Crown Heights Firefighter Testifies To Rampant Harassment Within FDNY

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A Crown Heights firefighter is among a group of smoke eaters who say they face rampant harassment and discrimination that goes unchecked within the FDNY.

Anita Daniel, an eight-year veteran firefighter, delivered testimony to City Council on Sept. 19 detailing harassment that involved slaps, flames and feces at Crown Heights's Engine 234, city records show.

Daniel — who appears in FDNY's promotional Mother's Day content — made her first official claim after returning to her station house, following a miscarriage, to find the woman's toilet covered in feces, the Crown Heights firefighter testified.

"This was too much," Daniel said of the discovery. "Everyone has their limits."

Daniel also testified that other firefighters lit a piece of paper on fire under her shoe.

The culture, Daniel and many others testified, is to not make official complaints but to keep incidents within the firehouse to avoid being labeled a "rat."

The Chief Leader reports Daniel sent numerous complaints to the FDNY’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office — tasked with handling harassment and discrimination complaints — only to have them ruled "unsubstantiated."

Daniel then went to her borough command for assistance with the constant harassment, but he said his hands were tied because she'd gone to EEOO and "didn't follow the chain of command," the firefighter testified.

But when a FDNY Captain slapped her rear end on July 7 and laughed about it — and video of the event was circulated among fire captains without her knowledge — Daniel decided to escalate her reporting, she told The Chief Leader.

"This sexual predator is still in the FDNY," Daniel said

Daniel's testimony came as City Council considers legislation that would mandate the FDNY develop a plan to ensure its firefighters reflect the diversity of the city they protect, following years of accusations of discrimination.

A federal monitor was tasked with ensuring diversity of the department in 2011 but, according to a March 2022 report, only 13 percent of FDNY firefighters who accepted probationary appointments were Black between 2017 and 2021.

In 2021, the New York Times reported that many Black firefighter echoed Daniel's claims of insufficient punishment for discriminatory behavior when nine firefighters were quietly suspended after sending wildly racist text messages in the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020.

In August the Vulcan Society, a fraternal group representing Black FDNY firefighters, submitted a no-confidence vote in the EEOO, The Chief Leader reported.

Regina Wilson, a former Vulcan Society president, told The Chief Leader that when it comes to the EEOO “we have no confidence in their ability to be able to do their jobs adequately or to protect black firefighters.”

Daniel has also spent years raising the issue of diversity within the FDNY.

The Crown Heights smoke eater was one of only 11 Black women firefighters when she shared her aspirations with the Amsterdam News in 2015.

At the time, Daniel said she wanted to make it all the way to Chief of the FDNY and pave the way for more women in the department.

“This is history. I’m proud to say I’m one of the first," Daniel reportedly said. "I hope to incorporate more women in the job and have everything more equal.”