The first female fire commissioner of New York City is being replaced by the CEO of a local security firm after facing backlash from her own firefighters after she investigated them for heckling the state’s attorney general, Letitia James.
Former FDNY commissioner Laura Kavanagh announced her resignation in a July Medium post after less than three years on the job, following a series of scandals including an “ageism” lawsuit and “increased tensions between herself and the department chiefs,” Firehouse reported.
In March, Kavanagh was labeled a “fascist pitbull” after a senior official warned department leaders that she would be investigating an incident in which firefighters booed and chanted, “Trump,” at AG James when she took to the stage at an FDNY promotion ceremony, Breitbart News reported.
A video of the event shows the attorney general instructing the firefighters to “simmer down” as they loudly yelled the former president’s name in retaliation for her office’s repeated legal attacks against him:
In an email obtained by the Daily Mail, FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens alerted department leaders that the Bureau of Investigation and Trials (BITS) would identify the firefighters who participated in the jeers.
“BITS is investigating this, so they will figure out who the members are,” Hodges wrote.
“I recommend they come forward. I have been told by the commissioner it will be better for them if they come forward and we don’t have to hunt them down,” he warned.
“The [deputy chiefs] shall direct the captain of the company to make a list of those who come forward and send it directly to [FDNY operations]. I realize members might not come forward but they should know that there is clear video of the entire incident and they will be contacted by BITS if they don’t,” the chief added.
An FDNY retiree told the New York Post about how the firefighters were feeling after being told they were to be “hunted down.”
“It was a political stunt for the city to have the AG there. When it backfired, they sent their fascist pit bulls after guys for exercising their First Amendment rights,” he said. “Most were off-duty and not in FDNY uniform.”
FDNY later walked back the investigation, with spokesman Jim Long telling Fox News that “nobody is hunting anyone down.”
“We’re looking into those who clearly broke department regulations. It has nothing to do with politics. It’s about professionalism at an official event held in a house of worship,” he said.
Kavanagh’s announcement that she would be stepping down came just a few months later.
Mayor Eric Adams (D) named Robert Tucker, CEO of T&M USA, as her replacement on Monday, Fox News reported. Tucker was sworn in soon after the announcement:
Robert S. Tucker's very first job as a young man was working at the @FDNY communications office.
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) August 12, 2024
Today, he becomes the 35th commissioner of New York's Bravest — a real full-circle moment!
Commissioner Tucker brings decades of experience in protecting public safety to this role,… pic.twitter.com/5TTZQrySCJ
“Public safety has been my life’s work,” the security expert said. “I’ve had a long career in the public and private sector, and being appointed the fire commissioner of the City New York is the biggest honor of my life.”
FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association President Andrew Ansbro celebrated Tucker as a good choice to lead the fire department.
“It is great to see that the new commissioner has long and deep ties with the FDNY and a great appreciation for the rank and file of New York City’s bravest,” the union president said in a statement obtained by Fox News. “From his early start in communications and his hard work and life-long dedication, which led to his appointment to the Board of Directors for the FDNY Foundation, his experience makes him uniquely qualified to understand the changes that could be made to improve efficiency in the department by increasing unit availability, which would lead to a decrease in response times.”
