Episode 385: The Best of The Bravest: FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker (Volume 79)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
You're listening to the Mike Did You Even podcast, hosted
by media personality and consultant Mike Glow. You were listening

(01:02):
to the Best of the Bravest Interviews with the Ft
and wys Elite time. I've told this story before, I'll
tell it briefly again. You know, a few years ago,
when I was bringing the podcast back after I finished
up college, we're in the throws of the pandemic. I
was doing a lot of NYPD interviews, which was again,

(01:24):
we still do a lot of them all the time
on this program, and they're a lot of fun to do.
My brother in law, as you guys know, producer Victor,
told me, he's like, why are we not talking to firefighters?
And I'm like, shoot, why are we not talking to firefighters?
We should start doing plenty of that too, And thus
the Best the Bravest Interviews with the Ft and Wives
Elite was born. And it started off with Ray Seely,
our buddy from Squad two seventy lieutenant over there and

(01:45):
also had a cup of coffee in two eighty eight,
I believe, but primarily to seventy and here we are
seventy eight volumes later, to the seventy ninth volume of
this mini series with the current New York City Fire
Commissioners allowed me to really network and meet a lot
of great people, make a lot of great friendships. And
I owe this interview per usual of any active member
of the FT and Wide, Miss Amanda Farinacci. I think

(02:06):
I owe her about two cases of beer and seven pizzas,
amongst many other things. She's gonna say no, she's probably
laughing backstage, but I do, and Amanda, I appreciate you
for that, so I won't keep my guests waiting too long.
All us say is the previous shows were both FT
and WI shows as well. Captain Steve Elliott last Monday
and Captain Nick Gaudiosi last Wednesday, both very good looks

(02:27):
at their careers. Steve did thirty three years and Nick did,
of course twenty four seventy nine to three, and recently
wrote a book. A couple of ads to get through,
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(03:30):
the word from our friends over at Granite State. And
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(04:12):
beats innovation, and we're firemen happy covered. My next guest
is the current New York City Fire Department Commissioner, the
thirty fifth person to hold that role. You know, he
worked originally as a prosecutor for majority of the nineties,
also was involved in the private sector, and he decided,
you know, I need an easier job, a job that
doesn't really involve a lot. So he picked the job,
of course, or what's selected for a job as the

(04:34):
fd andy commissioner. We're surely nothing ever happens. You know,
it's very whole hum as they'll tell me about today.
I could, of course that for this volume seventy nine
of the best of the Bravest Interviews with the FTU
wise Elite is current New York City Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker, Commissioner.
Great to have you welcome, How are you.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Thanks Mike, thanks for having me. This has been some vacation.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
I know it's you know, it's been a year. Like
I said, you know, I don't even know how we're
going to fill the hour. It just seems like a
very boring job. But before we get to that, tell
me about where you grew up and just where this
interest as we were talking about off air for the
Fire Service began.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah. I'm a lifelong New Yorker. I grew up in
New York City. I have always been a lover of
public safety and what cops and firemen do every day
for a living. I had a four channel radio shack
scanner that we put crystals into. I'm sure some people

(05:28):
remember that, and one of them was the Manhattan Fire Radio.
And I used to sit on the corner of eighty
fifth Street and Lexington Avenue, down the block from the
tenth Battalion, twenty two engine and thirteen truck, conveniently where
the radio shack was for those of you who are
familiar with that neighborhood. And I used to listen to

(05:53):
the boxes come in and chase the fire engines on
my bicycle and my mom, who worked for Ed Koch,
the Mayor of New York City, helped me get a
summer internship in the mid eighties working at the Manhattan COEO,
which was located on the Transverse Road of Central Park

(06:17):
in Central Park, and I could ride my bicycle there.
That's where fire engines in the Borough of Manhattan were dispatched.
And I had two great summers working for the chief
dispatcher there, Ken Fisher, and who worked for Steve Gregory,

(06:38):
the Assistant Commissioner of Communications for the Fire Department, both
of whom are still around, both of whom I still
speak to. And my love for the FDNY blossomed from there.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
So I'll ask you before we get into everything else
that involved your journey to where you are now, was
there a party at some point that thought about because
the fireman yourself?

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah? I mean I always wanted to be a cop
or a fireman. My parents had different plans for me,
and I became a lawyer and then an assistant DA.
But nevertheless, my love for what our members do and
frankly the cops in New York City is immense.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Absolutely in the shows, it certainly shows. Our guest is
current FT and YA Commissioner Robert Tucker on this Monday
morning edition. We're doing a doubleheader today. First of two shows,
The Mike the NWAVEN Podcast, Like I said, Volume seventy
nine and the Best of the Bravest. So, as I mentioned,
you were a prosecutor pretty much for all the nineties,
primarily in the Queens State DA's office, getting there ninety
one to when you started versus ninety nine, when you

(07:46):
left two different cities. The city was really in a
rough spot in ninety one. Talking about the type of
cases you were handling normally as a prosecutor.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah, So, just to sort of highlight my career working
for the late great Richard Brown, the DA of Queens.
I went in when I graduated. Actually I went in
the summer before I graduated from college in June of
nineteen ninety one. That was June first, ninety one, was

(08:14):
when Dick Brown was appointed District Attorney by the late
Mario Cuomo, who had to fill a vacant seat left
open by John Santucci, who was the Queen's DA. So
I spent the summer of ninety one as an intern

(08:34):
in the office. I went back and graduated from college,
was hired full time as a civilian employee special assistant
to the District Attorney in ninety two, went to law
school at night while I worked full time in the office.
And it was smack in the middle of the crack epidemic,

(08:57):
and there was a lot of violence and a lot
of criminal behavior and activity in Queens County. Queens County
is this incredible county. It still is. It's the most
diverse county perhaps in the country. There are you know
two there are two large airports there which have unique
criminal activity. John F. Kennedy International Airport in LaGuardia Airport.

(09:22):
There is a big baseball team there, the great New
York Mets. There is a beautiful tennis center there that
attracts millions of people to come watch the United States
Open in the summer. So and that doesn't even talk
about it's the bedroom community of organized crime. It's the

(09:45):
back office of the banking community. Now, it's just it's
just it's They are more Asians in Queens than in
all of the other boroughs combined. It's just a super complex,
wonderfully diverse county where being a prosecutor allows you to
see a to z almost every crime in the in

(10:08):
the penal law.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
I was gonna ask you about DA Brown. I'm glad
you brought him up, because he was someone that, like you,
had a deep passion for the police in the fire department.
I think he was an unabashed buff in his own right. Again,
a very very seminal and important figure in the history
of not just the Queen's DA's office, but really the
District attorney operations citywide in New York. When you look
back on him, either directly or indirectly as one of

(10:32):
his eightya's, what was one of the best lessons you
felt he taught you? Do you still carry with you today?

