Evan "Buck" Buckley
Evan "Buck" Buckley is a golden jackal and a firefighter at Station 118. He carries an otter down a ladder out of a burning apartment building, and later, at the firehouse dinner, gets through to Pawbert by naming a worst day of his own.
"...everyone's got something. You're not as special as you think." โ Buck Buckley
Background
Buck Buckley is one of Station 118's most capable and impulsive firefighters. His physical courage is matched by an emotional openness that catches mammals off guard โ he is not afraid to acknowledge his own damage, and he uses that honesty as a bridge to connect with others who are struggling.
His reference to "the fire truck bomb" โ a traumatic event from his own past โ is delivered with the casual directness of someone who has processed his trauma enough to name it without flinching. This directness is what makes his connection with Pawbert land: he does not tiptoe around pain, he names it and moves forward.
Personality
Buck is impulsive, brave, and emotionally direct. He processes the world through action โ running into buildings, pulling mammals from danger, saying the thing that everyone else is thinking but nobody will say. His bluntness is not cruelty; it is the absence of pretense.
Telling Pawbert that everyone carries something reads as an invitation rather than a dismissal. By refusing to treat Pawbert's damage as exceptional, he offers him something the careful mammals around him cannot: the normalization of it.
History
Season 1: Station 118 (S01E10)
Buck takes the ladder at the Riverside Apartments, Bobby having put him up as the fastest climber on the crew and the surest carry for a small mammal. He goes into the smoke at the third-floor window, comes back out with an otter cradled against his coat, and works down one rung at a time instead of rushing a descent with a casualty in his arms, handing her off to Hen and her waiting oxygen at the bottom. At the Canyonlands office fire later that day he and Eddie draw the second-floor sweep, and once the building is clear the two of them work the perimeter with Nick and Luther, walking the last evacuees toward the triage tents without anybody bothering to sort out which badge belongs to which agency.
At the firehouse dinner he opens on Nick with an arm wrestling challenge before Nick has his coat off, then drifts over to Pawbert at the photo wall and asks outright whether he is the witness. Where the rest of the evening comes at Pawbert carefully, Buck skips the careful voice. Told he has no idea what it is like to have everyone know your worst day, he says he might, actually, and invites Pawbert to ask him about the fire truck bomb sometime, then declines to elaborate: "...everyone's got something. You're not as special as you think." He says it on purpose and is unbothered by whether it lands, and Pawbert laughs before he can stop himself, the first time all day. Later, with the stories going around the table, Buck tells the tsunami one at full volume and full arm-flail, enjoying that his worst day also happens to be the best story in the room.
Season 2: Collateral (S02E07)
Buck returns with Station 118 when an explosion rocks the Tundratown-Sahara Power Substation. He and Eddie rescue Lorna Kresk, a possum substation technician trapped in the wreckage. Eight civilians are killed in what proves to be a reconnaissance attack testing emergency response times.
Season 5: Inferno (S05E16)
Buck returns with Station 118 during the Rainforest District arson attack. Working the evacuation transports when the pack arrives, he greets Luther with characteristic directness, asking if he still remembers how to run toward fire. When Pawbert emerges from Mika's burning studio, Buck reaches him first and takes Mika's weight. After Luther's breakdown at the staging area, Buck offers quiet support โ subdued by the weight of the day. He volunteers alongside Eddie and Hen to cover the debrief so the pack can leave.
Season 5: Final Position (S05E21)
Buck and the Station 118 crew are staged at the rear during the assault on The Root โ medical units ready for the casualties that are certain to come. He stands ready with Chimney, Eddie, and Hen as the assault begins.
Season 5: Complacency (S05E22)
Buck flanks the stretcher carrying Luther into Zootopia General Hospital, one paw on the rail to keep it steady as the team navigates corners at speed.
Season 5: Always (S05E24)
Buck bounds ahead toward the double wedding ceremony โ the golden jackal's eager energy barely contained, tail wagging despite his best efforts at dignity. His presence at the celebration represents the Station 118 family honoring the pack's hard-won happiness.
W-Series
In "Nighthowler", Buck rides the Station 118 rig out to the Meadowlands with the antidote for the modified Nighthowler compound and pulls the stretcher off the rig when Chimney splits the crew on arrival. His job is the carry. He waits with the stretcher while Hen and Eddie work the injection, and once the antidote takes and Luther goes under, Buck takes the foot end and moves him to the ambulance.
In "The Call" he comes off a casserole with garlic still on his paws, argues that the engine was about to roll on a pending call, and reads the beacon order for what it is: they think the crew might get buried. When the others reach for their phones he has nobody to dial, since the mammals he would call are on the concrete with him, and he goes and sits on Eddie's side of the room.
Key Relationships
Pawbert Pawthorne
Buck's connection with Pawbert is built on shared understanding delivered without ceremony. Where other mammals approach Pawbert with caution or sympathy, Buck approaches with honesty. His willingness to name his own damage and refuse to treat Pawbert's as exceptional creates a moment of genuine connection that stands apart from the pack's more careful emotional dynamics.
Eddie Diaz
Buck and Eddie's partnership at Station 118 is one of the crew's core dynamics โ two firefighters who operate with complementary energy: Buck's impulsiveness balanced by Eddie's quiet competence.
Bobby Nash
Buck served under Bobby's command at Station 118. Bobby's later death carries particular weight for Buck, who lost a captain who helped shape him.
Key Quotes
- "...everyone's got something. You're not as special as you think."
Trivia
- Buck's reference to a fire truck bomb carries over the ladder-truck explosion that injures his counterpart in 9-1-1.