One day after becoming the first woman to lead New York City’s Fire Department in its 157-year history, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh joined “Mornings on 1” to lay out her vision for the FDNY.
Kavanagh, who came into the FDNY in 2014 with a management background, said technological innovation, collaboration between city agencies and diversity sit at the top of her list of priorities.
The newly appointed commissioner emphasized that while she’s never been a firefighter herself, she’s learned how to advocate for them by immersing herself with the rank-and-file members of the department every day on the job.
“I don’t want to say I know exactly what it is [to be a firefighter], I don’t think you can until you do it, but I certainly would say I’ve done the work. I go out in the field all the time, I join the members, I talk to them, I go through a lot of their evolutions with them, I put on the gear and do their trainings with them,” she said. “I do that because I want to understand what they face on the ground. They are the boots on the ground and I want to know it feels like for them.”
While leading the fire department as acting fire commissioner, the FDNY graduated one of the most diverse classes of women firefighters in the last three decades. Kavanagh said that will remain a priority under her leadership.
“It’s exciting, yes. I want to see more woman on the job and I am very much ready to get to work to see that happen,” Kavanagh said. “I do actually think that woman are starting to see this as a job for them. We’ve seen that change over my years there, there’s a much greater interest and so I think some of what we’ve done and also a younger generation of woman I think see more options than previous generations did.”
Kavanagh also touched on the city’s upcoming contract negotiations with FDNY unions, noting that the city has a “long and positive relationship” with them and that she’s confident the two parties will reach a deal that satisfies everyone involved.