The city keeps two sets of books when it comes to FDNY emergency response times — and the data that is most accessible to the public shows skewed figures that are up to 92 percent more favorable than the actual numbers, the fire union revealed in a new analysis today.
In the city’s “Fire Statistics” version of the response times, they start the clock when a 911 operator turns a call over to a fire dispatcher.
But under the more obscure tabulation, “Local law 119,” passed during the Bloomberg Administration, the clock is supposed to start as soon as the 911 operator picks up the phone from the caller.
In 2015, the citywide average FDNY response to a structural fire was 4 minutes, 11 seconds — compared to 5 minutes under the updated system.
The average response time to medical emergencies was 4 minutes, 31 seconds — compared to 8 minutes, 11 seconds under the new system. Bronx medical emergencies had a 92 percent disparity.
Local Law 119 passed in 2013 as a result of lawsuit by the Uniformed Firefighters Association against the city.
The FDNY backed up the city’s current measurement of response times and denied any public deception.
“There is nothing misleading about the city’s transparent and detailed reporting on response times for emergencies, broken down by seven different categories to account for each component in what is known as ‘end-to-end’ response time,” said department spokesman Frank Dwyer.