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A Firefighting We Will Go is the 10^th episode in the third season of the Fox animated series King of the Hill, and the 45^th episode overall.

Plot

Hank, Boomhauer, Dale and Bill are in custody for an unknown crime. The four become volunteer firefighters when the regular firefighters go on strike. During their training, they meet Chet Elderson, an elderly volunteer who loves to plug in his electric Alamo beer sign, which throws off sparks but fascinates Dale. Through their constant fighting, they bungle their way through learning the basic firefighting procedures, including breaking a hydrant open while trying to impress the kids. After a series of mishaps, Chet Elderson dies, and at his funeral they screw up being pallbearers and their bickering causes Chet to be pantsed out of his own coffin. Hank scolds Dale for screwing up the funeral, and claims he will not talk to him anymore.

The four eventually get their first fire call, which turns out to be a small dumpster fire. However, the next call sends them back to the station, which they find burned to the ground. The fire chief makes them go through each moment that happened before they rushed out of the station for the first fire. Each of the friends recreates the scene, putting more emphasis on themselves. Dale's story depicts Hank as a drill instructor, while Dale is buff, with long, flowing hair. Boomhauer's story has everyone talking in his own usual unintelligible style, while Boomhauer himself is talking slowly and coherently. Bill's story depicts him as completely bald and fatter than normal, with a weakness for french bread pizza. Throughout the three accounts, it is believed that the fire was caused by either Bill leaving the stove on after roasting a marshmallow for dessert, Boomhauer accidentally knocking over his tanning lamp, or Dale leaving a burning cigarette on the ground. In Hank's story, he says that the fire couldn't have been caused by any of those things, because as the responsible one he cleaned up after each of his friends before leaving.

After running to the fire truck (where he learns that Dale gave him the tank with more oxygen), he remembers seeing something in the rear view mirror: Chet Elderson's Alamo Beer sign. He realizes that Dale had plugged it in after Chet's death but decides to say that it must've been Chet to protect Dale. This convinces the fire chief to blame the fire on accidental causes to in turn protect Chet's good name, and releases the four, who promptly decide to try their hand at being plumbers for free beer.

In a side plot, Peggy pulls her groin muscle trying to lift Bobby up, but after working out is eventually able to accomplish it.

This episode is significant because of several references to The Three Stooges, most notably the episode's title, which is a reference to the 1940 Stooges short "A Plumbing We Will Go". Other references throughout the episode include:

• Dale singing the first line of "Swinging The Alphabet" (sung by the Stooges in 1938's "Violent Is the Word for Curly"

• Hank constantly playing the role of Moe amongst the group, at one point calling Boomhauer a "knucklehead".

• A rendition of "Three Blind Mice", which was used as an intro theme to Stooges shorts, playing at the end of the episode when Bill brings up a woman looking to hire four plumbers (which could be a reference to the Stooge short that the episode title parodies). A common theme in Stooge shorts was the three of them being hired by a random individual for a job in which they have little or no experience.

• Instances of slapstick comedy and idiotic mishaps, such as Dale throwing a Frito pie in Bill's face, Boomhauer bonking Dale and Bill's heads together, and Boomhauer's use of the Jaws of Life on a fire hydrant.