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, no doubt Dick Brown as a mentor of mine.
He's someone who was widely respected in many many communities,
someone who treated people fairly. He had a campaign slogan
which was a judge who knows the law and a
DA who will fight for it. Primarily, Judge Brown fought

(10:59):
for for people, all different types of people, and you know,
stood behind his office and his prosecutors in our zest
to get bad guys off the street. And we you know,
really transformed that office together. You know, there's no I

(11:21):
in team, and a lot a lot of people participated
in that But I was certainly a part of that
executive management team that brought an office that really had
no relationship with the NYPD in ninety one and probably
became the most popular district attorney's office with the NYPD

(11:42):
and our federal partners who we worked so closely with
at the airports and in the task forces. By the
end of my time there, Judge Brown went on for many,
many years to be the DA and he and I
spoke every day after that. But I left there and
started a business.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Before we put a bow on that chapter in your life,
because there's a couple of questions on that timeframe. What
is a case from an educational standpoint that you felt
especially challenged you as a prosecutor that you came out
of it saying, Wow, I learned a lot here, and
that paved the way as you gained more time to
show newer das of how to handle it.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I was doing a lot
less prosecuting and a lot more managing the administrative aspects
of the office. I will say that I did try
a couple of cases, Supreme Court cases to verdict, which
are highlights of my legal career. In one instance, though,

(12:42):
and I can I can tell you that I get
into court, I read the court reads the indictment, and
I realized that we have indicted a person for heroin
when in fact we meant to indict them for cocaine.
And we had to stop what was going on in

(13:03):
the courtroom and reindict the case, which just goes to
show you that you've got to read every single word
of every single document in a big box of evidence
because you never know you could get the indictment wrong.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Yeah, that can happen. The last note on it, we
talked a little bit at this more humorous level. We
talked a little bit about it off the air before
he ventured off into George magazine and other endeavors. He
was also a VJ for a time on MTV in
the mid nineties. John F. Kennedy Junior was very briefly
a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's office, and it
was a big to do back then about is he
going to pass his bar exam. He finally passed his

(13:45):
bar exam and got in for a bit, and he
wasn't there long, but he was there for a bit.
You met him once.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
Most he look. I mean, I remember when he was
scheduled to come out to the Queen's DA's office to
have a Judge Brown, prior to being a the DA,
was an appellate division judge and he was supervising a
wiretap that John Kennedy Junior was involved with on a

(14:11):
team of prosecutors, and you know, the morning that he
was due to come out because Judge Brown was needed
to sign something to come off of that. As the
supervising judge, there was so much buzz in the office.
And I remember when he came, this you know, dashingly,
good looking young man walked into the office and I'm like, hmm,

(14:34):
I get it. That's why everyone loves him. And he
was quiet and unassuming and respectful and kind and and
of course you know, isn't with us anymore. But but yeah,
you know, it was really quite something.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yeah, very tragic, of course, his plane crash in the
summer of ninety nine, but you know, leaves behind a
very interesting legacy. He had a lot of public burden
to carry with his father and uncle, but he carried
it well by accounts sing charity with grace. So I
wanted to ask you about him. I'm glad you're able
to paint a picture. You spent twenty five years in
the private sector after leaving the DA's office in ninety nine,
and kind of like we talked a little bit about
off there too, how do you feel looking back on

(15:12):
that chapter that what you did prepared you well for
what you're doing now.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, No, absolutely prepared me. I mean I like to say,
I'm the CEO of the FDNY, not just the commissioner,
and I bring skills to this office and to this
department that commissioners before me didn't have. And I think
this department has taken well to my CEO approach to

(15:40):
managing the largest fire department in the country and the
greatest fire department in the world, because I have a
skills and abilities that a lot of people here don't have.
And when we run this department as a team, when
we sit around to it's all of our experience sets

(16:03):
that help us make good, positive impact and decision on
the overall public safety of the City of New York.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
Absolutely, and we'll tap into it briefly, Arnie Roma, I
do see your question in the chat. I'm going to
highlight a little bit later in our conversation Arnie is
the father of the late Keith Roma, who is a
fire patrolman with the old New York Fire Patrol who
died on nine to eleven. So I do see your question, Narni.
I'm going to get to a little bit later in
the conversation, but thank you for submitting. So that being said,
it leads us to the summer of last year, and

(16:31):
we talked about being a buff. We talked about it
all coming full circle. I don't think you could have
ever imagined, you know, going from the little boy following
the engines around to now, as you said, being the
CEO of the Fire Department. I don't think you could
have ever imagined something like that. So when you got
that call, you know, about this offer, just tell me
what your emotions were and how surreal that fell.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yeah. I think I was elated and it is surreal.
You know what I would say to you now, having
having been the commissioner for over fifteen months and sadly
on my way out, is that there's nothing that can
adequately prepare you for becoming the thirty fifth New York

(17:15):
City Fire Commissioner. You've got to bring a humility to
the realization that You're going to run this great department
and work with some of the greatest human beings you've
ever met, all of whom are highly experienced, highly trained,

(17:35):
highly skilled, very very smart men and women. Whether they're
EMTs or paramedics, or dispatchers or fire inspectors or firefighters
or fire officers, these are the best of the best
of the best. And I have to say that, although

(17:55):
and I'm sure we'll talk about my experience serving on
the board of the FDNY found a and being an
unapologetic buff. You think you know a lot about the FDNY.
You don't know anything about it until you get to
sit here seven days a week, twenty four hours a

(18:16):
day in it, and then you start to realize the
greatness of this place. You start to realize the types
of people that work here. You start to understand their
their their brilliance, and their entrepreneurship, and their their their camaraderie,
and and think things that we just we just don't

(18:39):
realize when when you're not in.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
It, absolutely you know and think. And I'm glad you
highlighted that, because a lot of people look at the
New York City Fire Department and they just think, Okay, well,
the firefighters going in different calls or because of the
high volume of the m s, the c FD and
yems plenty in the city. But you mentioned the fire inspectors,
the dispatchers, the communications as even the buildings component. There's
a whole building's division for the FD and WY. There's

(19:02):
so much that goes on day to day. The press
office as well on top of that. So I will say,
just before we go further ahead, we mentioned, of course
too your links of the New York City Police Foundation,
the FD Andy Foundation as well. Even though there's still
so much to learn, you've had a lot of people
to help you in these last fifteen months. How do
you feel that experience being on the board, as you
mentioned just now, also gave you an additional insight into

(19:25):
the fire department.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yeah, no doubt it did. I mean no doubt. Lots
of my experiences prior to coming here prepared me in
some ways to be the leader of the greatest and
biggest fire department in the country. But again, we have
some amazing fire chiefs, amazing deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners, just

(19:49):
a fabulous team of people on whose shoulders I stand
every single day. You know, and I get a lot
out of the credit, but I also get I also
deserve the blame when things don't go well, and so
and I take it very personally and very seriously. And
and and you know, we we can we can sort

(20:11):
of joke about a lot of things, but we're in
a very serious business. And this is a this is
you know, for sure, a life and death business. And
and and the difference we make in the FDN, why
as as the rescuers of New York City, uh is
is critical to the public safety of everyone that that's here.

