FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh announced on Saturday that she will step down after two years in the job.
It is “time for me to pass the torch to the next leader,” stated Kavanagh, who became the first female chief of the country’s largest fire agency since its founding in 1865. She specified that she will remain at the helm of the agency until Mayor Adams finds a replacement
“I look forward to spending the next several months assisting the department’s transition in leadership, before embarking on my next professional challenge,” she added. “New York City will always be the love of my life,” Kavanagh said. “My dedication to the FDNY has never and will never waver.”
Adams commended Kavanagh in a separate statement, referring to her as a “trailblazer” who modernized the FDNY’s IT infrastructure, safeguarded the health of its employees, and broadened the department’s diversity.
Kavanagh had served as an interim commissioner for seven months after former Commissioner Daniel Nigro’s retirement before Mayor Eric Adams named her to the position permanently in October 2022. Prior to that, Kavanagh had served as the first deputy commissioner of FDNY for five years.
Since entering office, Kavanagh has had disagreements with some sections of the fire service. The most notable of them was a lawsuit filed by three former fire chiefs, who claimed that Kavanagh had demoted them due to their age.
Kavanagh has also been under fire recently since the city’s Emergency Medical Services response times have been longer than they have been since the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic, averaging 12.81 minutes for life-threatening medical crises and 28.31 minutes for non-life-threatening ones.
