Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has selected his choice to lead New York’s bravest.
The incoming mayor tapped longtime FDNY veteran Lillian Bonsignore to head the city’s fire department, he announced Tuesday afternoon.
Bonsignore previously worked as FDNY chief of EMS operations before retiring from the department in 2022, a post she held since 2019.
“Now you have a commissioner who can start an IV,” said Bonsignore. “As far as firefighting experience, I know the job! I know what firefighters need and I can translate that to this administration who’s willing to listen.”
The FDNY veteran started her career back in 1991, when she was appointed as an EMT for Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, according to the department. She also responded during the Sept. 11 terror attacks and worked as part of the rescue and recovery efforts.
“This coming year will be particularly challenging and filled with emotion as it marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11. A day that changed our lives forever,” she said.
Mamdani said Bonsignore is also breaking an important barrier.
“I am proud Lillian will make history too as the first openly gay person to head up the department,” the mayor-elect said Friday, just over a week before he is set to take office.
Robert Tucker, the previous FDNY commissioner, announced his resignation the day after Mamdani was declared the winner of the mayoral race. He officially stepped down on Dec. 19.
“Look, it’s a complicated, emotional decision to leave. But ideologically, there’s no doubt that the mayor and I disagree on some very fundamental things to me,” Tucker told “CBS Mornings” after announcing he would be stepping down in November.
When it comes to New York’s finest, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has agreed to stay at the helm of the nation’s largest police department after accepting Mamdani’s offer to continue as the city’s top cop.
Mamdani has additional appointments to make, including the NYC Schools chancellor, commissioners for the departments of health, sanitation and transportation, as well as multiple deputy mayors. He announced on Friday that he would keep Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol on the job on an interim basis. Additionally, Mamdani said acting Sanitation Commissioner Javier Lojan would stay on as well, during the heart of winter storm season.
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