By Paul Liotta
Staten Island Advance
NEW YORK 鈥� Ambulance response times are up nearly four minutes from 2015, a new report from Comptroller Mark Levine found.
The report released Friday found that average response times have increased three minutes and 50 seconds for life-threatening medical emergencies and 14:49 for non-life-threatening emergencies since 2015.
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鈥淣ew Yorkers calling 911 in a medical emergency cannot afford to wait longer and longer for help,鈥� Levine wrote on X. 鈥淲e need to get more ambulances on the street, strengthen the EMS workforce, and cut the delays that keep crews tied up instead of responding to the next emergency.鈥�
Levine鈥檚 report highlights the well-known problem of increasing ambulance response times highlighted in the annual Mayor鈥檚 Management Report.
The 2026 report released in September found ambulance response times of 11:55 for life-threatening emergencies in the most recent fiscal year concluded at the end of June. The 2015 version of the report listed those same response times at 9:16.
Levine鈥檚 review focused on information available through the NYCOpenData system, which provides week-to-week data samples. The Mayor鈥檚 Management Report only provides an annual figure.
Similar to his government counterparts, Levine鈥檚 report did recommend pay parity for FDNY ambulance workers as the best way to address the general shortage of ambulances in service.
Base salary for an FDNY EMT tops out around $59,000 after five years, while firefighters with the same years of service receive a base salary around $110,000. For years, experts of the city鈥檚 EMS system have pushed to close that gap as a way to address slower ambulance response times.
Levine鈥檚 report found that a full closure of that gap add about $300 million annually to the FDNY budget, which is about $2.7 billion for the current fiscal year.
鈥淭he city must negotiate a new contract that provides EMTs and paramedics with competitive pay, while developing a comprehensive plan to address the structural challenges affecting response times and ensure our EMS system can meet growing demand,鈥� Levine wrote on X.
Despite being a five-borough concern, Staten Island has offered something of a bright spot with the best times in the city, according to an Independent Budget Office report released in April.
The report analyzed EMS response times from 2014 to 2024, finding slower responses across the five boroughs, but some of the fastest on Staten Island.
FDNY breaks down EMS responses into two categories, basic life support and advanced life support. Both categories have seen similar slowing trends over the past 10 years.
Staten Island saw the best response times for advanced life support in 2024 with 82% of those calls seeing response times of less than 10 minutes. The Bronx was the worst in 2024 in that category with 75% of advanced life support calls seeing response times of less than 10 minutes.
The Island also saw the lowest decline in that metric over the past decade 鈥� a decrease of just four percentage points 鈥� with 86% of advanced life support call taking less than 10 minutes in 2014. Manhattan saw the sharpest decline, going from 90% to 78% of advanced life support calls taking less than 10 minutes.
Basic life support calls also saw response times increase over the past 10 years. In Queens, the percentage of response times less than 10 minutes for basic life support calls went from 72% in 2014 to 56% in 2024. Staten Island鈥檚 numbers in that metric went from 78% to 68%.
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