Kavanagh Breaks Glass Ceiling as First Female FDNY Commissioner

The FDNY’s acting commissioner is to be appointed to the job permanently on Thursday, City Hall and Fire Department sources told the Daily News.

Laura Kavanagh will become the first female commissioner in the department’s 157-year history.

Mayor Adams will appoint the San Francisco native at a ceremony at Engine 33 and Ladder 9 in Lower Manhattan, fire department sources said.

The firehouse, located on Great Jones St. near Bowery in NoHo, was where the first fire commissioner, appointed in the late 1800s, was headquartered.

Kavanagh joined the FDNY in 2014 and was named first deputy commissioner four years later.

In that job, she oversaw the department’s handling of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. She has also taken interest in diversifying the FDNY’s ranks, including the hiring of more women to department jobs.

“It’s important for young women to see other women in these positions, to know that there are other jobs in the fire department than just being a firefighter,” Kavanagh said in 2018.

Kavanagh has also worked on efforts to improve the information available to firefighters at fire scenes.

In February, she was promoted to acting commissioner following the retirement of Daniel Nigro, the fourth-longest serving fire commissioner in FDNY history.

As commissioner, Kavanagh oversees 17,000 FDNY employees and a $2 billion annual budget.

She’s already led the department in times of tragedy. The day Kavanagh became acting commissioner, Firefighter Jesse Gerhard, 33, collapsed and died after suffering a medical episode at his firehouse in Far Rockaway, Queens. The previous day, Gerhard helped fight a two-alarm blaze that Kavanagh described as a “tough assignment.”

A little over two months into her tenure, Firefighter Timothy Klein, 31, died fighting a a blaze in a Canarsie, Brooklyn home. And more recently, Kavanagh led the department in the wake of the murder Sept. 29 of FDNY Paramedic Lt. Alison Russo on a Queens street.

Before Kavanagh joined the Fire Department, she was a senior advisor to former mayor Bill de Blasio and held management roles in political campaigns.

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