Mayor Adams Expected to Name Robert Tucker as New Fire Commissioner

Mayor Eric Adams is expected to name Robert S. Tucker as the new commissioner of the New York Fire Department, making him the 35th person to lead the agency, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

Mr. Adams is expected to make the announcement at a news conference on Monday.

Mr. Tucker will take over leadership of the department from Laura Kavanagh, who stepped down last week after announcing in July that she would resign. Joseph Pfeifer, who served as first deputy commissioner under Ms. Kavanagh, briefly served as acting commissioner after her departure.

As commissioner, Mr. Tucker will oversee a department of 17,000 employees, including firefighters and emergency medical workers.

The appointment of Mr. Tucker was first reported by The Daily News on Sunday night.

Like his predecessor, Mr. Tucker has never been a member of a fire company. He has, however, maintained longtime connections to the Fire Department and to law enforcement circles in the region.

Mr. Tucker is on the board of directors of the FDNY Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the department. He also serves on the board of trustees for the New York City Police Foundation and as a police board commissioner for the Westchester County Police Department. Mr. Tucker was appointed in late 2021 to serve on Mr. Adams’s mayoral transition team, working on the Public Safety and Justice Committee.

Mr. Tucker’s appointment is “a good thing” for the department, said Daniel A. Nigro, who served as fire commissioner for eight years before retiring in February 2022. Mr. Nigro, reached by phone Saturday in anticipation of Mr. Adams’s announcement, said he got to know Mr. Tucker through the FDNY Foundation and that he was a “highly intelligent” person who “knows his way around New York.”