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FDNY to Respond to Record Number of Emergency Calls in 2014: Officials

By Ben Fractenberg | December 16, 2014 8:06pm
 Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the FDNY is expected to get a record 1.6 million emergency calls in 2014 during a press conference at Rescue Company 1 on West 43rd Street, Dec. 16, 2014. 
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the FDNY is expected to get a record 1.6 million emergency calls in 2014 during a press conference at Rescue Company 1 on West 43rd Street, Dec. 16, 2014. 
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

HELL'S KITCHEN — Firefighters are projected to respond to a record number of emergency calls in 2014, officials said Tuesday.

FDNY operators are expected to have dispatched units for more than 1.6 million calls by the end of the year, the most on record since 1.575 million in 2012.

“The brave members of the FDNY and EMS keep New Yorkers safe and the statistics show are keeping us safer than ever,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference at Rescue Company 1 on West 43rd Street.

Fire-related deaths, though, are up this year, 68 through Dec. 14, from 58 in 2012 and 67 in 2013, according to the FDNY.

Officials account for the increase this year, in part, to the Harlem building explosion, which killed eight people.

The highest number of deaths, excluding 9/11, occurred in 1970 when 310 people died.

The increase in emergency responses are primarily due to a nine percent increase in gas emergencies. Emergency medical service calls are also up three percent, adding to a nearly 20-year trend since the FDNY and EMS merged in 1996, the fire department said.

De Blasio credits the trends to the department’s “rigorous training” and “that professionalism, that sense of camaraderie, that sense of mission."

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said he was "proud" of firefighters. 

“Despite the record number of incidents, we have worked hard to keep fires and fire deaths at historic lows, and that’s a true accomplishment.”