(20:34):
And the public relies on us. You know, when you
call nine one one, you expect what you get and
and anything less would be a very very significant letdown
for for the people and for me. And so rest
assured we're working every day, whether it's drilling in a

(20:55):
firehouse or what goes on in the fire Commissioner's office,
to be the the absolute best that we can be,
not to take anything for granted, and to know that
while while we are prepared every day for anything, that
were really only as good as our last heroic act.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
Absolutely, And the interesting thing too, and this is the
case for any incoming commissioner of any public Safety Agency.
I remember having this conversation with the late Howard Safer
a few years ago when he was on this program,
and he had the benefit of doing that twice with
both the FD and Y and the NYPD, of which
he served as commissioner. Both did a great job in control.
So you get you walk in and you get a
lay of the land. You know, whatever your predecessor did prior, Okay,

(21:37):
that's that. But now it's you and you get a
chance to look at, Okay, this is what's working well.
And maybe those chiefs or other people involved tell you, hey,
we've been having problems with this. So we'll dive into
ems in a little bit, because I know you and
I we talked about that author as well, and we'll
hit on it shortly. But as far as getting that
initial size up, if you will, about what was working
and what possibly needed any adjustments. What were the big

(21:58):
things you liked about were the ft and why was
and what were the big things you felt Okay, you
know what, let's take a look at this and see
how we could better it.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, you know, it was critical when I came in
last August to stabilize this department. It's not a secret
that there was a number of ongoing issues between our

(22:26):
fire chiefs and the administration itself, and I think it
was very important and the mayor, you know, and I
talked a lot about calming things down here. It restoring confidence,
getting the department into a place where we could start
moving the ball down the field again as a team.

(22:51):
And what was most important to me is to try
not to run the department in the newspapers, to try
to quiet down some of the some of the noise
that was permeating the department, and to try to open
the doors of the eighth floor. Management team put in

(23:13):
a couple of new executive managers, including my amazing first
Deputy Commissioner, Mark Era, a thirty eight year veteran of
the department, a battalion chief, and get a communications cadence
going with not just the chief officers, but with everybody,

(23:34):
so that people could have an opportunity to be heard,
could voice their pleasure or displeasure, and we could try
to get past a moment in time where the footing
of the department seemed a little unstable.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
It was a difficult time for sure, but I think
looking back on it, the members feel this is a
testament to the work that's been done, that it has
been stabilized, and that you know, there is that gap
that previously, for reasons that are outside of this show's discussion,
you know, has been thoroughly closed. That's certainly a positive
development with day to day operations within the FT and Y.
You mentioned something earlier, and I thought this was a

(24:11):
good line. Standing on the shoulders of those you have
with you. You have a very good chief of department
as well, and johnas Bosito. You previously had another very
good one in John Hodgins, but just day to day,
he is your highest ranking uniformed officer. He's a friend
of the show as well as you know, he's been
on this program before. When you look at your relationship
with him and the day to day and how critical
critical I should say he is, how would you describe

(24:32):
your relationship with him and how helpful has he been
to your mission?

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Yeah, well, you know you're right. Chiefs Posito is a
sock officer and a very experienced fire chief. My relationship
with him is fabulous. He and I speak multiple times
a day every day. You know, make no mistake about it.
The chiefs run this department and my job. You know,

(24:57):
I make no mistake about it. They report to me.
I get it. But the truth is the chiefs run
the fire department and and and you have to understand
that that as the fire commissioner, you know, especially an
outsider like me who's never been a firefighter or an
EMT or paramedic, that that you can't you can't order
people to do things. That's not really great leadership. Great

(25:21):
leadership is trying to get chiefs to follow you because
they want to follow you, because they know that following
you is is the right thing to do. And and
so we have a very collaborative relationship John and our
Chief Esposito and I. But not it doesn't just end
with with Chief Esposito. You know Kevin Woods, the chief

(25:44):
of Fire Operations, and and and now Paul Miano, the
Chief of MS Operations. You know, we're we're a team,
and and their teams are are part of our team.
And everybody is wearing the same patch and the same jersey,
and and we're all we're really all trying to provide

(26:07):
the highest level of public safety in the world to
the people and visitors of New York City. And and
so my relationship with Chief SPUs. You know, it was fabulous.
I appointed him, which I think, you know, solidified my
confidence level in him and his in me. And it's
been it's been very smooth sailing.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
Absolutely, and it's not just him. I mean even it
starts with training recruits. You have Chief Myers, another former
guest of this show as well, in charge of chief
of training, not just of course the recruits, but also
the members currently on the line. There's a guy, yeah, Mike.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
Mike is incredible. He and I, He and I, I
you know, have a great relationship. I value his experience,
I value his judgment, I value who he is in
the department. You know, this is a department with a deep,
deep bench of expertise. And you know, I say that
the best is yet to come here. But we sure

(27:06):
have an all star lineup today.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
Absolutely, and I agree with that one hundred and ten percent.
There's a good communication and good chemistry overall. I kind
of liken it too. Anybody in your role. I've used
this analogy before. You look at basketball, right, the point
guard and it's not to diminish the other positions. Right,
of course, the center's critical, so as the power forward,
small forward, shooting guard, but the one that primarily has
the ball in most cases, it's the point guard. Why

(27:32):
are the Knicks so good after twenty years of putting
me through sheer misery because we have Jalen Brunson baby,
And Jalen bruns is the hell of a point guard.
He's able to ork straight things. Same thing you know,
when you're a fire commissioner, police commissioner, it starts with you.
You're not the only one. It is a team effort,
but you're the one with the ball. You got to
make sure you distribute it. And those guys, of course
make it easy for you to do so. That's a
very good thing. So we wanted we said we would

(27:54):
talk about it, we'll dive into it because I very
much want to pick your brain on this as someone
who's currently working the street here in Connecticut at an EMT.
You mentioned a little while ago in the future of
the Ft and ys ems. It makes sense CFR runs
started in the nineties. That precedes you. But most places
you go to in the country, not just the course
of State of New York or City of New York,
the fire Department the majority of what they do, even

(28:15):
in cities that get a decent amount of fires is
EMS runs, and you've really been a champion of the
EMS division. It's something that's definitely been refreshing to see.
But from your perspective, you also mentioned a public safety
crisis offare that nobody's talking about. So from your perspective,
what are the positives right now and just why do
you feel that there's this crisis going on right now?

