Why Did Billy Burke Leave ‘Fire Country’? The Truth Behind His Season 4 Exit
This story contains spoilers from the Fire Country season 4 premiere.
Fire Country just started airing season 4, and things are already changing in Edgewater.
The CBS drama is officially back on Friday nights on CBS, and viewers were devastated to discover the aftermath from the explosive season 3 finale. Amid seeing Vince (
"I'm gonna spend the rest of my career protecting my father's town, my father's stations, and my father's mission," he shared during his eulogy.
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Given how Vince's death affects the Leone family (which includes Bode, played by Max Thieriot) and the rest of Station 41, why did Billy Burke leave
When show co-creator Tony Phelan spoke to
"We felt like coming into Season 4, we have a show about wildland firefighters and we have the same cast that we had from the beginning," Tony told the outlet. "To be truthful to the work that these people do, which is always our desire, we felt like it was time for the show and the characters to have a loss."
Even though Tony acknowledged Vince's death felt like a shock, the show wanted to make sure viewers knew how important the character was to Fire Country. What's more, he shared how this now presents a storyline that'll affect more than just the Leone family throughout the rest of season 4.
"We want to be very respectful of the character of Vince, of how important he is to the show, and how important Billy was as a presence on the show," he added. "So, the loss of Vince is going to echo through the entire season, and we are going to see our younger firefighters really have to begin to grapple with growing up and what is the next step for them."
While Billy hasn't necessarily spoken out about his exit from Fire Country, Diane exclusively told Good Housekeeping his absence was felt right away in season 4.
"Billy and I went into the fire [in
After all of this, we can only hope Vince's—and subsequently, Billy's—presence will continue to be acknowledged in some shape or form.
“Golden Bachelor” Gerry Turner Reveals Details of His Fiancée's Eiffel Tower-Inspired Engagement Ring, Magic Trick Proposal
NEED TO KNOW
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Gerry Turner shares details on his proposal to Lana Sutton, including the inspiration for her diamond ring
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The Golden Bachelor announced his engagement on Oct. 3, roughly 15 months after his divorce from Teresa Nist
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“He did like a little magic trick,” Sutton said of her fiancé
Gerry Turner made sure his proposal to Lana Sutton was magical.
On the Tuesday, Oct. 28 episode of the
The Golden Bachelor said he “had a basic idea” of what he and Sutton wanted when they went to their jeweler, but it was their love for travel that inspired the design for her diamond.
Gerry Turner/Instagram
Lana Sutton“We went to London and Paris, and I saw the Eiffel Tower. And it was spectacular that night. We woke up, you know, put those shades up, and there it was sparkling in front of us,” he said of their summer vacation together.
Turner shared photos of their Euro trip in a couple of Instagram carousels, detailing the U.K. portion in a July 7 post followed by a July 10 Paris recap.
During the podcast, he said after getting back and speaking with the jeweler again, he had one request: “I want the side of Lana's engagement ring to look like the Eiffel Tower.”
“I sat down with him. I said, ‘This is the design I really wanna have,’” Turner said, adding that it was complete “a couple weeks later.”
“They executed it perfectly,” he continued. Turner held onto the ring for “three [or] four weeks” while he decided how he wanted to propose.
Sutton said though they’d discussed it, she had no idea it was coming.
“I had no idea when he actually proposed that it was gonna happen then,” she said.
“We have taken a lot of trips. And so we had gone to Niagara Falls about a month or two ago. And that being the honeymoon capital, everybody thought, I think when we went, that was going to happen then,” Sutton said. “I didn't know when it was going to happen.”
They were on another vacation heading to Myrtle Beach, but stopped in Asheville to break up the drive when Turner proposed in their hotel room using solo cups and Post-it notes.
“He did like a little magic trick,” she said. “There were some questions that he kind of guessed my thoughts. And then there was another piece of paper that said, ‘Will you marry me?’”
Gerry Turner/Instagram
Lana Sutton and Gerry Turner“I rehearsed the magic trick a half a dozen times,” Turner added. “I had two solo cups, and under one solo cup was the wedding ring.”
“When [Lana] guessed the correct answer, then the last Post-it note said, ‘Will you marry me?’”
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Sutton said the moment was “emotional because there's a lot of feelings there.”
The couple, who shared the news on Oct. 3, said their wedding date hasn’t been finalized: “We really haven't talked about any plans yet. I think we're just sort of basking in the engagement and working out some details as far as his house.”
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