New York City firefighter, Derek Floyd, died from a heart attack months after being laid off due to the city’s cost-cutting measure to pay for migrants in the city.
Floyd, 36, suffered a cardiac arrest just months after “the city gave him the boot as part of a larger effort to pare down staff and pay for housing and services for the tens of thousands of migrants flooding the Big Apple.”
Floyd, along with 10 other firefighters, received a pink slip after being placed on ” long-term duty,” meaning they had either suffered an injury on the job and had been given office work or had an extended illness, according to sources with the FDNY.
The New York Post noted:
“Floyd, a veteran who served three tours in the Middle East with the Marines, had been among those working a desk job — toiling in the Fire Department chaplain’s office — because he had suffered another heart attack in 2019 while he was in the Fire Academy.”
Floyd reportedly helped arrange funerals of firefighters who had died and had been working toward being medically clear to get back out in the field.
Floyd leaves behind a wife and two children.
His family lost more than $600,000 in death benefits due to Floyd’s firing.
“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” Floyd’s widow, Cristine, told The Post.
Christine said Floyd’s firing likely took a fatal toll on him.
“I think it definitely took a toll once they let him go,” she said.
“He always tried to, like, stay positive about it, and he wasn’t really angry,” she said.
“But you see a person, and the wheels are turning in their brain where they’re just constantly thinking, so I definitely think it did affect us.”
While Floyd found work at a non-profit helping veterans,, the pay was much lower than his firefighter salary.
“He used to be so present for, like, our kids and stuff,” Cristine said.
“Being a firefighter was something he was really passionate about. He was really a big-time, like, family person, he was all about his kids.”
“If Derek would have stayed on, he would have had a life insurance policy with the FDNY. That would have helped out financially because right now, it’s really bad,” she said.
“I’m honestly swimming in a lot of debt.”
New York slashed the FDNY budget by $74 million in order to pay for the ongoing migrant crisis.
“What disturbs me the most is that the FDNY is understaffed by hundreds of firefighters,” Uniformed Firefighter Association President Andrew Ansbro told The Post.
“Terminating [Floyd] was absolutely unnecessary.”
“He had an important job, and the FDNY actually needed him in that unit,” he added.
“He was terminated so the department could prove that they were making cuts. He deserved better,” Ansbro said.
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