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The head of New York City’s Office of Emergency Management, Joseph Esposito, whose role includes overseeing the city’s response to acts of terrorism and major snowstorms, was asked last week by a deputy mayor to resign, according to a person briefed on the exchange.

Mr. Esposito refused.

The deputy mayor, Laura Anglin, then told him he would be fired. Mr. Esposito said that he would need to hear that directly from Mayor Bill de Blasio, the person said.

But Mr. de Blasio wasn’t even in town: He was on his way to Vermont to spend the weekend with Senator Bernie Sanders. Mr. Esposito tried to reach the mayor by phone, but was unsuccessful, the person said.

When the mayor re-emerged in New York on Monday, he took the highly unusual stance of refusing to publicly either support or fire Mr. Esposito. He also canceled his lone scheduled appearance, a weekly interview on NY1.

Thus began one of the more bizarre personnel snafus ever to unravel under Mr. de Blasio, a designation with competition: Nine months ago, the mayor announced the hiring of a new schools chancellor, only to have the candidate reject the offer a day later.

It was not at all clear how the decision to ask for Mr. Esposito’s resignation, reported by The Wall Street Journal on Monday, was made, or whether Ms. Anglin acted on her own or at the direction of Mr. de Blasio.

The was-he-or-wasn’t-he-fired episode has added another surreal layer to last month’s freakish 6.4-inch snowstorm that paralyzed much of New York City, and brought wide criticism on how the de Blasio administration handled it.

On Monday morning, Mr. Esposito was at his desk and said he was still employed by the city. “Yeah. I’m in the office now,” he said when reached by phone.

Mr. Esposito was expected to meet with Mr. de Blasio at Gracie Mansion later on Monday, the person said.

The demand for his resignation threw many in New York City government into a state of uncertainty. Top officials at the police, fire and sanitation departments said they knew nothing of the firing of Mr. Esposito, formerly the Police Department’s highest-ranking uniformed member.

Legal experts and former city officials said that a deputy mayor did not have the authority to unilaterally fire a commissioner appointed by the mayor, as Mr. Esposito was by Mr. de Blasio in 2014.

Ms. Anglin made her demand for Mr. Esposito’s resignation late last week at the emergency management headquarters in Brooklyn, according to the person who was briefed on the exchange. She was in the building to attend what was described as a routine meeting to follow up on the city’s response to the mid-November snowstorm.

After that meeting, she met with Mr. Esposito, the person said. It was not clear how the decision to ask for Mr. Esposito’s resignation was made and whether Ms. Anglin acted on her own or at the direction of Mr. de Blasio.

Mr. Esposito refused to provide details or say whether he had a one-on-one meeting with Ms. Anglin. “She was here for a couple of meetings,” he said.

The mayor’s office offered no clarity; Mr. de Blasio’s press secretary, Eric F. Phillips, would neither confirm nor deny Mr. Esposito’s firing, saying that City Hall had nothing to say on the matter “at this time.”

Ms. Anglin refused to answer questions as she walked out of City Hall on Monday. “You have to talk to the press office. I have nothing to say,” she said.

The sanitation commissioner, Kathryn Garcia, said on Monday that she attended a meeting at the emergency management offices, which included Ms. Anglin and other senior officials and staff members. She described it as a “run-of-the-mill” meeting focused on improving the city’s response in similar situations and on how “you share data in an emergency.”

She said that she had not been notified of any changes in the leadership at the emergency management office.

Follow J. David Goodman and William Neuman on Twitter: @jdavidgoodman and @willieneuman

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