There were 304 other graduates of the Fire Academy at the graduation ceremony Tuesday — but all the heat was on Rebecca Wax.
The controversial new probie — who graduated despite not passing a key fitness test — was forced to squirm at her own commencement as the head of the firefighters union told the members of her class that being fit was a matter of life and death.
“Fitness has to be a part of your life,” said Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy, who did not directly name Wax. But he clearly alluded to her case, which was first reported by The Post on Sunday.
“Sometime in the near future, I guarantee you will go to your first fire and you will realize you have never moved so fast or worked so hard ever before,” Cassidy said.
“Some instructor at the academy yelling in your ear while you’re doing a drill is not the same as some mother telling you, ‘My baby is on the second floor.’ That’s real.”
Wax, 33, made headlines for becoming the first person to be allowed to join the FDNY despite flunking the Functional Skills Training (FST) test, a grueling obstacle course run in full gear with a limited air supply.
She was allowed to graduate after FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro announced rule changes last year that eased her entry into the department.
Wax didn’t seem upset by the speech, as she smiled with her sheepskin beside the commissioner during the event.
Cassidy later claimed he wasn’t targeting Wax, and often talks of fitness. Nevertheless, other firefighters whispered snarky comments behind Wax’s back.
“This is a circus,”one FDNY official sneered. “I had to bust my chops to go through training.”
And when Wax posed with two other women who also graduated, he said, “Give me an 8-by-10 so I can frame it. Just kidding.”
The other two women, Nia Terrelong and Hildany Santana, passed the FST test with flying colors.
Wax is assigned to Engine 259 in Sunnyside, Queens — where firefighters were mostly diplomatic about their new firehouse mate.
“I never met her,” one said. “I guess we’ll wait and see.”
But some vets turned up the heat.
“The Fire Department is blessed with so many capable women, and now the public will look at all women firefighters and not know who is qualified,” a retired fire captain said.
Wax could not be reached for comment.
Additional reporting by Philip Messing and Leonard Greene