As she leaves FDNY Headquarters Wednesday, outgoing Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh will be gifting something from her office to her successor: a poster honoring the 343 members who died on 9/11.
The message the poster evokes is both simple and profound: Never forget about the rank-and-file members risking their lives every day under your watch.
Kavanagh received the poster from former top FDNY spokesman Frank Gribbon and kept it near her desk throughout her years as first deputy commissioner, acting commissioner, and finally, the city’s first woman fire commissioner.
“It made some of the big decisions I made over the last few years seem a lot less hard,” Kavanagh told the Daily News. “I would always think, what would these men have wanted?”
On Wednesday, after 10 years with the FDNY, Kavanagh handed over the reins to First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer, who will be the department’s acting commissioner until Mayor Adams names a replacement.
Whoever that person is, Kavanagh hopes that he — or she — utilizes a “ground up” leadership style rather than a “top down” one from the eighth floor of headquarters.
“They have to go out to the firehouses and EMS stations, they really need to do that,” said Kavanagh, who says she has visited every FDNY unit in the city. On Tuesday, she spent her morning with the firefighters in Rescue 1 in Hell’s Kitchen, greeting them as they returned from a 911 call.
“It was something members found unusual,” she said of the visits. “But headquarters is where you purchase things and sign documents.”
“We are here because of them,” she said of the rank and file. “Making this a human-centric job always remained my goal.”
It was also one of the reasons why she ended up butting heads with the department’s top chiefs, a handful of whom still have a pending ageism lawsuit against her.
When she was first appointed FDNY commissioner, Kavanagh made it clear to her chiefs that the bullying of firefighters and EMS members by their superiors was no longer acceptable. She also instituted improved leadership training for recently promoted officers facing a more diverse workforce.
“Being an officer in the FDNY is a far more complex job than it was a decade ago,” Kavanagh said. “In addition to fighting fires, they have to keep a group of people cohesive, safe and well trained. Anything that affects one member can affect their group and their performance in the field.”
Kavanagh hopes her successor expands officer training. She also hopes they continue with digitizing the FDNY’s personnel system, which allows firefighters and EMS members to access their own files and navigate how they want their career path to go in the department.
The digitized system will help firefighters move up the ranks on their merits rather than who they know can put a good word in for them, she said.
“Most of our members are now first-generation firefighters of all races and genders,” she said. “You no longer have to know someone to know how your career will unfold. You can actually plan it yourself.”
Kavanagh has been credited for making the department more diverse, quadrupling the number of women firefighters and for being on the front lines in the city’s fight against exploding lithium-ion batteries. She’s also helped the department upgrade its equipment and technology, especially the use of drone technology.
She announced her departure on July 13 and wants to spend time with family before figuring out what her next step will be.
Kavanagh says her role as commissioner was an all-consuming 24/7 job, and she didn’t know if she could continue giving her all while missing out on important family events.
“For me, it’s been seven years going at 100%,” she said about her various leadership positions in the department. “It’s time to take the baton and give it to someone with the same amount of enthusiasm.”
Her time as commissioner, in fact, reinforced just how important connections with family and friends can be.
“This is a place that reminds you to be more present, and it reminds you how fleeting that could be,” she said. “The Fire Department has changed me forever. It really showed me what it means to show up for people. It’s not about sending a card. When they’re needed, their presence is all encompassing. That is the fabric of life.”
Yet critics claim Mayor Adams pressured her to step down over increased tensions between herself and the department chiefs. She had also “lost touch with the membership,” one FDNY source said.
From the outset, Kavanagh’s tenure was criticized by her staff chiefs, upset that she demoted three of them just months after taking office. Several chiefs asked to be demoted in solidarity, but Kavanagh never signed off on any of the requests.
Kavanagh said such criticism “was never part of the equation” in her decision to leave. “[Those criticisms] don’t matter to me at all,” she said.
Adams has said repeatedly he would like Kavanagh to stay on as FDNY commissioner or in another capacity in city government.
“New York City has been incredibly lucky to have @FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh at the helm during our most challenging and perilous moments over the last two years,” Adams posted on X Wednesday. “Not only has she broken the highest glass ceiling, but her leadership has made us safer. I and all New Yorkers are deeply grateful for her service. Best of luck, Commissioner.”
As she closes the door to her office, she says she hasn’t ruled out returning to city government but leaves proud to be a trailblazer as the first woman FDNY commissioner.
“It hasn’t fully hit me,” she said about the legacy she left with the FDNY. “I see how much it matters when I get the opportunity to meet with young woman and girls. Sometimes just women on the street stop me. I don’t think people are paying attention, but there are those moments people stop me and said it made a difference.”
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