Speaker 2 (28:36):
Well, look, thanks for highlighting this because it's really it
is really an important thing to talk about, and I'm
not sure my predecessors spoke about it enough publicly. EMS
is the biggest crisis in public safety that we're just
first beginning to talk about publicly. And it's not just

(28:57):
a crisis in New York City. It's a national crisis,
you know, And so I think that's sort of the
first point to highlight. You know, while we are the
biggest and busiest, you know, doing one point six million
calls for service a year in e MS, we're far
from the only ones who are having trouble recruiting, having

(29:18):
trouble retaining, having trouble getting to calls in a timely way.
We're far from the only ones that are that are
suffering from from those illnesses. What what what I would
say is that that the system really wasn't designed for
what it currently is doing and requires almost a complete

(29:41):
refresh if you will to start again. And and you know,
you have to be open minded in this office to
any permutation and combination that's gonna that's gonna save lives,
and and that that ranges from doing exactly what we're
currently doing to contemplating as we look at other departments

(30:04):
and their successes, the notion of empt firefighter and paramedic firefighter.
It's it's all, it's all on the table, it all
has to be spoken about, it all has to be contemplated,
and you can't be afraid to say something that might
upset the union or might upset someone else. Everybody is

(30:26):
in this conversation today together. What I would say is
that we have to be really careful not to make
mistakes to try to solve the problem by creating bigger problems. So,
for example, there's a bill that I testified about res
publicly and recently to separate the MS again from the

(30:51):
fire department and stand up its own agency. And this
would would be incredibly expensive because you're gonna need another Commissioner.
You're gonna need lawyers, recruiters, you're gonna need mechanics, and
you're gonna need communications specialists. You're gonna need and and
and so you're talking about that, you're talking about a

(31:13):
number far far greater than what we're spending now. I'm
talking twenty five million dollars more or more. And and
what you haven't done at that point is solve the
compensation problem for EMTs and paramedics, which they're currently which

(31:33):
is collectively bargained for and would still be collectively bargained for.
And you know they're currently in negotiations now, and I
wish they would come to some conclusion because make no
mistake about a EMTs and paramedics need to be paid better.
But that is just one of a myriad of solutions
that need to happen for EMS to thrive again or else.

(31:59):
I'm this is I'm warning everyone that this is not
a sustainable model. And so and mear Adams has been
has been very open about talking about this, and he
authorized FDNY to begin to build a new EMS dispatching platform,

(32:20):
which is another really important step in the right direction,
because our dispatching platform at doesn't maximize the resources that
we currently have, and whether we have enough resources or not,
no doubt we need more, But the fact is that

(32:41):
we've got to use what we have better, and we
need all sorts of help from AI and other sophisticated
technology to do a better job doing what we do
than we're currently doing it.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
The issue is never surface level, and I'm glad you
brought that up because I've had a lot of veterans
of New York City EMS and the FDNY who stay
post merger in nineteen ninety six that have talked about
this with me on this program. Where if you look
at where things are now this March is going to
be thirty years since that merger took place in nineteen
ninety six, hard to believe. It's sensical, like you said earlier,
to take a look at things and try to change

(33:16):
the model, if you will. But as far as separation,
the key that I would say to that, just to
kind of make an addendum to what you just mentioned,
is we've been here before. There was a reason for
that merger EMS could not sustain itself. There was a
lack of resources, no fault of those who were working
there at the time, but they were doing way more
with way less. The difference is now in almost twenty

(33:36):
twenty six, the tools are in the toolbox, like you said,
we just have to make sure we utilize them to
their full potential and the model can be a little
bit more sustainable. Here constantly on the run in EMS,
you know, you don't get the chance for too many breaks.
The ambulance kind of is your break. It's a little
bit different than the firehouse and going back to station.
But nevertheless, you know, those resources are there as an aid,

(33:58):
and I think taking EMS away from those resources that
the fd and Y has would be a seismic mistake.
And I know you're in lockstep with.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
That absolutely, And I would also, you know, remind our
viewers that today when I talk about EMS being the
future of the FDNY, today more than fifty percent of
the engine company runs are EMS runs. And so if
that really is the direction that we're going, and then

(34:28):
we really need to assess CFR generally and to decide
whether that's the that's the most appropriate and best solution
to what the patients on the street need. Also remember
that that every single person in the fire proby class
today right now, over two hundred people are are have

(34:54):
come from ems so they're all EMTs already and paramedics
and some of them and so and so to train
them down back to CFR would be like taking a
bunch of ED docs and training them to be, you know,
some paramedics. It doesn't it doesn't make sense. And so

(35:14):
these these nonsensical things that are going on today need
to be revisited. And and you know, sadly I won't
be the fire commissioner to do that. But what I
sincerely hope is that I have set the table. I've
sort of seasoned the meal. I've I've put it in
the oven which was preheated by me. And while I

(35:37):
may not get to eat the meal myself, I hope
that those people around the next administration's table are forced
to eat the meal I prepared. If they go off
this agenda to some degree, they will they will end
up taking steps backwards that this department has has really

(36:00):
has really worked hard to avoid. And so we have
a very clear strategic plan that I wrote out rather
early on, and we're on track to try to accomplish
a lot of it. I am leaving a more unfinished
business behind than I normally like to do. But nevertheless,

(36:23):
whoever takes over this job, and I'm sure someone awesome will,
who will be smarter than me and more thoughtful than me,
if they stay on track and keep this team together,
they will benefit themselves and benefit the overall public safety
of New York City.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
Well, just opening up the dialogue on the issue in
and of itself, as we said earlier, is a very
critical thing, you know, and I'm not knocking your predecessors
at all, but since this merger began in nineteen ninety six,
it's kind of been the thing we don't talk about. Yeah,
it's there, but that's the way it's always been. Well,
just just because this is the way it's always been
doesn't mean it needs to stay this way. Sometimes, looking
at the bigger picture as we're trying to do now,

