By joining the fire department in this story, Homer has had a job in all three departments of emergency public services. He was a police officer in "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" and an ambulance driver in "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife".
The sleep medicine "Nappien" parodies two popular sleeping medicines. The name is based on Ambien, but the commercials featuring a moth are based on similar commercials for Lunesta.
Some of the electronics Homer and the other firefighters steal from Costington's department store are branded "Sorny", an electronics brand previously seen in Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield (1996) on off-brand televisions piggy-backing on the Sony name.
The title is a reference to "hook and ladder".
This episode presents the second time Apu joined the fire department as a volunteer. He was also a fire chief in S04E03 "Homer the Heretic".