FDNY commissioner Laura Kavanagh booed at FDNY vs. NYPD hockey game amid department turmoil
Embattled FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh was loudly booed when she was introduced at the annual FDNY vs. NYPD hockey game at UBS Arena in Long Island on Saturday.
As soon as Kavanagh’s name was announced on the loudspeaker before the friendly match, a cacophony of boos rained down from the stands as she made her way across the ice, video obtained by the Post shows.
“She was booed by firemen, we don’t like her and trust her,” one fireman who attended the game told The Post “She is ruining the fire department. She has no idea what it’s like to be a fireman and fight fires.”
The heckling came just hours after The Post reported that a tenth top FDNY chief has requested a demotion amid ongoing turmoil within the department since three top FDNY officials were abruptly demoted by Kavanagh in February.
Kavanagh sparked a mutiny among top FDN Y officials after she made the unprecedented move of demoting the three officers — breaking an unwritten, long-standing Fire Department protocol and chain of command.
In response, several assistant and deputy assistant chiefs asked to be returned to field posts in solidarity with the demoted officers.
The three officers, Assistant Chiefs Michael Gala, Joseph Jardin and Fred Schaaf, sued the city over their demotion and demanded reinstatement, but Brooklyn’s US District Judge Rachel Kovner upheld Kavanagh’s decision last month.
Kavanagh, the city’s first female Fire Department commissioner, was then slapped with an age discrimination lawsuit that alleges she demoted, ousted, forced into retirement or retaliated against 15 top older department staffers.
Jim Walden, a lawyer for three chiefs suing the city for age discrimination after Kavanagh demoted them, told The Post the boos were to be expected.
“New Yorkers are not dumb. They know Kavanagh is unqualified. They know she is tearing FDNY apart,” Walden said. “Of course they heckle her. To them, she is a joke, albeit a dangerous one.”
“She better get used to the booing because she will hear them every time she goes out in public,” another firefighter who was at the hockey game said.
Kavanagh is not new to tough crowds.
She was jeered and booed when she took the stage at a promotions ceremony in Brooklyn in February while the crowd cheered a fire official protesting her brass shake-up.
The heckling was disruptive enough that the FDNY emcee of the event, Capt. Andrew Brown, had to embarrassingly chide the ranks, “Quiet down, gentlemen.’’
The NYPD’s first female commissioner, Keechant Sewell, was not booed when she was introduced to the crowd.
FDNY defeated NYPD in the annual match-up by a score of 8-5.
Kavanagh left the game early but NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell stayed until the end.
