Jacksonville Daily News – March 02, 2016
by Lisa L. Colangelo
The city is misleading the public with rosy statistics on how quickly firefighters get to emergencies, according to a new report released Monday by the Uniformed Firefighters Association. Union officials charged the discrepancy is especially glaring in the Bronx, where the city claims in 2015 firefighters responded to medical emergencies in an average of 4 minutes and 44 seconds while it was actually 9 minutes and 6 seconds. The citywide average isn’t much better, according to the report. The Fire Department said it responded to medical emergencies in 4 minutes and 31 seconds while the union said it was closer to 8 minutes and 11 seconds. The discrepancy exists because the city keeps two separate sets of statistics — one that measures the time from when the FDNY receives information from a 911 call and one that records the time from when the 911 call is first placed, union officials said. “The numbers the city reports paint a devastatingly inaccurate picture of how long it truly takes for New York City Firefighters to arrive at the scene of an emergency,” UFA President Steve Cassidy said. “If you are trapped in a fire or having a heart attack, those crucial seconds and even minutes of extra waiting can mean the difference between life and death,” said Cassidy. “Every second a fire spreads makes it more dangerous for firefighters and the citizens we are sworn to protect.” FDNY spokesman Frank Dwyer said the statistics were not misleading and included detailed reporting on response times for emergencies, broken down by seven different categories. “We know that report is not accurate,” Mayor de Blasio said at an unrelated press conference on Monday. “ That’s coming from a labor organization that did not in our view look at all the facts. We have been very careful about response times.” The gap is more narrow with the citywide average response to structural fires: the FDNY says its 4 minutes and 11 seconds while the union points to numbers showing 5 minutes. But it widens again for nonstructural fires: 4 minutes and 30 seconds compared with 6 minutes and 3 seconds. A law passed in 2013 for Ariel Russo, the little girl struck and killed by a car on the Upper West Side, requires records showing how long a response takes from the first 911 call. An investigation showed there was a four-minute delay in dispatching an ambulance to the scene where Ariel was struck. Both sets of statistics are available on the FDNY website, with on labelled “Fire Statistics” and one marked “Local Law 119 Compliance.” “I hope that this report that we have put out today with the city’s own numbers starts a dialogue about what is an acceptable response time for the NYC Fire Department,” Cassidy said. “With the increased population in the city and the number of tourists, the demand for FDNY services is up. The city needs more resources.” With Jennifer Fermino
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