(37:06):
is only it is going to be helpful, both in
the short term and in the long term. So just
for clarification before it segues into the next thing that
I want to bring up in regards to this too,
do we have any engines because you understand New York
City's laout better than I do, that are running als
or bls or no als engines at all.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
We don't have EMT firefighters or paramedic firefighters in New
York City. It's certainly something we could take a look at.
You know, the question is ultimately, how do we bring
people into this department, How do we pay them a
wage that allows them to live in it or around
New York City? How do we retain them so they

(37:43):
make a career out of this, all of which we're
failing to do in EMS operations right now. And as
I said, I hope that I communicated effectively using my
best CEO skills to the city Council the other day
that this smokescreen idea of standing up a new agency

(38:08):
will only benefit the agency managers and not benefit the
actual people on the street working the aided cases that
they're working. And unless we address that problem first standing up. Look,
if you can stand up another agency called EMS with

(38:30):
its own commissioner and its own infrastructure, and that comes
along with a gigantic pay raise for EMTs and paramedics,
who wouldn't support that, But that's not what they're talking
about and there's no model around that. And so from
my perspective, this is just this is just a way
to talk open the conversation further around EMT and paramedic

(38:54):
compensation which is being collectively bargained for, you know, the
burdens on their union and the representatives to do the
right thing by their people. Right now, we've got EMTs
and paramedics who are severely under resourced personally, and their
unions need to work hard to solve that problem.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
You mentioned it's a nationwide issue, and I can attest
to that where I work down here and I'm not
knocking where I work. It's been very good to me
amrs where I work, as I mentioned before, as an
EMT until hopefully I can get on the job myself
pretty soon. But I brought this up with the buddy
of mine who works FT and YEMS, and this is
something that's true across the board. You can't compete with
the heart. One of the complaints now is EMS is

(39:38):
just viewed as a stepping stone for the fire department.
If that's what someone wants and their only objective is
to become a firefighter, well you can't compete with that.
There's no way you're going to retain that person because
the second they get that opportunity to join the FD
and Y or another fire department for that matter, they're
out of there. You know, listen to give you a
little inside baseball with me. When I was hired by AMR,

(39:58):
I made it abundantly clear way I don't plan to
be a long timer here. The second I get an
opportunity in the fire service, I'm going to take that job.
That's the case really with most people that are in
the job, and it brings up a broader discussion that's
for a different day on a culture and things of
that sort, which is another problem for EMS platforms across
the board in this country. But a lot of it
too in the secondary aspect of it is burnout certain

(40:20):
people because the high call volume, leave the profession for
cores that don't have as high as a call volume,
or just leave the profession altogether. So pay is part
of it. But I'm glad you mentioned the smoke screen
aspect because great, if you solve pay, that's a big
step forward. But it's just a surface level thing that
you're scratching when there's a much deeper issue at play.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
Yeah, it's critical, but we you know, remember we have
some absolutely fabulous EMTs and paramedics who have to have
made a career out of it. And and you know,
have been here for a long long time and so
and so we know it's possible, we know it can
be done. And I am a commissioner that has tried

(41:03):
as hard as I can for since day one, really
to highlight that we're going to talk about e m S.
We're not gonna, we're not gonna bury it under the rug.
We're gonna we're gonna respect the members of that group
of people. We're going to treat them well. And and
I'm on the management team of MS every single day,

(41:25):
started starting with Paul Leanno, to to make certain that
they know that this commissioner insists that we treat those
members with dignity, that we take a look at things
like their facilities. You know, on the fleet side, we
have we're in really good shape with our ambulance fleet

(41:45):
less than five years old. Uh, you know, really we're
in good shape. But on the facility side, we're in
terrible shape. On the on the EMS supervisors of vehicles,
terrible shape. I mean, we we have a lot of
work to do in EMS operations to get it to
where the public expects us to be. And if we

(42:07):
don't do that, then we're not delivering at the level
of service that people expect the FDNY to deliver. And
and you know, look, there's also an equation here where
we're working with our partners in the private hospitals who
are part of the nine to one one response system,
and we're learning from them every day. We probably have

(42:28):
as open a line of communication with the CEOs of
the five hospital systems in New York City as we've
ever had. I'm speaking to those really super smart teams,
you know, frequently, and look, it's a new day at
FDNY where we're where our doors are wide open. We

(42:49):
know that we know a lot, but we don't know everything,
and we want to hear from as many smart people
as possible about things that we can do, bettering that
we're not really in the right place.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
On the MS side, it creates a culture of accountability
and that's important for sure. And I'm glad you mentioned
that because that is the other flip side of the
coin and the conversation I was having with my friend
the other day, desires of the heart to go back
to that some people just don't want to go to
the fire department, which is okay. They want to make
a career in EMS exclusively, and it's important they have
the resources to be able to do just that and

(43:23):
have a long successful run in it, which many people
have done. I mean, I go back to Chief Fields, right.
He didn't start out as a chief overnight. You know,
he worked his way through the EMS system to get
to where he is, and there's many more like him.
A couple questions that I'm going to hit on, mister
Romai will get to your question momentarily. Joe Maleigue is
asking how do you a wrong a questionnaire that I highlighted,
how do you deal with the cost of equipment being

(43:44):
so expensive?

Speaker 2 (43:46):
Yeah, I mean our budget is complicated. Ninety percent of
our large, you know, multi billion dollar year budget goes
to pay our employees, so you really only left with
about ten percent of the money that that People say, well,
it's a big, multi billion dollar budget. Yeah, well that's

(44:08):
that's for paying the people that work for us. It's
hard call. You know, Inflation is a real thing. Everything
costs more for all of us every day, including the
equipment that we buy. We have a good cadence of
apparatus purchasing, you know that goes out many you know

(44:28):
many years from now. I just sent Chief Esposito to
Wisconsin to meet with the largest builder of fire apparatus
to take a look at how that process is going,
because I don't think we should just stand there and
take delivery. I think we should see how these these
vehicles are being constructed and opine with our fleet management

(44:50):
on ways to do it better. So I think we're
we're in the conversation both at the front end and
at the back end. But but your your listener is right
that things are getting super expensive and it's going to
get harder and harder to do unless the mayoral administration

(45:13):
gives more money in the budget to the FDN Y
to continue to be state of the art. I mean
just that parenthetically on that topic. We we had a
a rash of brush fires at the end of in
the fall of last year, something far more significant than

(45:33):
we ever had in New York City. And we're fighting
brush fires using using you know, structural fire hose line
bunker gear that we would use for building fires. You know,
there there's a whole different way to approach brush fire tactically,

(45:55):
and and we're not While we have some brushfire apparatus,
we're not really prepared for major brush fires with the
appropriate equipment. It doesn't mean we don't have the right
equipment to thwart it, and we do, but you know,
do we have exactly what we need? No? I mean,
you know, just navigating these parks. We ended up in

(46:19):
northern Manhattan inwood last summer, we ended up drafting water
from the Hudson River because there weren't any fire hydrants
in inwood Park where this massive brush fire was. I mean,
if we didn't have that fireboat, we'd be in a
real predicament. And so the FDNY always has a way

(46:41):
to solve a problem. But in terms of cost of equipment,
the city council and the mayor are going to have
to give more money to this department.

