Third FDNY chief surrenders post as commish holds ‘bizarre’ summit with leadership

A third FDNY chief has surrendered his post as Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh sat down with the department’s leadership team in what was described as a “bizarre” attempt to smooth over the ongoing strife within the upper ranks, the Daily News has learned.

In a recent email to Kavanagh with the subject line “request,” Deputy Assistant Chief Frank Leeb asked to be bumped back down to deputy chief and returned to a field assignment.

Leeb is the chief of safety for the Fire Department. His requested demotion in rank comes after Chief of Department John “Jack” Hodgens, the most senior uniformed official in the FDNY, and Chief of Fire Operations John Esposito resigned their ranks over the weekend.

“It is a privilege to serve and I have never taken this privilege lightly,” Leeb wrote in his email, a copy of which was viewed by The News. “However, several changes have led me to believe that our organizational priorities are shifting away from the cornerstones of safety and training which have long protected the citizens and visitors of New York City as well as the members of our great organization.”

Leeb also noted that “breaches of trust coupled with a lack of communication and transparency have further led me to this difficult decision.”

The chief asked to be put back in the field as of March 6. “I look forward to continuing to serve and contribute in meaningful ways,” he wrote.

The stunning resignations mark a show of no-confidence in Kavanagh, who demoted Assistant Chiefs Fred Schaaf, Michael Gala and Joseph Jardin to deputy chief on Friday, sources said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Kavanagh held a meeting at FDNY headquarters with all the high-ranking chiefs, as well as all the borough commanders, in an apparent attempt to clear the air and get everyone back to work, said one high-ranking FDNY official with knowledge of the meeting.

Nothing of substance resulted, the person added.

“It was bizarre” the source said about the meeting, noting that staffers for Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Phil Banks were milling around FDNY headquarters at the time.

The ongoing demotion drama was barely touched on at the meeting, the source said.

“The deputy mayor’s people were in the building, so everyone was acting like it was business as usual,” the source said. “Nothing got done.”

FDNY officials described the sit down as “cordial,” but wouldn’t offer any details.

An FDNY spokesman said that Wednesday’s meeting was already on the calendar and wasn’t called because of the ongoing turmoil. The same went for her Friday meeting in which she encouraged staff chiefs to come up with ideas to help rank-and-file firefighters, the spokesman added.

“As the commissioner stated in her meeting with her chiefs last Friday and her public media availability on Tuesday, department business remains unaffected and the FDNY remains fully ready to respond to New Yorkers who call 911 for help,” said FDNY spokesman Frank Dwyer.

As of Thursday, none of the chiefs who have asked to be put back in the field have been moved, and they’re continuing to do their jobs, fire officials said.

Although no one has flat out resigned or retired, many more staff chiefs plan to follow suit, the source said.

“Out of the 19 staff chiefs, about 14 of them are about to resign their ranks,” the person said. “You get respect if you give respect. And her and her staff haven’t given any.”

Hodgens has accused Kavanagh of making wholesale changes within the department without including them, the source said.

“She’s relieved people of jobs, appointed and reassigned new people to jobs without explaining why and she’s doing this to people who each have 30 years experience,” the source said. “Every commissioner has a new vision, we get that. But you have to paint that vision for others to see what the plan is.”

A high-ranking FDNY official said Hodgens was outraged that Kavanagh, the first woman fire commissioner in the department’s history, demoted the three chiefs without informing him.

A source from Kavanagh’s camp, in turn, said the fire commissioner had repeatedly asked Hodgens to either transfer or discipline the chiefs, who have had multiple complaints lodged against them, but he refused to do so.

“When there is turmoil like this, public safety is jeopardized,” the source said, adding that the problems the chiefs have with Kavanagh have nothing to do with her gender.

“We can be led by a woman, but in this case, it’s the wrong woman,” the source said. “Everyone wonders who she’s going after tomorrow.”

The self-imposed demotions will mean an estimated $20,000 a year drop in pay in the short term, though all of the chiefs are close to retirement age. The drops in rank won’t affect their pension, which is calculated from the highest salary of their last three years in service.

“[The resigning chiefs] want to go back in the field because they don’t want to put up with this nonsense, but they feel that they still have more to give,” the source said. “We love the job and it’s all about the people you want to help.”

Kavanagh was jeered by a small group of firefighters at a promotion ceremony on Tuesday.

“It’s totally acceptable to me if they don’t want to [stay], and we will have that conversation,” she said about the resignations. “Whatever they decide to do, I respect their opinion.”