April 17, 2023 Asst. Chief Thomas Currao is outraged by remarks from First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer.

By Thomas Tracy Source New York Daily News (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

NEW YORK — Another FDNY chief has asked to be demoted as the department continues to quake from the ongoing clash between Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh and the department’s top brass, sources told The New York Daily News.

Assistant Chief Thomas Currao sent a letter asking for a demotion and to be put back in the field earlier this week, sources with knowledge of the case said.

Currao was apparently outraged of the flippant way newly minted First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer dismissed concerns by staff chiefs who feel they’re being ignored by Kavanagh and her team in a recent New York Times column, said the sources.

Pfeifer said in the interview that the chiefs’ demotion requests “lessened their authority in the field.” He also said he didn’t see how the chiefs could be part of the FDNY going forward.

“They can’t go out on their own and make their own rules,” Pfeifer said, adding that if chiefs could ask to be demoted “why not an entire firehouse says, I want to be transferred.”

Pfeifer also said the FDNY has a deep bench to replace the dissatisfied chiefs.

“There’s a lot of very experienced people in the field that we can bring up, that may even have more experience than some of the people that want to self-demote,” he said.

Currao, who sources said had been trying to mend relations between Kavanagh and the chiefs who dislike her, felt that Pfeifer had “stabbed him in the back.”

He is the 10th staff chief who has either been demoted by Kavanagh or had asked to be lowered in rank to deputy chief, sources said.

There are 23 staff chiefs in the entire FDNY, including several on medical leave. Between those who have been demoted and those out on medical leave, there are only seven active staff chiefs citywide, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

Kavanagh hasn’t signed off on any of the demotion requests. She’s asked the chiefs to hang on for three more months.

The turmoil in the department’s upper ranks came into full view in February after the Daily News broke a story about how two top uniformed FDNY officials stepped down to protest Kavanagh demoting three other chiefs.

The three assistant chiefs Kavanagh demoted — Michael Gala, Joseph Jardin and Fred Schaaf — were lowered in rank after Kavanagh complained they hadn’t given brought her any new ideas.

She was said to have wanted “out-of-the-box thinking” from the chiefs, but was peppered with requests about overtime and department-issued take-home cars, according to a recording of the gathering shared with the Daily News.

Kavanagh’s decisions have received the full support of Mayor Eric Adams, who selected her for the post in October.

“We knew from the onset that Commissioner Kavanagh was coming in, she was changing a culture that she felt she should have changed, and she wanted those high-ranking individuals to be responsive to her mission moving forward. And that’s what she did,” Adams said on 1010 WINS last month.

The demoted chiefs are currently suing the department, accusing Kavanagh of ageism. At 40, Kavanagh, the city’s first woman fire commissioner, is also one of the city’s youngest commissioners.

“City Hall has its head buried in the sand,” said attorney Jim Walden, who is representing the angry chiefs. “The situation at the FDNY is further devolving. If the mayor refuses to act, he’ll own the consequences.”

FDNY spokeswoman Amanda Farinacci said despite the turmoil among the top chiefs, the Fire Department is ready to handle any emergency.

“Under Commissioner Kavanagh’s leadership, the FDNY remains fully ready to respond to New Yorkers who call 911 for help,” Farinacci said. “While we don’t comment on personnel matters, the department is fully staffed.”

April 15, 2023 Abbott firefighter Horace Dan Wright was struck by a fire apparatus just five miles from where a West firefighter was struck on Interstate 35 in recent weeks.

Source Firehouse.com News

An Abbott firefighter was struck and killed while serving as a spotter along Interstate 35 Friday night. The incident occurred less than a month after a West firefighter died after being struck just five miles away.

Abbott firefighters were called to an accident around mile marker 359 about 7:15 p.m. 

“As they arrived, it was determined that it was actually a stranded motorist and they opted to stay on scene to assist with traffic control until a wrecker arrived,” the Hill County Sheriff’s office told KWTX. Crews decided to reposition the apparatus since it was not a crash.

Firefighter Horace Dan Wright was killed when he was “backed into by the firetruck” near mile marker 359.

Crews treated Wright at the scene and he was rushed to Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest hospital in Waco. He was pronounced a short time later, officials said. 

“Immediately, life saving measures were started and additional emergency services were summoned to the scene,” the statement from sheriff’s said.

“You’d think going into a burning building is dangerous. Working I-35 is a whole lot more dangerous,” West Mayor Tommy Muska told KWTX.com last month when West firefighter Edward Hykel was killed after he and two police officers were struck mile marker 354 on March 28. “People don’t take their time, people don’t respect a fire engine straddling the road.”

Hykel, 60, was injured in the April 17, 2013 explosion at the West Fertilizer plant. 

The tragic incident Friday comes just three days before the 10th anniversary of the explosion that killed 12 firefighters and EMT in the small town of West – about 90 miles south of Dallas.

