New York City Fire Commissioner

Fire Commissioner
of the City of New York
since August 12, 2024
AppointerMayor of New York
Term lengthNot specified
Renewable at mayor's pleasure
Formation1865

The New York City Fire Commissioner is the civilian administrator of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), and is appointed by the Mayor of the City of New York. Prior to 1865, the New York City Fire Department was staffed by volunteers. On March 30, 1865 the New York State legislature passed a law organizing the Metropolitan Fire Department as a paid firefighting force that took control of all the powers and authority of the volunteer department, as well as all the assets such as the fire trucks, equipment, and buildings. The law also created a commission to oversee the department, and for its administration and functioning.[1] After a lawsuit contesting the constitutionality of the law was dismissed by the New York Court of Appeals,[2] it immediately started to operate.[3][4]

During the remainder of the 19th century, the number of commissioners was periodically changed by the New York State legislature, until a single commissioner was put in charge of the FDNY when Manhattan and the Bronx consolidated with Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island to form The City of New York on January 1, 1898. Since then, there have been 35 commissioners excluding Acting Fire Commissioners, and 39 commissioners including Acting Fire Commissioners. The current commissioner is Robert Tucker, who was appointed on August 12, 2024.

  1. ^ Laws of the State of New York Passed at the Eighty-Eighth Session of the Legislature, Begun January Third and Ended April Twenty-Ninth, 1865, in the City of Albany. Chapter 249 – An act to create a Metropolitan Fire District and establish a Fire Department therein. Vol. 88. Albany: William Gould. 1865. pp. 395–396. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  2. ^ "The Paid Fire Department – Sketch of the Volunteer Department – Its History and Defects – The New Bill in the Legislature – Legal Action – Final Establishment of the Bill – How the Firemen Feel – The New Board – Their First Public Paper". The New York Times. June 22, 1865. p. 8. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  3. ^ "The Fire Commissioners Sworn In – Philip W. Engs Appointed in Place of Samuel Sloan". The New York Times. May 4, 1865. p. 5. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  4. ^ "The Paid Fire Department – A Temporary Injunction Obtained Against Chief-Engineer Decker, the Mayor and Common Council – The Apparatus and Property Not to be Transferred at Present to the New Commissioners – A Stout Fight to be Made in the Courts Against the Enforcement of the Law – The Feeling of the Old Firemen Expressed by Themselves – First Meeting of the New Board – Chas. E. Pinckney, President; Philip W. Engs, Treasurer, and Charles E. Gildersleeve, Secretary – Supreme Court – Chambers – Before Justice Sutherland". The New York Times. May 5, 1865. p. 1. Retrieved June 11, 2024.