FDNY commissioner 1,600 miles away at Puerto Rico political junket — as NYC blaze kills 6
The FDNY boss offered “fire safety” advice from the annual Somos political conference in Puerto Rico Thursday — just hours after a fire killed six people in Brooklyn.
Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore was spotted rubbing elbows with union heads at a posh beachside resort 1,600-miles away from the city — but played down her jaunt to the warm-weather political junket when confronted by reporters.
“I have my first deputy commissioner who is currently taking care of business down there,” she said when asked if her absence had presented any difficulties tackling the deadly blaze in Sunset Park.
Bonsignore, who said there was no need for her to be back in the five boroughs following the tragedy, then offered some fire-safety tips.

“We need to get the message out there that fire safety and education is an important thing to learn for every family, every neighbor, every person,” she told reporters. “So you know what to do if a fire is happening in your area; you should know how to react.”
The blaze started just before 2 a.m. and quickly tore through a two-story residential building on the 600 block of 58th Street.
Four people were pronounced dead at the scene, and another two died on the way to the hospital.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration signed off on sending a number of Hizzoner’s deputies and commissioners to Somos, the premier gathering attended by New York state’s political class in San Juan each year.
Fire commissioners often don’t go, and FDNY sources said they could not remember the last time the city’s top fire official was in attendance.