Up Close: FDNY Commissioner Kavanagh on why she is leaving

ByBill Ritter

Thursday, July 18, 2024

FDNY Commissioner Kavanagh talks resignation, time on job

Bill Ritter has this exclusive.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Laura Kavanagh made history in New York City nearly two years ago, becoming the first woman commissioner of the FDNY, the country's largest fire department.

Hard working, and well liked by most, Kavanagh took the deadly controversy of improper lithium-ion batteries, and helped make them illegal in New York City, and soon, across the country.

In her first television interview, Kavanagh told Eyewitness News why she's decided to leave, this - after 10 years working for the department.

Kavanagh said "its time" to "pass the torch" to the next leader of the fire department, saying the job "takes 100%"

"I always knew I needed to leave when I wasn't able to give it 100% anymore," she told Bill Ritter for Up Close.

The fire chief said she had been thinking about leaving for a while, and cited family as a reason for this decision.

"I spent some time with family and the answer was right in front of me. Which is, I need to see more of them and I need to pass the torch to somebody when I am still at 100%," Kavanagh said. "You don't want to wait until that last moment. You want to take the right moment."

Kavanagh said she was "absolutely not" forced out by Mayor Eric Adams, who she called "one of the best bosses I've ever had."

"One of the hardest parts of my decision was how much I have enjoyed working for him," she said.

And she was not fazed by internal criticisms, knowing "what it means to be a woman in a leadership role." Kavanagh was the first woman to oversee the fire department in its nearly 160-year history.

She also revealed the most mad she's ever been is when a small group of firefighters or their families booed New York Attorney General Letitia James during a March graduation ceremony, a vocal protest of her investigation into former President Donald Trump.

"I think that's the most upset I've ever been in this job in terms of just the way we were portrayed," she said. "What should be clear, it's the behavior of only a couple of our members. The vast majority of our members always do the right thing."

Kavanagh did not reveal what her next role would but, but said "I am only saying yes to a job if it's the right thing."

You can see more of Bill's interview with the soon-to-be former fire commissioner on Up Close, this Sunday at 11 a.m. on Channel 7, or you can watch it anytime, right here.