Local news reports 'Chicago Fire' plane crash as news

A plane crash being filmed for “Chicago Fire” apparently looked real enough to fool WGN Chicago.

The news station reported the crash, “in the middle of the road,” on the south side of Chicago. They didn’t know it was being filmed for NBC’s freshman drama.

“One wing was knocked off; I don’t know if this just happened,” Robin Baumgarten, an anchor for the station, said around 8 a.m. local time. The station’s Skycam tried to show what was taking place at the 29thStreet/ Martin Luther King Drive intersection. Anchor Larry Potash thought he saw a giant hole in the street. The plane had also appeared to have struck a car.

Potash was later informed on air that this was actually a staged scene for a TV show. “They might want to tell the new folks that they’re doing this and shutting down King Drive,” Baumgarten said, seeming annoyed.

The city’s fire department tweeted an alert after the Channel 9 story telling that this was a filming for the NBC show, and that it should be disregarded.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel appeared in the pilot episode Oct. 10, so the show has been mixing into the city’s real life.