Tommy is an impatient, self-loathing, hypocritical, manipulative relapsed alcoholic who suffers with severe survivor guilt and posttraumatic stress disorder as a result of 9/11.

Lieutenant Ken Shea, Tommy's superior officer, deals with 9/11 by secretly writing poetry and then starts to have an affair after learning his wife is preparing to leave him anyway.

While responding to a fire at an underground sex club, they discover that a "woman" they rescued is Sully in a black leather skirt and bustier.

Back in the old house, Tommy shifts his focus to finding his family and dealing with his father, who took an unannounced vacation and came home with a new, wealthy wife, Jenny Ng.

Chief Jerry's wife gradually deteriorates from Alzheimer's, and he is forced to seek help from his estranged son before placing her in a long-term care facility.

Mike Silletti, no longer a Probationary Firefighter, begins a sexual relationship with his male roommate, and Tommy falls back in love with Sheila.

Later, he suffers a heart attack after having sex with Karlene, an illegal Jamaican immigrant who is a caretaker at the long-term care facility where his wife now lives.

Tommy, Johnny, and Maggie's long lost sister Rosemary Gavin is introduced; she is deaf and had been shunned by her parents, but reconciles with her father.

Uncle Teddy, still in prison, receives numerous letters from a woman named Ellie, who is proud of the action he took upon Connor's killer.

(Mike isn't transferring, Lou has changed his mind about the boat after discovering he lacked "sea legs", and Franco has failed a lieutenant's exam.)

Depressed after being told that he can no longer serve in active duty due to his poor heart, Jerry takes a desk job.

Seeing how his wife is suffering, how the baby is being neglected and seemingly rejected by everyone in the family but himself, Tommy reluctantly begins to reconsider Sheila's offer.

However, after Black Shawn shows himself worthy in the face of a raging fire, the entire crew accepts him, and even Tommy pays him grudging respect.

The webisodes are largely stand-alone pieces, often showing the group in action rescuing people in fires, dream-like scenarios (such as Tommy imagining a night out with his various romantic interests), or general slice of life scenes set inside the station house.

One story depicts Truck 62 in the moments before the fire crew left the station to respond to the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center.

Candy (Milena Govich), the prostitute who conned Lou in season 2, reappears after being released from jail, claiming that she has turned her life around.

Taking matters into his own hands, Needles video-records Tommy and the crew rushing to the aid of deaf children when a fire breaks out at the community school, while the firefighters are all off-duty.

Damian — who had begun to have doubts about being a firefighter, only to be talked into continuing by Tommy — suffers a traumatic head injury while fighting a fire, which leaves him severely brain-damaged and unable to walk or communicate.

After the crew realizes the sheer volume of bad press this would generate, Tommy reaches out to Johnny's old contacts at the police department.

The chauffeur firefighter of Ladder 62, Niels Jorgensen, reports he can't rescue the men from the outside and has to leave the roof before it collapses.

The series finale begins with Lou eulogizing Tommy, Franco, Sean, Black Shawn, and Mike during a joint funeral with family, friends, and many other firefighters.

Tommy becomes acting Lieutenant, and while filling out a department report for Needles on that final incident, it is revealed that it was in fact only Lou who died, after having his face burned off in the fire.

After an earlier scolding from Sheila and an incident with Wyatt at a playground involving liberal parents, Janet realizes that Tommy, regardless of everything, is not yet ready to retire.

The episode ends with The Pogues' "Dirty Old Town" playing as the camera pans over to the Manhattan skyline, where 1 World Trade Center's construction progress can be seen.

Recurring guests include Maura Tierney, Artie Lange, Susan Sarandon, Desmond Harrington, Marisa Tomei, Gina Gershon, Peter Gallagher, Michael J.

In a 2008 interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Leary revealed season 5 had been delayed until March 2009 because of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, but all 22 episodes would air on consecutive weeks.

According to the L.A. Weekly, on December 1, 2008, during an appearance at Book Soup in West Hollywood, Leary revealed plot details for season 5, specifically a retrospective look into the events leading up to and surrounding 9/11 by each of the characters.

On June 16, 2009, the Los Angeles Times confirmed Rescue Me would return in 2010 for a ten-episode sixth season, due to increased ratings.

Framed fire-themed illustrations from Las Vegas firefighter Allan Albaitis (now retired) appeared in seven seasons of Rescue Me, generally visible on background walls of main characters and displayed in offices of fire HQs.

Critics praised the show's willingness to take risks and talk about family, depression, alcoholism, homophobia, and the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks.