William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland are the only actors to reprise their roles from the original Backdraft.
When Sean (Joe Anderson) is looking at a memorial wall with pictures (presumably) of firefighters who were killed in the line of duty, the camera zooms in to show the picture of his father Stephen (played by Kurt Russell in "Backdraft"). The picture to the right is that of Deputy District Chief (Ret) Steve "Chik" Chikerotis, who served as technical advisor on this film as well as the original "Backdraft".
While commemorating the 30th anniversary of the original Backdraft in a 2021 podcast interview, original Backdraft writer Gregory Widen admitted that he regretted making the second film, because he did not like how the final film turned out and because of the film's budget.