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NEW YORK, Oct. 27 (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday named Acting Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh to lead the department on a long-term basis, making her the New York Fire The first female commissioner in the bureau’s 157-year history.
“Laura Kavanagh is a proven leader, and I’m proud to announce her historic appointment today,” the Democratic mayor said.
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Kavanagh, 40, has served as acting commissioner since the retirement of Commissioner Daniel Nigro in February. She will oversee a 17,000-person department that includes firefighters and emergency medical personnel.
Her appointment as commissioner represented progress as a bastion for white males in a department that sought diversity after decades.
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As of August, the FDNY had 141 female firefighters, the most since lawsuits forced the department to hire female firefighters in the 1980s.
Kavanagh himself has never been a firefighter. Before joining the department in an executive role in 2014, she was a senior adviser to former Mayor de Blasio and campaign staff for de Blasio and former President Barack Obama. She was appointed First Deputy Commissioner in 2018.
As First Deputy Commissioner and Acting Commissioner, Kavanagh oversaw the department’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its response to tragedies, including the Bronx fire that killed 19 people.
She is a graduate of Whittier College in California and holds a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University. (AP)
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This story has been corrected to say 19 people have died in fires in the Bronx this year, not 17.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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