FDNY Response Times Climbing

The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) has seen its emergency response times rise in the past year, causing one firefighter’s union to link the increase to the closing of some firehouses.

According to CBS News’ Marcia Kramer, the new statistics show that the department’s response times to both fire and medical emergencies are up 24 seconds this fiscal year (which ended June 30th) from fiscal year 2004. In 2004, the average response time was four minutes and 47 seconds, while this year it was five minutes and 11 seconds.

Uniform fire officers associate president Peter Gorman told Kramer the numbers are up because of an increase in the department’s workload of and the closing of six fire companies. However, Fire commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta told Kramer that Gorman's argument is untrue.

“That happened in 2003, but now we’re comparing 2004 and 2005 it added on a third of a second to city wide response time,” Scoppetta told Kramer. He also told her that while the department has made some progress in reducing response times, they still need to do more.

“The times are coming down, but it's still serious, but we’re making progress,” Scopetta said.

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