File #: Int 0667-2007    Version: * Name: Reporting response times for firefighting units and ambulances to fire and medical emergencies.
Type: Introduction Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services
On agenda: 12/19/2007
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to reporting response times for firefighting units and ambulances to fire and medical emergencies.
Sponsors: Lewis A. Fidler, Vincent J. Gentile, Alan J. Gerson, Letitia James, G. Oliver Koppell, Michael C. Nelson, Annabel Palma, Larry B. Seabrook, Helen Sears, James Vacca, Thomas White, Jr., Maria Del Carmen Arroyo, Robert Jackson
Council Member Sponsors: 13

Int. No. 667

 

By Council Members Fidler, Gentile, Gerson, James, Koppell, Nelson, Palma, Seabrook, Sears, Vacca, White Jr., Arroyo and Jackson

 

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to reporting response times for firefighting units and ambulances to fire and medical emergencies.

 

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

 

Section 1. The Fire Department currently tracks and reports on the duration of time between when the Department receives an emergency call and when a firefighting unit or ambulance arrives at the street address of an incident. However, it is important to determine not only how long it takes a firefighting unit or ambulance to arrive at an incident once the Department is alerted to the emergency but also how long it takes for those vehicles to arrive once a 911 call is received by the City that requires an emergency response. The failure of the City to report the time between the receipt of an emergency call and the transmittal of that call to the appropriate first responders gives a false picture of the City’s collective ability to respond to emergencies. In determining how to deploy limited resources it is imperative that the people making those decisions have the most accurate data available. The Council finds that requiring the Fire Department to include the 911 dispatch time in their response time data will permit the City to better plan for and respond to fires and medical emergencies.  

    §2. Chapter one of title 15 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 15-129 to read as follows:

§ 15-129 Reporting of Fire Department response times. a. The department shall track the duration of time between a report to a 911 operator to which fire units or ambulances are required to respond and the time when the first fire unit, which shall include ladders and engines only, or an ambulance unit arrives on scene in the following categories:

(1) Average response time to structural fires;

(2) Average response time to life threatening medical emergencies by ambulance units;

(3) Average response time to life threatening medical emergencies by fire units;

(4) Combined average response time to life threatening medical emergencies by ambulance and fire units;

(5) Percentage of response time of less than 6 minutes and less than 10 minutes to Advanced Life Support medical emergencies by Advanced Life Support ambulances.

b. The department shall submit a monthly and yearly report to the council and to the mayor that it shall also post on its website, detailing the response times for each category required herein, by community board, by borough and citywide.

§3. This local law shall take effect 90 days after enactment.

 

 

LS # 3572

RCC

12/13/07