pine Place.

Memorable Quotes

 * Pruitt: You're both adults. You can technically do what you want. But it disturbs me that you never considered the consquences of your actions, what it would mean, not just to me, but to the station. If I had known about the two of you, I would've never put you both up for the captain position. You're trying to lead this station. This team puts their trust in you blindly. You don't deserve their trust if you can't be honest with them.