Speaker 1 (46:50):
He follows it up with the question, could you see
the ft and why build their own fire apparatus as
they did in the old days, or do you not
see it getting to that level?

Speaker 2 (46:58):
Yeah, I mean I guess the CEO and ME says
that it's far more efficient to tell someone else how
to do it. Let them do it while we are
while we're continuing to do our day jobs. I think
we need to be experts at the things that we
are expected to do, and if we start to build apparatus,

(47:19):
we'll probably go off of our strategic mission.

Speaker 1 (47:23):
Okay, thank you very much for those questions, show, and
now for mister Roma's question. So a little background. Mister Roma,
as I mentioned, he's a retired New York City Police
officer and his son was a member of the New
York Fire Patrol of Keith Roma, who lost his life
on one September eleventh, two thousand and one. He's credited
with saving several lives from the North Tower and when
they found him in December of two thousand and one,
he was with nine civilians he was attempting to lead

(47:44):
to safety. So this happened well before you were Commissioner.
Of course, at the time it was the Bonness and
Juliani administration. But mister Roma is not added to the
current list of firefighters that were killed that day three
forty three. And while mister Roma has said he does
not want to desecrate the number, he respects the number
as sacred. He was hoping there could at least be
an asterisk at his son, and he just wanted to

(48:07):
ask regarding that if there's anything that could be done
by the current administration to remember his son, Keith Rome.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
Well, let me first say that I extend to use
sir my deepest condolences. We are really in the business
of never forgetting anyone that perished on September eleventh. And
what I would also say is that I'm keenly focused

(48:34):
not just on that number, but on the number of
deaths that we've had since September eleventh of our members,
civilian and uniform, who are suffering from cancers directly related

(48:55):
to the rescue and recovery effort. And we are talking
about ways to remember all of the people who perished
and who continue to perish every day here at the
Fire Department. And so I'm happy to include your son

(49:17):
in those conversations. But I extend to you my very
deepest condolences.

Speaker 1 (49:23):
Thanks for the question, mister Roma. I'm glad you submitted it,
and I appreciate it for sure. So as we kind
of closed in on the hour, Mark got a couple
of pictures that David burn sent, and then just one
more question, we'll go into the rapid fire and conclude.
David Burns, of course a friend of yours, a friend
of mine, and you can tell us what's going on
in each of these photos. Here, here's the first one.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
I gotta get my glasses. I apologize. That's okay, Oh yeah.
So that's at Rockefeller Center, a wonderful partner of ours.
You know. Look, the FDNY has a responsibility in fire
safety education and through the great work of our FDNY
found you see Matt d Liberto is there and and

(50:03):
Gino che is on the on the stage. Gene runs
the foundation and Matt is its chairman. We bring young people,
as you can see in the audience, two events all
over the city and we talk about fire safety. Because
fire safety, you're never too young to learn about getting

(50:26):
out of a building or an apartment or a house
if there's a fire, or if they smell smoke, calling
nine to one one. So what's going on?

Speaker 3 (50:35):
There?

Speaker 2 (50:36):
Is a is a big foundation sponsored event at Rockefeller
Center where we talk to young kids and we do demonstrations.
You can just see up in the top left the
that we have a two fire trucks holding a big flag.
It's a big event and we're you know, we have
we give out those those helmets and we we talk

(50:57):
to those children about being safe at home home and
talking to their parents about what is the plan if
something happens, how do we get out? And so I'm
very proud of the fire safety education work that the
foundation does and helps us with. Look, we rely heavily
for equipment and fire safety education on the FDNY Foundation.

(51:19):
So I really want to thank Matt and the members
of the board on which I serve as well ex officio.
But it's super important the work that the FDNY Foundation does,
and I'm grateful to the donors who help us accomplish
our mission.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
Same event or this is actually is this one of
the brush fires?

Speaker 2 (51:42):
I believe, No, that I believe is the the building
collapse in the Bronx. Oh, yes, you see, Amanda, there, Yeah,
I do there you go. Yeah. So I'm joined by
the mayor and the Deputy mayor for public Safety, and
there's Kevin Woods, our great chief of fire Operation. We
had a very unusual structural collapse of a of a

(52:07):
shaft on the side of a housing development in the Bronx. Unbelievably,
no one was injured or killed. But this is a
very common thing at events like this where we brief
the public about what happened. And and that's an example

(52:31):
of a press.

Speaker 1 (52:31):
Conference, and this is the same incident, I believe.

Speaker 2 (52:35):
Yeah, the same incident where I'm walking the mayor through
the through the scene so that he can understand that,
you know. For for Mayor Adams has been very, very
supportive of me and of the fd N. Y he
shows up, he's there for us, and I'm grateful to
him for obviously choosing me to be the thirty fifth

(52:58):
New York City Fire Commissioner.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
We got you at a parade here.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
Yeah, well that's the Iskull family. Zach is the commissioner
of the Office of Emergency Management. Those are his beautiful
children and his wife. That's the Saint Patrick's Day parade.
As you can tell from my sweater. I you know,
our partners and other city agencies like OEM are are

(53:24):
critical to our success, and Zach has been a wonderful
partner of ours in that effort.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
And of course you talking with the members.

