Tommy is a working class, blue collar personality with skills in carpentry, mechanics and plumbing as well as his firefighting career.

Tommy likes to drive pickup trucks as his personal vehicle including a mid 90s Ford F-150, a new Cadillac Escalade (briefly, after being given it as a gift by Jimmy's widow Sheila), and a Dodge Ram 1500.

Tommy is married to his high school sweetheart Janet Gavin, who became pregnant with their oldest daughter, Colleen, when she was only seventeen.

The two are "separated" numerous times, but the announcement is occasionally followed by Tommy stating that they never filed for divorce, making the couple technically still married throughout the entire series.

The two are seen sleeping together numerous times on the basis of sharing mutual grief over Jimmy Keefe's death, fueled by Tommy's troubled relationship with Janet.

(Tommy was punished by the subordinate firefighters in his house for it in the season 1 finale, as "widow banging" was a forbidden act in the FDNY, however, despite the continuing of it throughout the series, no further discipline ever happened.)

[5] He is a relapsed alcoholic, as well as a chain-smoker and a prescription-drug addict due to his role as a first responder to the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11.

Tommy is often visited by "ghosts," deceased people from his past - most frequently his cousin Jimmy and other firefighters who died on 9/11 - as well as fire victims he could not save.

At the end of the season, he requests a transfer after a breakdown during a rescue that resulted in injury to his co-worker, Firefighter Franco Rivera.

Johnny finds out that the driver may not do time, so Tommy's uncle, retired FDNY Firefighter, Teddy Gavin kills him inside Hoboken Terminal, and is thus sent to prison.

He discovers that his brother Johnny is having an affair with Janet,[6] and that his co-worker, Firefighter Sean Garrity is in a relationship with his mentally unstable sister Maggie Gavin.

[7] In the last episode of the season, Sheila drugs Tommy, rapes him, and then accidentally sets her Long Island beach house on fire.

Battalion Chief Jerry Reilly commits suicide after being forced to retire and due to his frustration at having a newly married gay son.

Tommy begins fighting fires during his off hours wearing Jimmy Keefe's gear, prompting Battalion Chief Sidney Feinberg to write him up for a department section 8.

The last scene in the last episode shows Tommy and his father, also a retired FDNY Firefighter, watching a Newark Bears minor league baseball game.

Season 6 deals with the aftermath of Tommy's near-death experience, including his ongoing battle with alcoholism, his oldest daughter's own drinking problem, and an increasingly strained relationship with his wife.

Near the end of the season, probationary firefighter Damien Keefe, Sheila and Jimmy Keefe's son, who recently was assigned to Ladder 62, suffers a traumatic head injury while fighting a fire, which leaves him severely brain-damaged and unable to walk or communicate.

A day after the wedding, during one of Tommy's last tours of duty as a New York City Firefighter, the crew responds to a devastating four-alarm fire.

(The episode starts, however, as if it's the other way around, with Lou walking with a cane to give a eulogy for the other guys, only to find it to be a dream Tommy was having.)

The final scenes following Lou's funeral show Tommy giving a passionate speech about courage and the call of being a firefighter to a group of FDNY recruits at the New York City Fire Academy, as the other members of 62 Truck look on.

Leary did not apologize, saying that what happened between the characters was not rape, and that the scene made sense in the context of Tommy's dysfunctional relationship with Janet.

Peter Tolan, co-creator of Rescue Me and co-writer of the episode, discussed the storyline in a forum on the website Television Without Pity.