Craig McCarthy, Larry Celona and Matt Troutman | Aug. 12, 2024
The FDNY’s new commissioner is getting a baptism of fire.
Robert Tucker — who was named head of the Fire Department on Monday — is already facing fresh fire from rank-and-file rankled by how the city handled his swearing-in ceremony.
Sources said that Mayor Eric Adams’ speech touting former commissioner Laura Kavanagh’s work fighting lithium-ion battery fires and his promise to quench internal departmental blazes that engulfed her tenure had inflamed many of New York’s Bravest.
“The mayor talked about putting out fires and he started a new one,” an FDNY supervisor source said.
Some were also stunned that Regina Wilson — an FDNY veteran and head of the black firefighters’ group the Vulcan Society who waged a discrimination lawsuit against the department — not only took the stage to speak during the ceremony, in an apparent last-minute addition by City Hall, but also was given final say over the commissioner pick.
But one prominent union leader found Tucker’s remarks gave the department’s EMS workers short shrift.
Oren Barzilay, president of FDNY EMS Local 2507, said Gotham’s medical first responders and fire prevention inspectors, or FPIs, should be treated as equals.
“Our members were completely relegated to a postscript mention in the new commissioner’s remarks, which is an insult to thousands who wear the uniform as FDNY EMTs, paramedics and fire protection inspectors,” Barzilay said.
“Once again, it goes to show that things will never change in the FDNY. EMS and FPIs will always be second-class, stepchildren.”