The National Hispanic Firefighters Association on Friday demanded FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh be sacked, claiming she’s done nothing to increase diversity while only dividing the ranks.
The group’s president, Dr. Manuel Fonseca, sent Mayor Eric Adams a scathing, three-page memo alleging Kavanagh needs to be terminated at least partly for creating the city fire department’s infamous “ongoing and dangerous mutiny.
“Mayor, we ask you to investigate the bizarre facts and circumstances … that could only provoke dissent and distrust among FDNY members of all ranks and positions,” Fonseca wrote.
These “circumstances” include Kavanagh’s alleged mishandling of her demotion of three top brass, which prompted a slew of other department deputies to resign their titles in protest.
Her alleged lack of leadership also includes the leaked recording of her telling fire chiefs to think “outside the box” before the sudden demotions.
The group told Mayor Adams that “Commissioner Kavanagh needs to be terminated.” APKavanagh used “old canceled and unsustained [Equal Employment Opportunity] complaints” against the demoted chiefs “to besmirch their reputations and justify her action,” Fonseca claimed.
That played a part in the first female commissioner’s self-created “ongoing and dangerous mutiny at FDNY,” he said.
Kavanagh claims “she is suffering the fallout from a racist, misogynistic, and bullying FDNY which is resisting her singular championing of minorities and women,” but “This is a demonstrably false narrative,” Fonseca maintained.
Fonseca blamed Kavanagh for “bizarre facts and circumstances … that could only provoke dissent and distrust among FDNY members of all ranks and positions.”
He added that the top fire official “removed every member of the Hispanic Society (3) who had a position in the prior Commissioner’s office,” and her hiring and day-to-day operations show “neglect and lack of effort for Hispanic FDNY Members and other minorities.”
Fonseca noted that he was among those interviewed for the top job in February last year when Kavanagh first took over as acting chief.
“A year has passed, and the exact topics of diversity, inclusion, promotions, and staff assignments that we discussed … have yet to be addressed,” he complained.
“We have yet to be sent one proposal for improving diversity within the FDNY.”
“A year has passed” and concerns over “diversity, inclusion, promotions, and staff assignments” haven’t been addressed by Kavanagh, Fonseca wrote. Paul MartinkaFonseca also said his association had planned to hold back any lawsuits in the mistaken belief that Kavanagh “would keep her word and work with the affinity groups.”
“Now Fire Commissioner [Kavanagh] has forced our hand to move forward with our lawsuits because of her neglect and dishonesty,” he said in the statement, which misspelled Kavanagh’s last name.
Fonseca also asked ripped Kavanagh’s lack of “leadership and outrage that a secret recording of her meeting with top chiefs was leaked.
“FDNY policy bars any recording in FDNY facilities to protect members … This recording leak may even be a criminal matter and violate state and federal statutes,” he noted.
In a scathing summary, he told Adams: “We believe that once you review [Kavanagh’s] questionable judgments below, you will come to the same conclusion: The urgent need to terminate Fire Commissioner [Kavanagh] and replace her with a competent and unifying commissioner with emotional (and rational) intelligence.”
City Hall did not respond to a request for comment.
But a Fire Department source said in an e-mail, “The Commissioner’s focus on diversifying the department has been successful.
“Commissioner Kavanagh has worked closely with the administration and the City Council to pass and enact a historic package of bills to improve diversity in the ranks of the FDNY.
“Commissioner Kavanagh has also hired the FDNY’s: First Black Chief of EMS; first Black female executive officer; first Latina woman to serve in the role of First Deputy Commissioner (acting) [and the] first Hispanic FDNY Chief of Staff for her executive team.”
Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan






