CARMEL – Ralph Falloon has served the emergency services community for 40 years as a member and former chief of the Cold Spring Fire Department before working his way up the ladder and becoming a county fire investigator and New York State fire instructor.
Along the way, the career firefighter and former mayor of Cold Spring was also appointed as a Putnam fire coordinator before being named the county deputy commissioner of Emergency Services in 2023.
Falloon was shocked when summoned to County Executive Kevin Byrne’s office, where he was terminated in what the former number two man in the Bureau of Emergency Services said was “personal. I’m angry how this administration treats its dedicated employees. I was treated as a poor employee and a non-team player. Besides, in my 40 years with the Putnam fire service, firefighters have always had direct representation. Now for the first time in our county’s history, the bureau does not have an individual from the fire side representing the fire service.” He added, “Financially, I’ll be O.K. I’m not broke and I have a place to live along with job offers.”
Falloon claimed that the current administration was poorly managed. “I don’t want to work for Kevin Byrne; I wasn’t working for Kevin Byrne but for the fire and EMS world in addition to emergency management. Being accused of not being a team player was a low blow since I was involved in every national disaster that faced our county since 1986.”
The county executive was contacted and asked for his reasoning regarding the sudden dismissal.
Instead, Putnam’s recently appointed Commissioner of Emergency Services James Oster forwarded a statement via email: “Ralph Falloon is no longer serving as Deputy Commissioner of the Putnam County Bureau of Emergency Services. The Bureau appreciates the time and service he provided to the County and to our emergency response community.”
Oster said with any personnel matter, “this administration does not discuss the details of personnel changes that could publicly disparage current or former employees. What I can say is that every personnel decision made is with the best interests of Putnam County in mind.”
Oster said the “Bureau of Emergency Services remains focused on moving forward so it can continue to strengthen our support for the firefighters, EMS providers, dispatchers, police officers, emergency management and public safety professionals who work every day to keep the people of Putnam County safe.”
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