Former FDNY commissioner Thomas Von Essen, who presided over New York’s Bravest during 9/11, has been named head of the FEMA region that serves Puerto Rico — making him the new leader of the hurricane recovery efforts.

“There’s a lot of work to do,” Von Essen told The Post. “I’m excited to go down there to continue the work that they’ve done, that they’ve started.”

Speaking Sunday — a little over a week after Hurricane Maria pounded Puerto Rico and the rest of the Caribbean — Von Essen described how the devastation that the storm left in its wake ultimately made him take the job as the new head of FEMA Region 2, which also serves New York, New Jersey and the US Virgin Islands.

“They asked me if I would take this over a month ago, actually right before the hurricanes,” Von Essen explained.

“At first I said no. They asked me a couple more times, I said yes. When I’d heard about the hurricanes, it made me more interested — the idea of really getting involved at places I knew were really going to need a lot of help over a long period of time.”

Von Essen, a 31-year veteran of the FDNY, will be spending the next week in Washington DC getting briefed before he makes his way down to Puerto Rico.

“It’s an honor to be asked to come back and work again to help people that really need it, and I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “I’ve seen what FEMA can do. I know how they can help people that really need it. My life was the the FDNY, surrounded by people like that who are able to make a different and help strangers and I’m looking forward to making a difference as soon as I can.”