NEW YORK (PIX11) — For nearly 30 years, New York City firefighters and paramedics have operated under one roof.
But there’s a new push to separate the FDNY from EMS. While some officials believe it would save lives, others fear it will end up costing taxpayers.
City EMS leaders warn they’re hemorrhaging members to the FDNY and want a divorce.
“We’ve doubled the call volume, we haven’t doubled the workforce,” union vice president and EMS Lt. Anthony Almojera testified before City Council members Thursday.
He’s backing a proposal to split the uniformed services as they operated prior to 1996. In short, he says New Yorkers would be safer with an independent agency.
“Five to 8,000 members, pay parity, equipment to have enough ambulances run 24 hours,” Lt. Almojera said.
Pay parity is their priority. Currently, the average salary for EMTs is $60,000, while firefighters earn double that amount.
Council Member Justin Brannan is sponsoring the bill to break off the agencies.
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“If you’re putting your life on the line, you should get a living wage and not work two to three jobs,” Brannan said.
The staff of 4,100 EMS members, with veterans having five years on the job, is inadequate, they say. Testimony revealed it is leading to an eye-popping 12-minute response time for average medical emergencies.
“If I don’t get you in the first six minutes of cardiac arrest, the chance of survival drops 80 percent,” Lt. Almojera said.
To the criticism, the outgoing FDNY Commissioner said it’s a problem he’s focused on.
“When we talk about response times, our failure is managing them because of the limited resources we have.”
Tucker pushed back against the bill and believes separating the two would create more inefficiency and redundancies.
“Forcing a divorce of fire and EMS services would have unintended consequences that would make our members and the public less safe,” Tucker said.
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“Almost 70 percent of calls are medical emergencies, but barely 20 percent of the FDNY budget goes to EMS,” Brannan said.
Brannan says he has briefed Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani about the separation. The mayor-elect said Thursday, he has not yet made up his mind.
“I also want to be surrounding myself with those who have been doing this work before coming to a conclusion that would affect the lives of many,” Mamdani said.
According to Brannan, it would cost $80 million to give EMTs pay parity.
He vowed to rescind his bill to split the agencies if done by the Office of Labor Relations. He says there’s nearly $700 million in labor reserves to make it happen.
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