Firefighters lash out at lawmaker over NYC’s vaccine rule

NEW YORK (AP) — Six New York City firefighters angry with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for city workers that took effect Friday were pulled from duty and suspended after driving a fire truck to a state Senator’s office and threatening his staff over the requirement, which the state lawmaker had nothing to do with.

State Senator Zellnor Myrie said firefighters from Ladder 113 in Brooklyn parked a fire truck outside his office Friday morning and confronted one of his staff members about the mandate, suggesting the lawmaker and his staff would have “blood on their hands” because of resulting staffing shortages and longer response times.

The firefighters also pressed the staff member to divulge where Myrie lived, the 34-year-old Democrat told The Associated Press. He said several other members of his staff saw the fire truck with its lights flashing and were anxious there was an emergency nearby.

Myrie said he found the incident “incredibly disturbing, highly inappropriate and not at all” what firefighters should be focused on. He said he was encouraged that the fire department took swift action to pull them from duty. He said his staff was shaken up for hours.

“If you are asking for my personal whereabouts and you follow it with blood being on the government’s hands for a vaccine mandate, any objective observer is going to connect those two and receive them as a threat,” Myrie said. “I believe my staff did receive it as such and I think it’s highly inappropriate.”

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro swiftly condemned the firefighters' actions and suspended them for four weeks without pay.

“This is a highly inappropriate act by on duty members of this Department who should only be concerned with responding to emergencies and helping New Yorkers and not harassing an elected...