Two Abbott firefighters — Jerry D. Chapman and Cyrus A. Reed — were among the 12 killed in the explosion. 

April 14, 2023 A private company under contract with the FDNY inspects the system every five years.

By Denis Slattery, Graham Rayman Source New York Daily News (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A Rikers Island fire safety system that failed in a blaze that badly burned two detainees and left a dozen other inmates and correction staff with smoke inhalation was last inspected in November 2021, records obtained by the Daily News show.

A private company under contract with FDNY and fire safety inspectors tested and passed the sprinkler system as functional at the North Infirmary Command. An FDNY spokesperson said the system was on a five-year inspection cycle — meaning it was due for its next check in November 2026.

But the sprinkler and strobe-alarm system failed in the April 6 blaze, and there were issues with the Correction Department emergency response.

It is unclear what happened with the sprinkler system in the 17 months that passed between its inspection and the fire. The Correction Department, which is responsible for maintaining the system, did not respond to requests for comment.

FDNY spokeswoman Amanda Farinacci said Friday an investigation into the fire continues.

The fire began after correction officers conducted at least one search the morning of April 6 and confiscated personal possession of detainees held in North Infirmary Command Unit 2A, where some high-security detainees are held in an area that also includes tiny fenced enclosures. Detainees call the area “the kennel.”

The search took place after the Correction Department learned nine state legislators were arriving to do a surprise inspection of the jails, and at least one intended to visit the North Infirmary Command.

A detainee started the fire by setting his mattress ablaze at about 1:30 p.m.

MK Kaishian, a lawyer, said a client in the unit told her the sprinkler system “hissed once” and fell silent. The smoke grew so thick and the emergency response was so delayed that detainees were flushing their toilets to get air.

A correction officer appeared with a fire extinguisher, but was unable to extinguish the flames. It finally took FDNY firefighters with a hose to put out the blaze about 2:13 p.m.

In the aftermath of the fire, the detainees housed in Unit 2A were moved to Unit 2B in the same jail — where, instead of being given access to toilets, they were given bags to defecate in, Kaishian said.

After less than 24 hours, and without any apparent clean-up, the detainees were returned to the fire- and smoke-scarred unit 2A, said Kaishian and an inmate who wrote a complaint to a public defenders organization.

That detainee, whose name is being withheld by The News and is represented by a different lawyer, begged for a transfer because of the post-fire conditions in the unit.

Smoke debris was not cleared out, no repairs had been made, “toxic” fumes remain, and the cells were not power washed and remain covered in black soot, according to the complaint. The detainee complained detainees are coughing, spitting up black saliva, and have vomited.

Fires are not uncommon in the jails, especially higher security units. On Nov. 5, 2021, a detainee set a fire in Unit 2B at North Infirmary Command amid a conflict with a correction officer, an internal Correction Department report on the blaze indicates.

That officer left his post. Other officers tried to put out the blaze with a fire extinguisher, but it was ineffective, and the Fire Department was called to extinguish the fire, the report indicates.

A correction captain was suspended for failing to fill the post of the officer who departed, the report says.

That last FDNY inspection took place eight days later on Nov. 13, 2021.

Meanwhile, on Friday, state Sen. Latrice Walker (D- Brooklyn) tied the Board of Correction April 12 report on seven jail deaths in 2022 to her sharp opposition to changes to the bail reform law pushed by Gov. Hochul.

The report detailed a range of breakdowns that contributed to the deaths, including unstaffed posts, slow emergency response, missed medical visits, and pre-trial detentions of more than a year and echoed conclusions in two prior death reports.

Walker has been on a hunger strike since April 9 — Easter Sunday — to protest jail conditions and Hochul’s proposal, which would remove language requiring judges to use the “least restrictive means possible” to ensure someone returns to court.

“It is for the people in this report and others who died in the jails across the state that I am on a hunger strike. This report adds to the mountain of evidence of how racist, brutal, and deadly our pre-trial jail system is,” Walker said in a statement.

“No one could in good conscience read this report and then adopt changes to the bail laws that will send more people to these deadly jails.”

Sixteen people died in the city jails in 2021, and another 19 in 2022. One person has died so far in 2023.

April 14, 2023 Kansas City, KS Fire Chief Michael Callahan has been at the helm for nearly five years.

By Matti Gellman Source The Kansas City Star (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Kansas City, Kansas Fire Chief Michael Callahan announced his resignation Friday after serving as the fire department’s head for almost five years.

Callahan’s last day will be on April 28, according to the resignation letter obtained by The Star.

In the letter, Callahan urged Kansas City, Kansas fire crews to continue keeping each other safe and lauded the department for its talent and competency.

“Thank you for allowing me to be a small part of this illustrious department,” he wrote.

