Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is predicted Tuesday to call Lillian Bonsignore, the FDNY’s former emergency companies chief, as the fireplace division’s subsequent commissioner, in response to sources accustomed to the matter.
Mamdani, who’s taking workplace on Jan. 1, was anticipated to formally unveil the appointment at a press convention in Queens on Tuesday afternoon.
Bonsignore retired from the FDNY in 2022 after a 31-year profession within the division. Throughout her time in FDNY, Bonsignore was within the FDNY’s EMS unit, which is separate from the firefighting division and oversees the division’s paramedics and emergency medical techs.
When she retired, Bonsignore was the FDNY’s chief of EMS operations, having served in that position in the course of the COVID pandemic. She was the highest-ranking uniformed feminine in FDNY on the time and the primary feminine to realize a 4-star rank within the historical past of FDNY.
Some FDNY sources stated there might be concern round the truth that Bonsignore doesn’t have firefighter expertise.
FDNY Chief of Emergency Medical Companies Lillian Bonsignore talks to the media about FDNY EMT Lt. Wang after he was discharged from Mount Sinai Hospital Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019 after recovering from an Aortic aneurism whereas on obligation Oct. 17. (Barry Williams for New York Every day Information)
The choice of Bonsignore comes after the final FDNY commissioner, Robert Tucker, defiantly submitted his resignation instantly after Mamdani’s Nov. 4 election win, saying he couldn’t proceed serving within the position underneath the brand new mayor attributable to their sharptly completely different views on Israel’s warfare in Gaza. Tucker, who’s Jewish and was appointed to FDNY commish by Mayor Adams final yr, served his final day this previous Friday.
As Mamdani continues to fill out his cupboard, some oberserves are getting antsy about his choice of a faculties chancellor.
In accordance with sources accustomed to the matter, Mamdani has thought of holding present Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos accountable for the nation’s largest public faculty system. Others into account for the highest job embrace Meisha Porter, a former faculties chancellor underneath ex-Mayor Invoice de Blasio, Kamar Samuels, a public faculty superintendent in Manhattan, and Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, a former principal of the Bronx Academy of Letters, sources stated.