Speaker 2 (53:34):
Yeah, this is my favorite thing to do. I feel
very blessed that the members have have accepted me an
outsider the way they the way they have. I do
not take that for granted at all, but I think,
you know, we have a kinship now where they know

(53:54):
that I love and respect them and the work that
they do, and I'm I've got their backs and I
care deeply about them. And meeting the members like that,
whether it's on the street or around the kitchen table
having coffee is by far my favorite thing to do.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
Absolutely. By the way, a man, of that other picture
that you were in, I'm gonna meme that because you
look hilarious in that photo. I say that lovingly. That
being said. Unfortunately, on a somber note, before we hit
the rapid fires, we were talking about two off air.
It's been a tough couple of weeks for the New
York City Fire Department. We lost paramedics Sali ab du
Rahman after a shift at Randall's Island, and then we
lost Firefighter Patrick Brady the very next week. We don't forget,

(54:35):
like we talked about with the patrolman Roma of the
Fire Patrol or anybody that's died in the line of
duty over the years for the FT and Y, we
don't forget. This hit the FD and Y hard. Losing
one members is somber enough. Losing two and back to
back weeks is even worse. When you look back on
these gentlemen and what you've been able to learn about them,
and you were just able to posthumously promote Firefighter Brady

(54:56):
to Lieutenant Brady. What have you been able to learn
about these men? What do you want the audience to
know about each guy?

Speaker 2 (55:03):
Yeah, I mean very very hard. Week hit me very personally.
Our paramedics are just are just unbelievable. This paramedic that
you mentioned, interestingly, was assigned that day to our training
academy where they are tasked to watch over our members,

(55:30):
both proby's and you know, lieutenants and battalion chiefs and captains,
all of our members were in training. And we know
it works because a couple of months ago, we had
to fire lieutenant literally who was in flips in our
lieutenant's training academy. Literally Drop had a massive heart attack

(55:55):
and was dead and was brought back to life by
the same EMS unit that our late great paramedic was
assigned to that day. He goes home and he suffers
a massive heart attack and dies. The pain and suffering

(56:15):
that I feel, you know, I raced to the hospital
to be with his wife and with his brother and
sister EMTs and paramedics that I feel the pain personally
and We sent him off with a full funeral of

(56:36):
a beautiful funeral at the mosque on ninety sixth and
Third Avenue. It was really a very special send off
for a very special human being. Then I went to
Israel to visit with the Fire Commissioner and the fire
department in Israel, and I was notified of the death
of Pat Brady. Pat Brady must have been one of

(56:59):
the most extraordins human beings in the world. A member
of a big family of firefighters, a member of the
Rockaway community. Pat Pat represented everything that is good about firefighters.
And Pat dies on the roof of a structural fire

(57:19):
in Brooklyn. Obviously, again, our rescue paramedics are right there
on the scene begin heroic life saving efforts. But God
had a different plan for him and needed him elsewhere,
and so those efforts were were not able to bring

(57:43):
Pat back. But I've gotten to know Pat's parents, and
his brothers and his family and his of course widow Cara.
They've changed me, They've moved me, and they've they've they've
made me appreciate things I'm not sure. In my final

(58:05):
days as the New York City Fire Commissioner, I had
a keen enough sense of and I'm still very emotional
about it as I speak about it, but we we
sent Pat off in a very appropriate way as well,
at a small church in the Rockaways, and it was

(58:27):
really quite beautiful and quite moving, and of course it
was a tragic day, but it was a beautiful day
and one that I'll never ever forget.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
And certainly that sentiment has fell across members of the
Ft and Y and any other members of any other
departments who were down there at the services that day. So,
as you mentioned, and then we'll hit on the rapid
fire as we're coming up on the hour mark, and
we'll conclude soon. But you are leaving soon. Unfortunately, you
have about a month left when you look back on
this chapter in your life, I'm sure, no matter what
you do next, this is the most rewarding chapter you've

(58:59):
had in your professional and personal life. What are you
proudest of and what are the goals you have to
accomplish in the short term in this last month.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
Yeah, as I said, I mean, you know, being the
thirty fifth New York City Fire Commissioners the honor of
a lifetime, And you're right, it's over delivered for me.
Every single day, not just because I'm a buff and
I get to now go out to say I have
a car with a flight and TIRN car one baby. Yeah,
but I but I but because I've gotten to meet

(59:32):
extraordinary people, people who who who just are so passionately
dedicated to what we do here and to our mission.
And you know, I was never in the fire service,
nor was I in the military, but I suspect there
are lots of similarities because I've met some really fabulous

(59:55):
members of our of our armed services as well. You know,
this is this has just been been an incredible experience,
as you said, and one I've learned so much that
going back to T and M now to my to
my business, which is what I plan to do, I
have a lot of new knowledge frankly to impart to

(01:00:19):
our clients and and and the private sector about risk
management and and and public safety and fire safety. And
I know that that I will better serve our client
base based on this experience from from my experience here.

(01:00:41):
In terms of unfinished business, there's a as I said,
there's a lot of unfinished business that arguably the most
important project that's going that that we the train has
left the station, on is is the rebuild of E
M S CAD IF if we don't if it's going
to be it's a multi multi multimillion dollar product with
lots of outside partners that you've heard of, including Censure

(01:01:04):
and others. But but it will be built by our
internal team. It will be built on the backbone of FIRECAD,
which we just built, and it will finally merge together
the efforts of what our fire dispatchers are doing with
our EMS dispatchers, and we'll have a real platform of

(01:01:29):
visibility in terms of those resources and how we're using
them and how we're making choices at the at the
earliest stage of the call to nine one one, all
the way to deciding how to prioritize, we segment and
prioritize our calls and maybe perhaps hold a boo boo

(01:01:52):
in Central Park so that we can get to a
cardiac arrest in you know, in Grand Central State. And
if we start to do that in a smarter way
and we get help from AI and other new and
sophisticated technology, I think we'll ultimately use our resources better.
We might require less resources, and we might we might

(01:02:15):
save more lives, which is really the number one goal.

Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
Like we said earlier, the tools are there. The tools
are certainly there. It's not like it was in nineteen
ninety six, all right. That brings us to the rapid fire.
Five hint run questions from me, five hint run answers
from you, which we'll get to right after this word
from our friends over at the Ryan Investigative Group, helm
by retired NYPD detective Bill Right and Mike thing NEWAPM
podcast is proudly sponsored and supported by the Ryan Investigative Group.

(01:02:40):
If you need an elite PI, look no further than
the elite Ryan Investigative Group, which is run by retired
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Ryan and the Ryan Investigative A proud supporter and sponsor
of the Mike de new Haven podcast. All right, now
for the Rapid Fire. You've had the chance to eat
some great meals and some firehouses across the city. What

(01:03:22):
would you say is the best meal you've had or
your favorite meal to have in the firehouse?

Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
Yeah? I mean I've had some amazing chili. I had
some awesome steaks at a firehouse on Staten Island.

Speaker 4 (01:03:33):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:03:33):
They had a pizza oven there, which I have to
say rivaled any uh pizzeria in New York City. One
thing I can tell you is our fireman can cook.

Speaker 1 (01:03:44):
They certainly can. Second question, the Rapid Fire favorite fire
service book?

