FDNY management denies executives’ requests for demotion as unrest spreads: sources
FDNY bosses are turning down demotion requests from some veteran bosses who requested demotions following a controversial departmental reshuffle of Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, sources told The Post on Sunday.
More than half a dozen aides and deputy chiefs have asked to be returned to field positions in solidarity with three senior FDNY officials who were abruptly demoted by Kavanagh last month.
Sources said Kavanagh is pushing for a 90-day “cool off” period during which she no longer accepts requests for demotion.
According to sources, Kavanagh and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks are having trouble getting into the top ranks as Big Apple firefighters refuse to take the assistant chief’s exam.
“The problem is that nobody wants this job, so they can’t let these bosses leave their current job,” one fire department source said. “They have a real problem – one they created.”
One FDNY veteran, law enforcement personnel chief Michael Massucci, was transferred to the department’s “tool room” after his request for a demotion was denied pending a search for his replacement, people familiar with the situation said.
FDNY representatives did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
Unrest among New York’s bravest ranks broke out when, on February 3, Kavanaugh demoted three senior officers—Associate Fire Chief Joe Jardine, Assistant Chief of Operations Michael Gal, and Assistant Chief of Operations Fred Schaaf.
The move backfired, with Kavanagh and Banks being inundated with multiple requests for voluntary demotions in solidarity, including from department chief John Hodgens.
According to sources, eight executives, including Massucci, asked for a demotion, six of them in writing, were denied. He could not be contacted for comment on Sunday.
Last month, three involuntary demoted chiefs – Jardin, Gala and Schaaf, along with Massucci – filed a lawsuit in the Brooklyn Supreme Court to overturn the demotions, but a judge denied their attempt to block them until the case is resolved.
In the midst of the spreading dissent, Kavanagh last month appointed Joseph Pfeiffer, a retired FDNY hero, as his first deputy commissioner.
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