NYC ambulance response times jump 41% as emergency calls increase

Well, there are new concerns tonight regarding ambulance response times across the five boroughs in the wake of a new report that's been released by the city's comptroller's office. The big headline, people are waiting longer as the number of life-threatening emergency calls are increasing by double digits. Fox 5's Kelly Kennedy is live in the newsroom. She has been taking the deep dive into this and has for us what she has found so far. Good evening, Kelly. Yeah, good evening, Martha. Well, we've all seen ambulances trying to fight their way through city gridlocks. sirens blaring, drivers struggling to get out of the way. But when someone's having a heart attack or any medical emergency, every second counts. And according to this new report, the average response time for those serious emergencies is up from just over nine minutes to more than 13. The City Comptroller's Office reviewed more than a decade of FDNY emergency medical services data. It says response times for life-threatening emergencies have increased by three minutes and 50 seconds. That's an increase of more than 41%. Now, at the same time, the number of emergencies is up more than 22%. And for less serious calls, the average wait has more than doubled to nearly 29 minutes. The report blames several things, including traffic, ambulances out of service, and staffing issues. It says more than 500 EMTs left their positions in fiscal year 2026, some of them transferring to better-paying firefighter jobs. I spoke with Mike Greco, president of Local 2507, and he blames low pay for the staffing crisis. He says his union has been without a contract since 2022. And there's also a federal class action lawsuit that accuses the city of discriminating against EMS workers by paying them less than firefighters. It needs to happen immediately to bring response times down. You have to pay. That's the elephant in the room. Immediately, you have to solve our contract, recognize the disparate treatment that's going on to our members, settle our lawsuit that we have, bring it all together. That would start the process of keeping people, so that would turn the faucet off. The second the people who are already here get a significant raise, they won't wanna leave. In a statement to Fox 5, the FDNY acknowledges the problem, saying, quote, we know this is unacceptable and we are working tirelessly to reverse this trend. Now, the department also says it's hiring EMTs as fast as training capacity allows and that it has deployed 13 special paramedic response units in the Bronx and in northern Manhattan. It also says it's working to get ambulances back into service faster. And this issue will be talked about at City Hall this week. Local 2507 is calling on its members to show up Tuesday for a city council hearing on fire and emergency management and hospitals. The comptroller is calling for more competitive EMS pay, but also says that alone won't solve the problem. We'll continue to follow this issue and keep you updated. Arthur, I'll send it back to you. Kelly, thank you very much.