Kevin Hadley is a former firefighter and a convicted serial arsonist. He had been assigned to Rescue Squad 3 before being forcefully transferred out of Firehouse 51 for reprehensible behavior. Hadley later held a vendetta against Firehouse 51, culminating in him committing a series of arsons before eventually being caught.
Background[]
When he was 13, his father abandoned the family.
He joined Squad 3 prior to the start of the series and worked well with the team.
Season 1[]
Severide began to help Peter Mills out by training him to join the Squad, including using his contacts to get him into classes which were already full. Hadley, angered by this, began to play pranks on Mills, including pretending that his car window was smashed in and spiking his meal with Pouch's dog food. The latter prank was mean-spirited enough to cause an incident between Hadley and Mills, during which Hadley insulted Mills and violence threatened to break out between them.
As this was done while the station was being closely watched, Boden could not afford to tolerate Hadley's behavior and had to forcefully transfer him to a different squad at a different firehouse, much to Hadley's ire. (Retaliation Hit)
Season 2[]
The firehouse begins to respond to a lot of fires, to which Jeff Clarke immediately believes is arson. Severide is the first one to find a link between the buildings, noting that they're also listed as dangerous buildings on the firemen's map of the city or else directly targeting those at Firehouse 51, including Severide's car, Peter Mills family's restaurant, and spray-painting Severide's badge number onto a building. (A Problem House)
With all the above in mind, Severide suspects the arsonist to be a firefighter with a grudge against Firehouse 51, and soon meets with Hadley to ask him why he's setting all the fires in Chicago. Denying the accusation, Hadley tells Severide to prove it. (Prove It)
He turns up at the firehouse, though he doesn't say much. He uses this as an alibi as the squad soon have to go to another fire at a place listed as a dangerous building. Hadley turns up and says that he couldn't have set it because of this, as Severide is held back from attacking him. (Defcon 1)
Hadley turns up at Mouch's union meeting while he's running for Union president, accusing him of turning his back on Hadley for not defending him and his job when he was forcibly transferred.
Severide catches Hadley in the act, during a fire in another dangerous building where there's only one entrance and exit. Exposed, Hadley threatens to drop a bottle of liquid which would set fire to the building very quickly and kill everyone inside. Severide begs him to reconsider, but Hadley ignores his pleading before Severide manages to stop him, but the fluid ends up covering Hadley who is set on fire. Severide attempted to put him out before the others show up to do so. (A Nuisance Call)
Hadley survived his burns, and was then arrested and convicted of arson. He is currently serving his sentence in prison.
Season 3[]
Hadley in prison with severe burns scars.
Following his incident at his last arson, Hadley now has burn scars down on at least the right half of his body. He also walks with a limp and had implied that he's in chronic pain, due to his burns.
While in prison, Hadley calls Severide when they begin to look into the fire that killed Shay and is suggested to be arson. He says that he has some information on the arsonist and wants to meet up.
The message which Hadley receives and shows to Severide.
Hadley received information in a letter and wants to exchange this information for a mattress specifically designed for people in chronic pain. He shows the message to Severide and tells him that there's a return address, but that he'll only give it to him once he's received the mattress.
Hadley ends up sending the envelope to Severide. The return address on the envelope was an empty lot, but it was where Henry Mills died. (Three Bells)
Appearances[]
| Season 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Problem House | Prove It | Defcon 1 | A Nuisance Call | A Power Move |
| Joyriding | No Regrets | Rhymes with Shout | You Will Hurt Him | Not Like This |
| Shoved In My Face | Out With a Bang | Tonight’s the Night | Virgin Skin | Keep Your Mouth Shut |
| A Rocket Blasting Off | When Things Got Rough | Until Your Feet Leave the Ground | A Heavy Weight | A Dark Day |
| One More Shot | Real Never Waits | |||
| Season 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Always | Wow Me | Just Drive the Truck | Apologies Are Dangerous | The Nuclear Option |
| Madmen and Fools | Nobody Touches Anything | Chopper | Arrest in Transit | Santa Bites |
| Let Him Die | Ambush Predator | Three Bells | Call It Paradise | Headlong Toward Disaster |
| Red Rag the Bull | Forgive You Anything | Forgiving, Relentless, Unconditional | I Am the Apocalypse | You Know Where to Find Me |
| We Called Her Jellybean | Category 5 | Spartacus | ||
Notes and trivia[]
- His appearance is credited in the episode Always on IMDB, but he only appears in the first flashback involving Shay's first day at Firehouse 51.
- In S1 E21, he states that he was a Firefighter/EMT Candidate at Firehouse 38