New Fire Commissioner Appointed

HFN01 said:
Of note, ex-commissioner and COD Nigro was on a transition panel for Mandani and in some public comments recently seemed to suggest he would be making a recommendation to the Mayor on who the next FC would be. Bonsignore was on the executive staff when Nigro was FC, and he was the first-ever Chief of EMS following the merger. Pure speculation but it seems plausible this choice was at least partly his idea. All the best to the new FC.
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Nigro as Asst FDNY Chief oversaw the MERGER of EMS, he was never the Chief of EMS, that is another title.
 
rdm258 said:
When will the new commissioner be able to respond to fires and do they have a aide?
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There has been a big difference from commissioner to commissioner in terms of how often they respond. From what I recall, Nigro responded to most larger incidents (5th alarm fires or major technical incidents). Kavanaugh did not respond often. Tucker on the other hand responded more than the last few commissioners combined, often responding to 2nd or 3rd alarm fires, which would have been unheard of from his immediate predecessors. I raise this to say that Bonsignore will be response-capable from day one, but we'll have to wait and see how often she responds to jobs, which is at her discretion. Typically, all commissioners have responded to all incidents that rise to a level that the Mayor wishes to attend.

The commissioner has a driver and a staff, including an executive officer, security, etc. Their vehicle is equipped with a radio, lights, and sirens, so yes, they're response-capable.
 
Ret Phila Lieut said:
Quick question,,,can the Commissioner make any tactical decisions on the fire ground ?
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The short answer is no. Fire operations are the purview of the Chief of Department and those under his command. While I am sure there may be the occasional conversation between a COD and a Commissioner in cases where the Commissioner had fire experience (some do, some don't), the Commissioner's role does not involve fireground decision making, and is described by the department as the civilian lead. That said, each commissioner handles the role somewhat differently. For example, Von Essen (who came from the front lines) was widely known to get involved personnel assignments and other operational decisions. But no, the short answer is the commissioner does not make tactical foreground decisions.
 
Down here the F.C. takes command upon his arrival. The F.C. is appointed by the mayor,,usually someone from within the dept. The last civilian F.C. was way before my time (1952) but he was an administrator with no fire fighting experience. At that time we had a Chief of the Dept who would take command at any large event.
 
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I once heard a wise chief of a metro sized department tell his battalion and division commanders: “ you will see me at the scene of your emergencies and fires. I am there to observe how our department operations are going. I am there to support you. It is not my intent to take command. Even though I have run many many scenes in my career, you guys are the on the street and know the job. If I have to I will step in and take command but let’s hope that dosent happen.” Good stuff
 
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