NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday appointed interim fire commissioner Laura Kavanagh to lead the department on a permanent basis, making her the first female commissioner in the 157-year history of the New York firefighters.
“Laura Kavanagh is a proven leader and I am proud to announce her historic appointment today,” said the Democratic mayor.
Kavanagh, 40, has been acting commissioner since Commissioner Daniel Nigro retired in February. He will oversee a department of 17,000 people, including firefighters and emergency health workers.
His appointment as commissioner represents progress for a department seeking to diversify after decades as a bastion of whites.
As of August, there were 141 female firefighters in the FDNY, most since a lawsuit forced the department to hire women as firefighters in the 1980s.
Kavanagh was never a firefighter. She was a senior advisor to former Mayor Bill de Blasio and a member of the campaign staff of de Blasio and former President Barack Obama, before joining the department in an administrative position in 2014. She was named first. deputy commissioner in 2018.
As First Deputy Commissioner and Acting Commissioner, Kavanagh oversaw the Department’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its response to tragedies, including a Bronx fire that killed 19 people.
He is a graduate of Whittier College in California and an MBA from Columbia University.
