A New York City firefighter has died of a heart attack months after being laid off due to the city’s cost-cutting measures to pay for the ongoing migrant crisis.
Derek Floyd, 36, reportedly suffered cardiac arrest and died earlier this month, which came four 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,” according to the New York Post.
Sources with the FDNY said that Floyd and 10 other firefighters received a pink slip this past Christmas after being 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.
“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,” noted the Post.
As a chaplain, 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.
Upon his death, Floyd left behind a wife and two children. Due to his firing, his family lost more than $600,000 in death benefits.
“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” Floyd’s widow, Cristine, told The Post.
Christine said his firing likely took a fatal toll on Floyd.
“I think it definitely took a toll once they let him go. 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.”
Though Floyd found work at a non-profit helping veterans, the pay was significantly lower than his firefighter salary and had little benefits. He also missed out on time with his two children.
“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. I’m honestly swimming in a lot of debt.”
New York had reportedly slashed the FDNY budget by $74 million to pay for the ongoing migrant crisis, which has rocked the Big Apple to its core.
“What disturbs me the most is that the FDNY is understaffed by hundreds of firefighters. Terminating [Floyd] was absolutely unnecessary,” Uniformed Firefighter Association President Andrew Ansbro told The Post.
“He had an important job, and the FDNY actually needed him in that unit. He was terminated so the department could prove that they were making cuts. He deserved better,” Ansbro added.
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