9-1-1 Episode Title Teases Major Loss for the 118 — Which Firefighter Is Hearing Their ‘Last Alarm’?

Is the 118 headed for its biggest shakeup yet?

As if 9-1-1 fans weren’t nervous enough about the second part of the “Contagion” event, here’s another cause for concern: TVLine has confirmed that the show’s May 1 episode (ABC, 8/7c) is titled “The Last Alarm.”

In the world of firefighters and law enforcement, the term “last alarm” refers to a special bell-ringing at the end of someone’s career, either due to retirement or death — and frankly, I’m worried about both.

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Potential spoilers ahead: Behind-the-scenes footage from the past few weeks has indicated the filming of an elaborate ceremony for the first responders, with Athena and her children all seen wearing black. In fact, the only character not seen filming those scenes was Bobby, leading many fans to speculate that the 118’s father figure could be retiring — or worse.

During Bobby’s Wendell crisis at the end of Season 6, I asked Peter Krause if retirement might be in his character’s near future, or if Bobby planned to ride the 118 until the wheels fell off.

“I think he’d like to [stay],” Krause said at the time. “That’s his family, and I think he would like to remain there as their father figure. I think I can speak for both Angela [Bassett] and I when I say that it’s been fun for both of us to be mom and dad on this show. It really is a terrific bunch. This is a difficult show to make, and without everyone working together, it would be really, really hard. We all have each other’s back behind the scenes.”

Of course, a lot has happened to Bobby since then — he nearly burned alive in his own home, he and Athena almost drowned when their cruise ship capsized, and he’s currently trapped in an exploding lab with a deadly virus — so I’d understand if his perspective has shifted over the past two years.

If 9-1-1 does have a major development in store for Bobby, here’s hoping its merely retirement. Yes, this show has been known to put us all through hell, but killing off such a beloved character would be a move from which none of us could return.