FDNY Stats Become Political Tool

Response time statistics for the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) have improved because of dispatching changes, department officials say, but within minutes of the announcement the firefighters’ union announced its endorsement of the opponent of mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is running for re-election. Union officials have criticized the dispatching changes, saying fire units are now dispatched before they received complete information about an incident. Last May the city moved several borough-based fire department comm centers to the city’s 911 center, eliminating an extra step when a 911 call is fire-related. According to the FDNY’s stats, structure fires are down 3% for the same period of 2008, and attributed that to better public education by the fire department. Response times to all fire went down from 4:16 to 4:03, or about 5%. Response times to car fire dropped from 4:44 in 2008 to 4:24 this year, about a 7% drop. Read more here.