diff --git a/libs/partners/fireworks/langchain_fireworks/llms.py b/libs/partners/fireworks/langchain_fireworks/llms.py
index 1b6534fdbf..7120d239c7 100644
--- a/libs/partners/fireworks/langchain_fireworks/llms.py
+++ b/libs/partners/fireworks/langchain_fireworks/llms.py
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class Fireworks(LLM):
         )
         return values
 
-    @root_validator(pre=True)
+    @root_validator(pre=False, skip_on_failure=True)
     def validate_environment(cls, values: Dict) -> Dict:
         """Validate that api key exists in environment."""
         values["fireworks_api_key"] = convert_to_secret_str(
diff --git a/libs/partners/fireworks/tests/unit_tests/test_llms.py b/libs/partners/fireworks/tests/unit_tests/test_llms.py
index 76acc4b184..81aa3f672c 100644
--- a/libs/partners/fireworks/tests/unit_tests/test_llms.py
+++ b/libs/partners/fireworks/tests/unit_tests/test_llms.py
@@ -18,6 +18,15 @@ def test_fireworks_api_key_is_secret_string() -> None:
     )
     assert isinstance(llm.fireworks_api_key, SecretStr)
 
+    # Test api_key alias
+    llm = Fireworks(
+        api_key="secret-api-key",
+        model="accounts/fireworks/models/mixtral-8x7b-instruct",
+        temperature=0.2,
+        max_tokens=250,
+    )
+    assert isinstance(llm.fireworks_api_key, SecretStr)
+
 
 def test_fireworks_api_key_masked_when_passed_from_env(
     monkeypatch: MonkeyPatch, capsys: CaptureFixture