Why do NYC ambulances take 4 minutes longer to respond now?

Workers say they are dealing with their own emergency, a staffing crisis. Oh boy, ambulance response times for life-threatening emergencies drastically increasing over the past decade. Well, the city council is looking to bring that number down. Good Day's Linda Schmidt has more. FDNY EMS teams respond to more than 1.6 million medical calls every year. The city comptroller, however, is sounding the alarm, saying it is taking an ambulance about four minutes longer to respond to those emergencies compared to 10 years ago. I'm extremely concerned. The city council committees that oversee city hospitals and the FDNY holding an oversight hearing and wanting answers as to why response times have gotten worse. FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito. Since 2003, 19 hospitals in New York City have closed, with the most recent closure in 2025. That means fewer destinations for patients. With each closure, ambulances must travel further to get the patient to the emergency room. Not only are there fewer hospitals, the FDNY says the number of medical calls is surging. In 2022, there were more than 564,000 calls. Last year, more than six hundred and ten thousand. It is also difficult to retain EMS workers, many of whom after their job are going and living in a shelter because they literally cannot afford housing or some are sleeping in their cars. And later, the council speaker snapped back at the chief of department for the staffing shortage. shortage. I've sat in front of this committee several times with Fire Commissioner Bonsignor and before her, Fire Commissioner Tucker, where we have said that the EMS system is in crisis. And unfortunately, we're still in crisis. With all due respect, yes, you're saying it's in crisis, but you really are the only people who can solve the crisis. I mean, let's be clear. You've got a city council that wants to raise the wages. You all are the only people, the administration is the only people that can actually solve this crisis. The president of the EMT union telling Fox 5. I need people to take action. It's one thing to say we deserve more. We need those results. And Queens City Council member Joanne Areola has sponsored a bill that would require the city to alert New Yorkers in real time if the FDNY's EMS is responding to more than 25 ambulance calls at any given moment. And it would let the public know they could have to wait longer than they may want in order for an ambulance to arrive. In the newsroom, Linda Schmidt, Good Day, New York.