Nearly 20 years ago, Owen Strand (Emmy Award nominee Rob Lowe, "Parks and Recreation," "The West Wing") was the lone survivor of his Manhattan firehouse on 9/11. In the wake of the attack, Owen had the unenviable task of rebuilding his station. After a similar tragedy happens to a firehouse in Austin, Owen, along with his troubled firefighter son, T.K. (Ronen Rubinstein, "Dead of Summer"), takes his progressive philosophies of life and firefighting down to Texas, where he helps them start anew. On the surface, Owen is all about big-city style and swagger, but underneath he struggles with a secret he hides from the world - one that could very well end his life.
Once in Austin, Owen meets the brilliant and wry chief paramedic MICHELLE BLAKE (Liv Tyler, "The Leftovers"), as well as police officer Carlos Reyes (newcomer Rafael Silva). He then begins to assemble his new team of diverse and qualified candidates for Firehouse 126, including Marjan Marwani (Natacha Karam, "The Brave"), an adrenaline junkie and badass firefighter who also is a devout Muslim; Paul Strickland (Brian Michael Smith, "Queen Sugar"), a transgender male firefighter, who bravely decided to transition on the job in Chicago and has a gift for observation worthy of Sherlock Holmes; and rookie firefighter Mateo Chavez (Julian Works, "American Crime").
Owen's toughest challenge may be Judd Ryder (Jim Parrack, "The Deuce," "True Blood"), who, like Owen, was the sole survivor of Austin's original 126 house after a rescue call ended in tragedy. A gruff cowboy to his core, Judd is married to Grace (Sierra McClain, "Mindhunter"), a 9-1-1 call center operator, and struggles with PTSD, unsure if he ever can be the firefighter he once was.
