“Old boys’ club” forced resignation of FDNY chief Laura Kavanaugh: Former commissioner Tom Von Essen

The head of the New York Police Department during 9/11 sharply attacks the agency’s “old boys’ club” and City Hall for helping to “lure Commissioner Laura Kavanagh into a trap.”

“The devil is in the details,” former Fire Commissioner Tom Von Essen told the Washington Post, referring to the recently announced resignation of the department’s controversial outgoing first female fire commissioner.

“The New York Fire Department Chiefs of Staff Old Boys Club was definitely after (Kavanaugh),” he said. “She handled the matter poorly, but she was on the right track in trying to bring more of the younger, talented lieutenants, captains and battalion chiefs into headquarters with higher goals than just boosting time off and pensions.”

Von Essen, 79, is well versed in the internal workings of the FDNY and also worked with agency officials and FDNY paramedics on the front lines when he served as the NY-NJ regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said Mayor Eric Adams’ administration could also have better supported Kavanagh in her role as head of the country’s largest fire department.

“When Commissioner Kavanagh was appointed, they gave her a chief of staff from the NYPD – I mean, who thought that up?” Von Essen said, referring to Luis Martinez.

“Well, it was a deputy mayor from the NYPD – I guess a good manager, but clueless,” he said, referring to Phil Banks, Adams’ deputy for public safety, who apparently put Martinez in the job.

Kavanagh’s announced resignation a week ago came after a series of controversies that reportedly led some members of Adams’ administration to question her ability to lead the city’s fire department. Adams has publicly stood by his fire commissioner.

Among the problems the commissioner faced were increasingly slow fire department response times, a rise in the number of lithium-ion battery-related fires citywide, repeated criticism from subordinates and an age discrimination lawsuit filed by department heads she demoted.

An angry Kavanagh also ordered the leadership to hunt down the smoke-eaters who mercilessly booed the state’s Attorney General, Letitia James, during a departmental promotion ceremony in March – and cheered in support of Donald Trump.

Von Essen agreed that the boos and heckling at the ceremony were “inappropriate behavior” and called the age discrimination lawsuit “nonsense.”

He also praised the rank-and-file firefighters and paramedics who did “such a good job” that it could disguise the “poor management” of the New York Fire Department.

The agency’s bureaucratic culture is an obstacle and a long-term problem, says von Essen, who headed the department on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists carried out the attacks that brought down the World Trade Center.

“There are dozens of management improvements that need to be implemented at the FDNY. They will never succeed with the old bureaucratic mentality,” he said.

He recommended:

• Fire/EMS and hospital leaders have developed a plan to dramatically reduce “unacceptable” response times, which are largely caused by paramedics spending “too much time” in hospital emergency rooms.
• Encourage more military veterans to become firefighters to promote racial and ethnic diversity. “The military members are already vetted, have professional experience and are diverse,” he said.
• The next fire chief should be a business executive or a retired military leader. “The New York Fire Department needs a strong manager who understands safety, efficiency, policy, responsibility and leadership,” Von Essen said.

Reached for comment, the FDNY and the mayor’s office referred The Post to statements Kavanagh made on PIX 11 on Sunday.

Kavanagh said she wants to be a role model as the first female commissioner of the New York City Fire Department.

“I knew how hard it could be… I knew it would get harder. There would be some messy and uncomfortable parts,” she said.

But it was worth it, she said – adding that it was unfair to denigrate the FDNY since many organizations struggle to have a “first” female leader.

She said the next commissioner must be both “really tough” and self-reflective.

Kavanagh said she was most angry when she witnessed the booing and heckling from FDNY employees at the promotion ceremony James attended.

“I have never been so angry in my entire time in office. I have never been so upset,” said the commissioner.

“I couldn’t stop it that day. I had to sit on the stage. It was embarrassing. The fact that I couldn’t stop it that day was annoying.”

She also called the discrimination lawsuit against her and the department “absurd.”