FDNY firefighter cadets start as EMTs

FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker went off-script during his remarks at a graduation ceremony for firefighter cadets last month. Eschewing his prepared speech, Tucker explained to the 82 fire cadets and their families why none of them would be joining the next scheduled class of probationary firefighters and instead spend the next months in the FDNY EMS academy. 

Tucker explained that while the cadets would eventually be called using the qualified civil service promotional list in score order and pulled into the fire academy, they would, in the meantime, take jobs as EMTs. He said this would give the cadets, who are currently part time employees, status as full-time employees covered by a union — Local 2507 — giving them full union benefits and protection. 

“I thought it is in their best interest to become full-time employees of the FDNY, to go into a union to get a raise, to get benefits and to begin to be trained as EMTs,” Tucker told the audience of cadets and families May 13. “In the FDNY, we’re here to serve the department and the 8.8 million people of New York City and I think the best way for these fine people to do that is to go become EMTs now and then when their numbers are called, we’ll bring them here.” 

The FDNY’s fire cadet academy was initially conceived in 2015 as a way for the department to recruit talent from historically underserved communities and matriculate more women and people of color into the ranks of the bravest, said Adam Wodzinski, a retired FDNY fire captain and the cadet academy's uniform director from 2017 to 2019. Members recruited at sporting events, high schools and elsewhere didn’t have to take the open competitive exam for firefighters but instead took the promotional exam — traditionally offered only to members of FDNY EMS — halfway into their two-year stint in the cadet academy, the retired director said.  

“We knew that not everybody who graduated would get into the first class for promotion” and be selected for the firefighter academy, Wodzinski explained Monday. Knowing that cadets could wait months or years to get off the promotional list, the FDNY devised a plan to have graduated cadets circulate through different FDNY bureaus to get a more holistic understanding of the department while remaining ready for their name to be called.  

But Tucker, in his May speech, flipped that plan on its head, announcing that the graduated cadets would join the EMS academy instead. Those who graduate from that academy will then work as EMTs. “We think they're ready, and we want to accelerate them into their future,” the commissioner said. “One day maybe they’ll thank me. Maybe they won’t.” 

FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker at the graduation ceremony for fire cadets in May.

FDNY

Barzilay: Union not consulted

Tucker has been more vocal about the manpower and retention issues plaguing EMS than previous commissioners and has looked for ways to boost the number of EMTs and integrate the fire and EMS services amid rising 911 call volume. Moving the cadets to the EMS side instead of assigning the standard rotations through different bureaus was likely seen by Tucker and top department leadership as a way to aid the beleaguered service, another department source said.  

Wodzinski was initially skeptical of the change but later understood that the cadets could gain from the benefits that come with union representation. “It was to help some of the cadets who may not have had the ability to stay on otherwise,” he said. 

But the president of Local 2507, Oren Barzilay, isn’t happy about the move, and the union has sued the FDNY and the city, alleging that Tucker’s decision was a breach of city labor law. “It’s unacceptable,” he said Monday. “[The cadets] were lied to.” 

Barzilay told The Chief that he was never consulted about the decision to move the cadets to the EMS academy. He said that the department still hasn’t discussed it with him. 

Additionally, just 69 of the 82 graduates have registered with the EMS academy, Barzilay said. And those he spoke with did not seem enthusiastic about their new jobs, he added. 

“Even when speaking with the kids, they tell us that they don’t want to be here,” the union leader said. “They are skipping people who have already been waiting to get on this job.” 

An FDNY spokesperson said the department was aware of the suit but declined to comment.  

After Tucker gave his impromptu speech, he opened the floor for questions and received three from audience members that mostly centered on expectations for when the cadets could move on to the firefighter academy. Some will join when the next class is called in the fall while others could have to wait two more years.  

“I’m excited for you,” Tucker told the graduates after the question-and-answer session. “We’ve thought through this and we’re behind you 100 percent and we’re going to make sure that you are a part of the greatness of this department for a very very long time.” 

dfreeman@thechiefleader.com