The Fire Department revealed statistics showing that response times have decreased for the third year in a row. The 2007 average response time, based on 490,767 calls, was 4 minutes and 49 seconds (for FDNY & EMS services). In 2006, the average response time was 4 minutes, 54 seconds and in 2005 it was 5 minutes, 9 seconds. Response time is a general term for any sort of vehicle to come on the scene, not necessarily a fire truck, and could be for a water main break.
Mayor Bloomberg, who controversially decided to close down some firehouses due to budget reasons, called 2007's response time "truly remarkable." However, the Uniformed Fire Officer's Association points out that response time to structural fires is slower - it was 4 minutes, 27 seconds last year, while is was 14 seconds faster in 2002.
Other stats according to Metro: There were 96 civilian fire fatalities and there have been "fewer civilian fire fatalities between 2002 and 2007 than in any other consecutive six-year period in recorded history"; there were 1,187,602 calls made to EMS - 2% more than in 2006.
