New York City Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh announced he was stepping down in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
In a statement, Kavanagh, 42, said he still has the support of New York City Mayor Eric Adams.The mayor appointed her to serve as the city’s first female fire chief in 2022.
“Commissioner Kavanagh has dedicated her life to keeping New Yorkers safe, and while she is clearly welcome to stay in this position for as long as she wishes, we respect her decision to take the next step in her career,” Adams said.
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FDNY Chief Laura Kavanagh is resigning. (Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Kavanagh has come under fire recently both inside and outside the FDNY.
More recently, Kavanagh was booed during New York City’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in March after he promised to “hunt down” protesting firefighters who booed Attorney General Letitia James at a Fire Department ceremony a week before the parade.
In 2023, she was sued for age discrimination, alleging that she targeted older, more senior FDNY officers for demotions, retaliation and forced retirement.
According to the 53-page lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, several senior employees in their late 50s and early 60s are suing Kavanagh under the state’s Human Rights Act, seeking unspecified damages, back wages and the return of their positions. First Edition According to the New York Post.
The lawsuit alleges that employees were forced to work in a hostile and retaliatory work environment.
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Fire Commissioner Laura Cabana and members of the New York City Fire Department visit the Empire State Building in New York City. (Roy Rochlin/Empire State Realty Trust via Getty Images)
“The decisions I have made over the past month have been difficult, but I am confident the time has come to pass the baton to the next leader of the world’s greatest fire department,” Kavanagh said in a statement.
“I look forward to assisting with the Fire Department’s leadership transition in the coming months before embarking on my next professional challenge. Thank you, Mayor Adams, for the opportunity and your continued support of me and the FDNY,” she added.
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“It has been the honor of a lifetime to dedicate the last 10 years, five as First Deputy Chief and more than two as Chief, to advocating for the officers and men of the FDNY.”
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller and Andrea Vacciano contributed to this report.
