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Hail to the chief!
During Hurricane Sandy, EMS commander Marylou Aurrichio was carried out of a deluged Lower East Side station by four underlings holding her above the floodwaters in a patient-carrying chair — even though she was not injured.
A photo of Aurrichio’s royal-like treatment has outraged rank-and-file members, who have branded her “Chief Cleopatra.”
The photo shows Aurrichio, 57, borne aloft in a “stair chair,” meant to transport patients, by four subordinates wading through ankle-deep water.
“She’s a chief. She should be leading — not being catered to like a Roman emperor,” fumed EMT Peter Capetanos. “All that’s missing is someone fanning her and feeding her grapes.”
One of those carrying Aurrichio, Capt. Lisa Freitag, denied rumors that Aurrichio had ordered her underlings at Battalion 4 — at Pier 36 on South Street — to lug her to dry land.
“The chief at no time ever directed anyone to carry her out. She stayed with the station till the last minute. The water was 4 feet high and a decent current,” wrote a poster identified as “Capt Freitag” on the FDNY EMS RANT Web site, where she defended the move.
“I personally asked three members to assist me to carry her for several reasons,” Freitag wrote. “Out of respect for a chief officer because it would of been more dangerous trying to hold onto her to get her out safely . . . I personally carried and would do the same thing tomorrow.”
She added, “Do you think the chief said to herself, ‘God, I would love to be thoroughly embarrassed right now?’ ”
But embarrassment is what happened.
“We should absolutely risk our members for the sake of the chief’s socks,” an EMS member cracked on the message board. Another called the rescue “f–king pathetic.”
“It was the wrong decision,” said Israel Miranda, president of the Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics and Fire Inspectors FDNY Local 2507. “As a chief, you’re supposed to lead your troops, not be carried out by your troops. There was nothing physically or medically wrong with her.”
Miranda said Aurrichio, who was filling in for the Manhattan division commander, did not evacuate the station when water began seeping in because the EMS top chief, Abdo Nahmod, had ordered members to stay put as long as possible.
After an electrical fire was put out and water rose several feet inside, Freitag and another captain took charge and ordered the evacuation, Miranda said.
The four EMTs carried Aurrichio from the station and then along the street — where the water level was much lower, enough to soak their feet.
The stair chair is meant for two EMTs to carry a patient up or down stairs, then roll on its wheels.
Miranda said Aurrichio, by allowing others to carry her, put them at greater risk by hindering their ability to walk through the torrent.
Aurrichio, who has served in the EMS more than 20 years and earns a $114,172 salary, was lately transferred from posts as commander of Division 4 in Queens and Division 5 on Staten Island.
She did not return calls to her office at FDNY headquarters in Brooklyn.
FDNY spokesman Frank Dwyer said the crew protected Aurrichio because she’s “a shorter individual.” He did not give her height, while others described her as 5-foot-2 and stocky.