Anger flares vs. commish
She’s booed at FDNY ceremony amid tension over demotions
Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh was jeered by a small crowd of firefighters at a promotion ceremony in Brooklyn on Tuesday as the FDNY continues to reel from a shakeup at its highest ranks.
“Pipe down, gentlemen!” FDNY Capt. Andrew Brown said sternly from the podium, bringing the impromptu protest to a quick end at the Christian Cultural Center in East New York, where several dozen firefighters were promoted to officer ranks.
“[Brown] had to be the dad in the room and tried to get everyone under control,” said one high-ranking FDNY member who observed the ceremony.
The handful of boos came a day after the Daily News reported that Chief of Department John “Jack” Hodgens, the most senior uniformed official in the FDNY, and Chief of Fire Operations John Esposito resigned their ranks in solidarity with three chiefs whom Kavanagh demoted Friday.
More chiefs were expected to resign their titles in solidarity with Assistant Chiefs Fred Schaaf, Michael Gala and Joseph Jardin, whom Kavanagh demoted to deputy chief, several sources told The News.
Hodgens received a massive ovation from those in attendance as he sat next to Kavanagh, the department’s first female fire commissioner, on the dais Tuesday.
The widespread round of applause, which included Kavanagh, lasted for nearly 90 seconds. Hodgens stuck to his chief of department role for the duration of the ceremony and took pictures with Kavanagh and the promoted officers, but didn’t give a speech as he has in the past, according to an insider with knowledge of the leadership saga.
Several high-ranking fire chiefs skipped the ceremony, opting instead to go to a funeral for an FDNY firefighter.
“A lot of staffers who wouldn’t normally come to the promotions were suddenly there to backfill the dais,” the insider said.
Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks called Monday on Hodgens and Esposito to reconsider their resignations and “negotiate their way back in,” but the two chiefs wouldn’t budge from their decision, the insider said.
“They’ve boxed themselves in, all three of them,” a former FDNY official said about the Kavanagh-Hodgens-Esposito drama. “She can’t unfire them. They can’t stay and ask Banks to tell Kavanagh to be nice to them. It’s an untenable situation.”
Following the promotion ceremony, Kavanagh said the two chiefs remained at their posts Tuesday.
“They are the chief of department and chief of operations right now,” Kavanagh said. “It’s totally acceptable to me if they don’t want to [stay], and we will have that conversation.
“Whatever they decide to do, I respect their opinion,” she added.
But the union representing FDNY officers said a lack of communication started the faceoff in the first place.
“This wasn’t a one-time incident,” said James McCarthy, president of the FDNY’s Uniformed Firefighters Officers Association. “It’s an ongoing problem with communications and transparency and inclusion in the Fire Department leadership. The chiefs feel they’re being excluded from [Kavanagh’s] decisions and things are being decided without their input.”
An FDNY battalion chief, who wished not to be named, believes the crux of the tensions is that the higher ranks don’t really know Kavanagh.
“Everyone is walking around on eggshells because of Kavanagh. She has no credibility,” the chief said. “This happened with [former Fire Commissioners Howard] Safir and [Nicholas] Scoppetta. It’s a tight circle and when an outsider comes in, they aren’t going to be trusted.”
The Uniformed Firefighters Officers Association was one of the first unions to support Mayor Adams’ run for City Hall. But they never supported Kavanagh, even when she was acting fire commissioner, the FDNY insider said.
“The union gave Adams a list of suggestions for fire commissioner and Laura Kavanagh wasn’t on that list,” he said. “After all the searches, [Adams] settled on Kavanagh. The union told him they would try to work with her, but there was some resentment. There was a reason she wasn’t on the list.”
In her speech at the promotion ceremony, Kavanagh zeroed in on a solution to the ongoing strife: Everyone should set aside their differences and focus on the rank-and-file firefighters, which is their mandate.
“Leadership in the FDNY is simple,” she told the officers being promoted. “If you wake up every day and say, ‘Did I do for the members in the field today what they needed? Did I think of them?’ and you will never fail. We work for them. That’s why we’re here.”
And, despite the drama, the FDNY will remain a family, Kavanagh insisted.
“Family is the secret to our success,” she said. “Families fight, but family continues to be family.”