“I have learned and been taught many things during that time and I hope that you too have learned and been exposed to different ideas and ways of doing our job … It has been an honor and a privilege to work alongside you.”

The resignation marks the fourth reported Wyandotte County department head to resign over the last year. In September, both the Unified Government’s economic director and director of development coordination left their post within two days of each other.

Kansas City, Kansas Fire Department referred questions to the Unified Government, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Mayor Tyrone Garner declined to comment on the resignation.

Callahan told The Star Friday afternoon that he hopes the department continues to evolve after he’s gone. He’s happy with the legacy he’s leaving, he said, including implementing a policy to respond to collapsing high rise buildings and a defensive fire policy.

According to Callahan, his crowning achievement is that no firefighter responding to a fire he was in command of was seriously injured or killed.

But President JJ Simma of the International Association of Firefighter’s Local 64 chapter, which represents Kansas City, Kansas firefighters, disagrees, and told The Star Callahan’s resignation will be a “positive step forward” for the department.

The union leader has been critical of Callahan’s leadership. In a Friday afternoon phone call he told The Star that Callahan and other leading members of the department have “destroyed morale” and caused serious workforce retention and recruitment issues. Policies and procedures written by Callahan have also put both firefighters and the public’s safety in danger, Simma said.

“We’re excited and look forward to working with the Unified Government staff, future interim chief and, eventually, future new chief to help the KCKFD progress and right the ship from where we’ve been over the last few years,” he said.

“I’ll say this… I do not think we’re in a better or more positive place now then before [Callahan] came here.”

The fire chief

Callahan first arrived to the Kansas City, Kansas Fire Department in 2018 following a 38-year tenure with the Chicago Fire Department.

His wife had just retired from her job as a police sergeant. Both of them had pensions and were living comfortably when Callahan sat her down and expressed a desire to continue his career in public service.

“I said I think I still have something to offer in the fire service. I’m not quite ready to retire yet,” Callahan recalled. But this time he wanted to work in a smaller community, where he thought he could make a difference.

As fire chief, Callahan oversaw 18 fire stations, managing areas from emergency medical services to special operations. He remembered being excited by the kindness of community members and the talent at the Kansas City, Kansas Fire Department.

However, according to Callahan, he inherited a department where people were complacent and lacked discipline.

“Orders are given and orders are followed. Otherwise there’s chaos,” he said.

He contends that in his five years of service, he never issued an order that was unethical, despite concerns raised by union leaders.

“There’s a culture here where people believe if you ask a question, you’re disciplining them.” he said. “That’s not a culture I’ve ever known in fire service in the 45 years I’ve been doing this.”

Callahan explained that he first came at odds with some union members when he rewrote portions of the 1984 code of conduct and changed protocols involving discipline within the department.

He believes his leadership team should be remembered for promoting high ranking Black and Hispanic firefighters, though the administration has been accused of retaliating against employees reporting racial discrimination in a previous lawsuit.

“I do not retaliate against anyone,” he told The Star in response to the accusations.

He hopes he is remembered for providing more money to firefighters recruited to the service with a degree and increasing access to educational resources, such as additional training.

“Did I change things when I got here? Absolutely. Did they need to be changed? Absolutely.”

“There’s a saying that goes ‘Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should’… But there’s a corollary to that a lot of people don’t know… Just because you haven’t done something doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t.”

‘Bullying’ and ‘No confidence’

Callahan’s time in leadership did not come without controversy.

The IAFF’s Local 64 chapter, which represents Kansas City, Kansas firefighters, penned a December 2021 letter to former Mayor David Alvey and the Unified Goverment’s Board of Commissioners asking for the “immediate removal” of Callahan due to alleged “bullying tactics” and the department’s alleged mismanaged response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The union also issued a vote of “no confidence” in Callahan on January 2021. A letter announcing the vote added that Callahan’s “vindictive personality,” had been a distraction to the members of the fire department and called for an independent investigation into both the chief and deputy chief Jack Andrade.

Callahan was accused of retaliating against his employees in a June 2022 letter, where the national firefighter’s union threatened legal action if Mayor Tyrone Garner failed to “rectify the problems” within the department.

In the letter, president of the organization Edward A. Kelly cited concerns over “unanswered HR complaints, multiple discrimination allegations against department leadership… and reckless policy decisions that put both the public and firefighters at unnecessary risk.”

A 20-year veteran of the department, Leejamahl A. Washington, similarly criticized leadership in a January lawsuit, where he alleged senior officials sought to retaliate against him for raising concerns about discrimination at the department. Over the years, the lawsuit said, Washington had been threatened “repeatedly” for conduct that white employees did without reprimand. Near the beginning of his tenure, Washington said, he once saw co-workers wear “Nazi memorabilia” in a break room, and found a noose hanging in front of his locker.

Members of the department say the safety and work culture concerns have yet to be rectified.