New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law Monday a measure that opens the door for a decorated U.S. Navy SEAL to become an FDNY firefighter, removing the final legislative obstacle that previously had kept him out of the department, the New York Post reports.
Before Cuomo's approval of the legislation—part of a bundle of bills he OK'd to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Veterans Day—Special Operations Chief Shaun Donovan had been blocked from joining the department because his military deployment kept him from hitting FDNY's application deadline by just about seven months. His rejection came despite passing the department's written exam late last year, scoring in the top 1 percent out of the 43,900 people who took the test and meeting the job's physical requirements, including ladder raising, hose dragging and other tasks.
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Under the new law, FDNY's application deadline has been extended by a year for active military members like Donovan, who served four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and was awarded medals of valor in that span. Previous department regulations required firefighter candidates be 29 years old by the start of the application process, with military service adding up to six years to that period, making 35 the cutoff.
