Chicago Fire
takes a certain kind of person to run into a burning building when everyone else is running out. And Chicago Fire looks at the private and professional lives of a group of individuals who work as firefighters and paramedics in a division of the Chicago Fire Department.
Produced by Law & Order creator Dick Wolf and now airing on Seven after a pay- TV run, the series stars Australia’s Jesse Spencer as Lieutenant Matthew Casey, a no- nonsense commander locked in a feud with fellow officer Lieutenant Kelly Severide, played by Taylor Kinney. The fight is over who is responsible for the death of a mutual friend and firefighter during a tragic blaze.
But the pain of losing his friend isn’t the only wound Severide is carrying, as upcoming episodes will reveal. this tension overload and it’s a blame game.
These two characters are similar in that I’m the lieutenant of a squad company, he’s the lieutenant of a truck company, they’ve worked excessively hard to get to where they are, they’re great at what they do and maybe a little too stubborn at times. Kelly Severide is very bold, very sure of himself. Is he someone you are able to relate to? Yes and no. I’ve played characters before where I was always the one asking questions, so it feels liberating. My character is confident in what he does and the way he does it. That type of strong character is someone that anyone would want to play. It’s a dream job. I can’t think of any other job that I’d want to have on TV right now. We use the firehouse as a catalyst to bring these characters together and to tell stories within that. The relationship between alpha males Severide and Casey is a tense one. Walk us through it. It’s been a healthy rivalry over the years, so the accident serves as a catalyst for that tension between the two of them. They start off when we see them in earlier times – comrades, if you will – and then something happens to start Did you train with actual Chicago firefighters to prepare for your role? Yeah, it was great. We went there to film the pilot and we shadowed firefighters in the city. We went to three or four different firehouses.
I really saw the camaraderie between these people. It’s in their blood to be able to go and do these things on a daily basis, to put themselves in harm’s way and then to let go when they leave work. They’re a special breed of people. Chicago Fire, Monday, Seven, 8.30pm