NYC ambulance response times grew 41% in a decade, comptroller warns

City Comptroller Mark Levine released a report showing that FDNY ambulance response times have grown 41% over the past decade, with crews now arriving at life-threatening calls an average of nearly four minutes slower than ten years ago. Response times for non-life-threatening calls have more than doubled. The report blames aging ambulances, maintenance backlogs and chronic staffing shortages: on one January day the FDNY had just 360 ambulances in service against a target of 488, and EMTs and paramedics have been without a union contract since 2022. Starting pay is about $44,000, topping out around $68,000 after five and a half years, well below what firefighters earn. Life-threatening calls themselves have risen more than 22% between fiscal 2015 and 2026. 'Emergency medical workers are being asked to do more while being paid less,' Levine said. Matching firefighter pay would cost over $1 billion; raising wages to private-sector levels about $352 million. The report led Gothamist's homepage on October 17.