Only a handful of FDNY units out of service even as some firefighters continue to battle COVID-19 vax mandate: Nigro

Just four FDNY units out of the system’s 350 units were out of service Thursday morning due to lack of staffing, according to the department’s commissioner — pushing back at a narrative regarding alleged systemwide shortages because of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

“Right now as I’m talking to you, there are four units out of service, I dare say that’s fewer than on most days of any given year,” Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro told reporters during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Nov. 4 press conference at City Hall.

Nigro added that four units being out of service is far less than the 20 units that are generally taken out of service most days out of the year to accommodate training, maintenance and other needs — therefore the department can quickly adjust to this small shortage.

“We can have generally 20 units out of service training etc and that’s fairly normal, and again, I mention it every day, the New York City Fire Department has 350 units engines ladders, rescues, squads,” he said. “We are out there in force, so even with 20 units out of service, this department can handle a multiple number of multiple alarm fires.”

Mayor de Blasio, who spoke of the FDNY vaccination situation at Thursday’s press conference, shared that a majority of firefighters are vaccinated at 79% — a percentage point higher than the day before — and FDNY emergency technicians are 90% vaccinated.

“So even as people are continuing to have this discussion, the actual folks who do the work are making the decision to get vaccinated and that’s powerful,” the mayor said.

Nigro added that the shortage of firefighters has not resulted in any higher response time, even though the city has seen several multiple-alarm fires this week.

“We have had some understaffed units, but we have looked very carefully at these multiple alarms that occur each and every year as the weather gets cold,” Nigro remarked, “and the performance of our members has been fantastic, there has been no loss of life.”

Aside from FDNY unions, with whom differences remain, de Blasio announced Thursday an agreement with four local labor unions — DC 37, a public employee union; Teamsters Local 237; Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association Local 831; and Service Employees International Union Local 300 — to ensure their union members meet the vaccine mandate.

Similar to what was reached with the United Federation of Teachers, the agreement will provide an initial decision to employees who have filed religious or medical exemptions, which can then be appealed to an arbitrator — who will decide the exemption based on the same criteria used for the city Department of Education. Appeals can also be brought before an internal city panel.

The members of the four unions who signed the agreement and filed an exemption request by Nov. 2 will remain on payroll with weekly testing while awaiting determination of their employer and any appeal, though employees who filed exemptions between Nov. 3-5 will only remain on payroll with weekly testing pending employer determination. They will go on leave without pay if they choose to appeal the agency’s decision.

Under the agreement, the city has the right to put unvaccinated employees without an exemption on leave without pay with health benefits effective Nov. 1, or after the denial of the exemption depending on when it was filed.

Unvaccinated employees on leave can choose to separate from their employer and maintain health insurance through June 30, 2022 or can elect to extend their leave until that date but waive their right to challenge if not vaccinated by the end of their leave. If vaccinated while on leave, the employees are allowed to return to work at their same work location.

Another term of the agreement was the four unions withdrew their litigation filed last month challenging the city’s right to execute the vaccine mandate.