Lillian Bonsignore will be first out gay Fire Department of New York commissioner

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has named Lillian Bonsignore commissioner of the Fire Department of New York, making her the second woman and first out gay person in that post.

Mamdani made the announcement at a press conference Tuesday afternoon in Queens. “[The FDNY] deserves a leader who cares about their work, because she did it herself,” he said, as reported by Newsweek. “She is the kind of leader I’m so proud to have in my administration.”

“My goal is to ensure that every member of [the FDNY] has the resources and environment they need to perform their role safely and effectively,” Bonsignore said at the press conference.

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She joined the FDNY in 1991 as an emergency medical technician and served 31 years, retiring in 2022. She was named chief of the FDNY’s Emergency Medical Services division in 2019, becoming the first woman to head the division and first uniformed woman to be a four-star chief in the department. During her tenure, she was a first responder in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and led the EMS division during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Bonsignore’s calm, decisive leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic — when EMS professionals were more vital than ever — is exactly the kind of leadership our city needs in moments of uncertainty,” Mamdani said in a statement to City & State New York before the formal announcement.

Upon her 2019 promotion, she told the New York Daily News, “It’s kind of odd that the thing I get celebrated for the most — people are always like, ‘Wow, you’re a woman and you’re gay’ — are the two things I put the least work into.”

Laura Kavanagh, appointed by Mayor Eric Adams in 2022, was the first woman FDNY commissioner. She had not served in uniform but had been a civilian employee of the department. She told City & State that Bonsignore is “one of the strongest leaders I have ever worked alongside. Nobody knows the FDNY and what the department means to our city better than Chief Bonsignore. I saw firsthand Chief Bonsignore’s lifelong dedication to the FDNY, including her work on the front lines of COVID and in advocating for a long-overdue EMS pay raises.” Kavanagh resigned in 2024.

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Until Mamdani is sworn in January 1, First Deputy Commissioner Mark Guerra will be New York’s acting FDNY commissioner.

Jessica Tisch is expected to stay in her post as police commissioner when Mamdani takes office, so this will be the first time women have led both the NYC fire and police departments.