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
You know, I haven't had the chance to read all
of the books that lots of people have sent me.
One thing I really hope to do is I'm exhausted
at the end of the day.

Speaker 1 (01:04:03):
I like it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
I like to I like to read. But by ten
eleven o'clock when I get home at night, because this
job runs late, I am so tired. And I think
everybody on this call, or hopefully lots of you, remember
that this phone rings all night long and many many nights.
I have to get out of bed and get dressed

(01:04:24):
and head out into the field to support the men
and women of the fdn Y. I can't wait to
start reading again. And I have a stack of fire
Department books that I'm eager to get my hands on.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
I imagine you've read Report from Mentioned Company eighty two. Though, yes,
that's that's that for me. And I'm biased because Dennis
was on the show. He since passed away, but that's
the goat book for me. There's a lot of good
ones out there, but I don't think any of them
captured the feeling of the fire service as well as
he did with that one third. You work with a
lot of really funny people, funniest colleagues you have you
can name, you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:59):
Know, There's just so many characters in the FDNY. I mean,
it's a I'll tell you a story of probably my
first week This is not a rapid fire answer. And
I get to the first weekend I'm fire commissioner. I
get to one of our foundation sponsored block parties, and

(01:05:21):
I see this older firefighter kind of staring at me,
and I'm thinking, what's he staring at? You know, And
and he's a member of Rescue five and so these
are these are you know some of our more mature firefighters.
And then there's this guy and so I decided to
walk over to him and say, hey, how you doing?

(01:05:41):
And he said, do you know who I am? And
I said no. He said, I'm the King of Staten
Island and if you come on this island you should
be calling me first. I looked at him. I'm like
what he said. I mean, if you need anything on
Staten Island, I'm your guy. And he and I, without

(01:06:03):
naming him, have become very good friends. And it turns
out to be true. He's the King of Staten Island,
all right.

Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
Good to know, certainly good to know, and a good
story to be told. Fourth question of rapid fire you've seen?
Even though there are some somber days like we just
talked about, there's a lot of really uplifting things you've
been able to see in this time as commissioner and
you respond to a lot of incidents. What's one of
the more uplifting things you've been able to see? Just
waging the members at work.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
Promotion day is is really is really a great day
in the f c M Y. There's a level of
happiness that exceeds our our normal level of happiness. There
are our our mascots are out there. There's a there's
a there's a rout a rowdiness, if you will, in

(01:06:51):
the audience. There's a lot of roaring and laughter and
and and and sometimes even air horns, which we don't like.
But you know, the banners and the signs and the
families and the retired members of the department who show up.

(01:07:11):
These are the great days in the FDNY.

Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
Absolutely. And the last question the rapid fire. Fifth, and finally,
one piece of career advice that you would give for
public safety leaders giving your experiences in the last fifteen
sixteen months.

Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
Yeah, I mean, you know, my advice is to love
these members. Love the people that work for you, Care
about them like they are your own. Look eye to
eye at them, not down on them just because I'm
the New York City Fire commissioner. You really it means little,

(01:07:46):
because if they don't respect you, if they don't like you,
if they don't care about you, you're not going to
do as well as you can do in jobs like this.
And on my very very first day, older retired fire
chief put his arm around me and they said, kid,

(01:08:08):
your dream has come true. You got the job that
you want. Let me give you some advice. You protect
these guys and have their back, and they will go
through walls for you. And that was great advice because
it was not hard for me to love and protect
and have the backs of the superheroes that work in

(01:08:32):
this department. But I can tell you that the return
on the investment is that they really do go through
walls for me every single day. And I am blessed
and I am grateful, and I will not be going
too far away. I can assure all of them.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
Good to know and a good way to conclude. Stick around, Commissioner.
We'll talk briefly off air before you go for the
rest of your day. No, you got a busy day ahead,
so I appreciate the time, and I appreciate, of course
Maniferanachi for hooking us up coming up next to the
Mike the New Haven Podcast, And of course thanks to
all of you who tuned in today this morning. It's
a doubleheader. Like I said, we got another show coming
up at six pm. He started his career with the
Los Angeles Police Department in two thousand and one, made

(01:09:13):
his way over to the New York City Police Department
in two thousand and three, and that's Dave Goldstein. He'll
be here tonight for the second show the day at
six pm. Continue to keep the families of both Paramedic
Ramon and firefighter Brady and your thoughts and prayers and
on behalf of FD and Y Commissioner Robert Tucker, Mike
Cologne and we will see you next time. Take care everyone,
I'll see you later at six pm.

Speaker 2 (01:09:40):
JU whisper and the things you want to feel? To
do that come man? Two ways up on.

Speaker 4 (01:09:51):
One way your faults.

Speaker 2 (01:09:57):
I want to wake up where you are. I won't
say anything at all, spy.

Speaker 3 (01:10:04):
Don't snide.

Speaker 5 (01:10:15):
It's like, don't you love lave?

Speaker 4 (01:10:28):
Your chill priest is on the phone, your mother hippie wall,
your mother's on you don't suppose I'll let you know.

Speaker 5 (01:10:38):
It's a means to fee a laugh or something.

Speaker 4 (01:10:41):
I have to exchange a little around here on a
wake up where you are.

Speaker 5 (01:10:48):
I won't say anything at all, spy.

Speaker 3 (01:10:52):
Don't you snide?

Speaker 4 (01:11:03):
Do anything you ever treat to be complete?

Speaker 2 (01:11:07):
Little pieces?

Speaker 3 (01:11:08):
Nothing?

Speaker 2 (01:11:09):
The fire? What's around around me?

Speaker 3 (01:11:17):
What's a feeling?

Speaker 4 (01:11:18):
What's your wre what's your man?

Speaker 3 (01:11:23):
A bad way?

Speaker 4 (01:11:41):
Don't do anything you ever treat to be complete pieces.

Speaker 3 (01:11:46):
Or nothing that fu around me?

Speaker 2 (01:11:55):
What's a feels?

Speaker 1 (01:11:56):
What's your love?

Speaker 3 (01:11:57):
And what's your want?

Speaker 2 (01:12:02):
May wannaway? I want to wake up where you are.

Speaker 3 (01:12:18):
Anything you ever.

Speaker 4 (01:12:20):
Dreamed me Coopres Jervis of enoughnything you will ever tre
me sppreing l of a copy that.

Speaker 3 (01:12:42):
Wow, she my room tied?

Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
What went away to work

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 385: The Best of The Bravest: FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker (Volume 79)

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Episode 385: The Best of The Bravest: FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker (Volume 79)

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