Eric Adams hopes to calm ‘flames burning’ within FDNY with new commissioner pick

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams appointed Robert Tucker as the new commissioner of the FDNY Monday, a move the public safety-focused mayor hoped would quiet the tumult at a public safety agency.

In a ceremony at Randall’s Island, Adams alluded to the tension in the upper echelons of the agency, which had spawned a steady stream of headlines throughout his mayoralty.

“I knew what he was inheriting, he was inheriting more than just a department that had to put out flames in burning buildings, we have to put out the flames that are actually burning inside the agency. … That’s why Robert was crucial to me,” Adams said.

Tucker is taking over a position left open by Laura Kavanagh, who stepped down after holding the role since October 2022 and serving in an acting capacity for eight months prior to her appointment.

Kavanagh had never been a firefighter herself, and she faced intense backlash from a group of fire chiefs who took issue with her efforts to reorganize the department and call them to task. Tensions with factions of the FDNY were further heightened after the New York Post published text messages of Kavanagh criticizing rank-and-file members who booed state Attorney General Letitia James and chanted support for former President Donald Trump.

She also drew criticism from Council Member Joann Ariola, who chairs the body’s Committee on Fire and Emergency Management.

“It’s a challenging task to be the first woman to be a commissioner in the FDNY, and she stood up to that challenge,” Adams said of Kavanagh. “Being the bravest is more than running into a burning building, it’s running into challenging circumstances.”

Kavanagh penned a departure letter in a Medium post several days ago.

Like Kavanagh, Tucker was never a firefighter, though the longtime security executive is an FDNY Foundation board member.

Tucker’s security experience could prove controversial as connections to Israel’s offensive against Palestinians are heavily scrutinized by activists and left-wing lawmakers.

He is the co-founder of T&M Protection Resources, a private security company with an Israel branch that hires former IDF soldiers to perform guarding services for settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, according to Who Profits Research Center .

Reacting to the news of Tucker’s appointment, the president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York, Andrew Ansbro, told POLITICO that the union is excited about the pick.

“He’s someone who’s had a lifelong love of the fire department. … It’s good to see someone who has a bottom-up relationship with the fire department and sees it from all angles, it brings a lot to the table of the organization,” Ansbro said.

When asked if the union has any issue with Tucker’s lack of firefighting experience, Ansbro said he sees no issue with it.

“The commissioner is an administrative position where their skills in politics and business are much more important than whether or not they’ve ever actually fought a fire,” Ansbro said.

As for what he hopes Tucker focuses on in his new role, Ansbro said his top issue is restoring resources that were cut over the last 20 years.

“Response time is our number one metric,” Ansbro said. “We need adequate resources, more fire engines and more staffing out there to keep the response times lower.”

Tucker, who was an FDNY summer intern in 1985, called being appointed commissioner “the biggest honor of my life.”