The federal Court decided to stay out of New York City’s fire department controversy. The three big chiefs originally demoted learned officially that they’re replaceable drones after all. Actually replacing them, along with up to eight others who reportedly announced stepping down from similar leadership positions in solidarity, is an entirely different story.
Court won’t save New York City
The court didn’t make either side happy with a ruling handed down late Thursday. Brooklyn federal judge Rachel Kovner “rubber-stamped an upcoming raft of FDNY demotions, rejecting the chiefs’ argument that the department wouldn’t be able to handle a major crisis without their leadership and experience.”
The new Fire Commissioner, Laura Kavanagh, scored a victory, of sorts. Judge Kovner agreed that she has the authority to demote the three named Plaintiffs. The rest of the top fire officials who left aren’t covered by the suit so the judge has no opinion on them. They seem to have the right to a demotion, if they want, though.
Even though the court ruled the plaintiffs are legally “replaceable,” that’s a whole lot easier said than done. The three men at the core of the dispute, demoted by Kavanagh personally, had filed a request for a “temporary restraining order.” The plaintiffs are chiefs Michael Gala, Joseph Jardin, and Fred Schaaf. They didn’t get it.
Judge upholds demotions of FDNY chiefs https://t.co/jGnReDg4Jc pic.twitter.com/Bh6oXB1jTQ
— New York Post (@nypost) March 3, 2023
Kavanagh was secretly hoping they would, because that would open a door she could use to back down and coax the rest of the team back to work. Since the judge won’t make her back down, if she does, it will be because she’s admitting she was wrong in the first place. That’s not good for the citizens of New York.
The whole departmental firestorm started on February 3 when newly appointed Commissioner Kavanagh ordered the first three demotions, without consulting the other top fire officials.
“In short order eight more chiefs, including John ‘Jack‘ Hodgens, the FDNY’s most senior uniformed official, and Chief of Fire Operations John Esposito, relinquished their ranks and asked to be put back in the field in solidarity.” The court says, that’s their business.
FDNY chiefs file lawsuit demanding reinstatement of demoted commanders https://t.co/JjNfoOqOrZ pic.twitter.com/KC65JNEDQg
— New York Post Metro (@nypmetro) February 28, 2023
Don’t have a fire
New York City residents have been warned not to have any large and dangerous fires after Monday. That’s when all 11 demotions go into effect and the entire New York Fire Department will be left leaderless, except for Commissioner Kavanagh.
Before the court dashed their hopes to reverse the decision, lawyers for the demoted department heads have been issuing gloom and doom dire predictions of what’s to come the next time there’s a big one.
Since the demotions have been court approved, we’ll get to see if they were right. It’s clear to everyone that the fire department “will be left without experienced leaders to coordinate the battling of massive fires such as the Staten Island blaze that critically injured three firefighters last month, or the blaze at a Brooklyn NYPD warehouse in December that destroyed the building, as well as scores of case evidence that was being held inside.”
Dump-ster Fi-re 🔥🍎
Turmoil at the top: 2 deputy commissioners fired after butting heads with Commish. Sources say shakeups can affect public safetyhttps://t.co/Sg13kJF21e
Demoted FDNY chiefs sue to get jobs backhttps://t.co/RmAzEGT5yW
More cartoons https://t.co/yQoLJEXjES pic.twitter.com/9gc7gK1JK8
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) March 2, 2023
That one was rather convenient for city criminals. They might decide now’s a good time to try it again.
Just because there could be huge out of control fires with no real fire department resource management doesn’t automatically mean Armageddon, the court decided. That’s the commissioner’s problem.
The chiefs, Kovner declared, “have not established that irreparable harm will occur if the court does not immediately require plaintiffs to be restored to their previously held duties and prevent their formal demotions from going into effect.” With a snub to the lawyer, she added, “Plaintiffs have not even alleged that they themselves will suffer irreparable harm as a result of their demotions.“
