Days after Adams administration officials denied the existence of a list to prioritize certain buildings and developers for fire department inspections, NY1 has obtained internal FDNY documents and emails showing multiple versions of the list in 2021 and 2022.

A source provided NY1 with more than a dozen documents detailing discussions by top fire department officials regarding the priority list. In 2022, after Mayor Eric Adams took the reins at City Hall, several officials raised concerns that the list was no longer serving its original purpose — to help small businesses navigate city bureaucracy.

The June 2022 list, which is the most recent provided to NY1,  includes Hudson Yards, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Facebook’s new offices, and a high-end sushi restaurant in One Vanderbilt. Some of the top developers on the list have donated thousands of dollars to Adams’ 2021 campaign.

Some versions of this list detail the “source” for trying to fast-track the inspection for these projects. Those sources include Council members, City Hall, state lawmakers and lobbyists. 

The list, which has been referred to as the “DMO List,” has become the subject of controversy in recent weeks following reports federal officials were examining whether the mayor urged the fire department to fast-track safety inspections for the Turkish consulate in 2021 prior to taking office.

On multiple occasions, Adams officials have denied the list exists. But documents and emails provided to NY1 show officials from the FDNY revising the list on multiple occasions, sometimes at the behest of City Hall. 

In April of 2022, a fire department official writes: “the request to expedite Hudson Yards comes from the Office of the Fire Commissioner, as a top priority from city hall. Any feedback or consequences from rescheduled/cancelled inspections on other affected projects can be handled by the OFC if necessary.”

Fire officials go on to say they would need to cancel 15 to 20 other inspections in order to prioritize the Hudson Yards inspection.

The list first came to light as part of an age discrimination lawsuit brought by several top chiefs in the Fire Department. In that suit, they allege the “DMO list — at the behest of the Real Estate Board of New York — was being used to fast-track inspections for “friends” of City Hall. The list was originally conceived during the de Blasio administration as a way to cut red tape for small businesses following the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the communications provided to NY1, fire officials raise concerns how the list had grown under the Adams administration and its fire commissioner, Laura Kavanagh.

In March 2022, Assistant Chief Kevin Brennan writes to multiple fire department officials: “All these requests on this list cannot come before ‘everyone else.’ It's bad customer service to the public at large who for the most part do not have the influence to move their project along. A compromise must be reached.”