NEWBURGH – Two recently hired Newburgh city firefighters have flunked out of the fire training academy but are still earning their full salary, sources have told Mid-Hudson News. The two men were hired on March 11th and began their training on March 15th.
The men were enrolled in the Career Firefighter Academy being held in Westchester County. The successful completion of the 16-week academy, designed by the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control, is required in order to become a certified firefighter. Both of the new hires allegedly flunked out within a week of each other, less than a quarter of the way through the academy. There are still two other new hires from Newburgh in the academy.
One of the newly-hired firefighters is Rayquan Bryant, the grandson of City Councilman Omari Shakur. The young Bryant was hired because of his rank on the city resident preferred hire list. Allegations have since surfaced claiming that the young man used a Lake Street address for the hiring process but he has actually resided in New Windsor for the past two years. The other, Adrian Adorno, was hired because of his score on the bilingual preferred hire list.
Rather than terminate the two men for flunking out of the training, City Manager Todd Venning has kept the two men on the city payroll, paying each of them a $42,000 annual salary. The two individuals are prohibited from responding to emergency calls because they are not qualified. The two, however, are reporting to the fire department headquarters five days a week for eight hours a day.
Witnesses say that the two men are performing various housekeeping duties at the station and reviewing the course materials that proved difficult for them in class. One professional city firefighter, speaking anonymously, said department officials were ordered by Venning to keep the men on the payroll because they will be attending the next fire academy in Westchester, scheduled to begin in the fall of 2022.
Neither Mayor Torrance Harvey nor City Manager Venning responded to a reporter’s communications seeking comment about the situation.
