The episode was written by Julie Martin (from a story by Tom Fontana and Henry Bromell) and was directed by Tim Hunter.
This episode also flagged the permanent departure of regular characters Stanley Bolander (Ned Beatty) and Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin).
Believing the arson was for financial reasons, Kellerman meets an informant the next morning and pressures him to provide the name of the arsonist.
Hoping to link the victim to missing persons records, Pembleton goes to the unit specializing in disappearances and encounters his nemesis, Detective Roger Gaffney.
At the station, Howard and Munch both declare that they will sit for the sergeant's exam in hopes of gaining a promotion; the squad begins to stake odds on the outcome.
Kellerman visits the squad room to confer with Bayliss and Pembleton, telling them he believes Matthew Rowland, the owner of the warehouse where the fire took place, is responsible for multiple arson attacks on properties he owns.
While they are arguing, Meldrick Lewis informs the detectives that uniformed officers guarding the crime scene have apprehended a teenage girl, Lisa Denardi, who was found poking around in the ruined building.
Coincidentally, back at the station, Pembleton receives an anonymous tip about the location of the gas can supposedly used to start the fire.
When Pembleton, Bayliss and Kellerman arrive at the scene, they are told that a body has been spotted inside the burning building.
When the mystery informant calls Pembleton with the tipoff about the fire, he turns up the volume of his car radio, which is playing the Jimi Hendrix version of the Bob Dylan song "All Along The Watchtower", and this music carries through the subsequent sequence.