EMTs keep leaving

To the editor:

Between March 1, 2024, and Oct. 10, 2025, the number of FDNY emergency medical technicians dropped by 312, and the number of paramedics dropped by 99. That's according to the latest "FDNY Total Workforce Analysis" posted online. As of Oct. 10, the FDNY had 2,818 EMTs and 967 paramedics to respond to 1.6 million 911 calls for medical help per year in all five boroughs, 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. 

Since the latest statistics appeared online, another 154 men and women took their oath to become FDNY EMTs, but another 350 EMS members are reportedly leaving for firefighting in February.

FDNY started with 3,130 EMTs in March 2024. In the intervening months, it added 497 EMTs. But by this Oct. 10, only 2,818 remained; so, 809 EMTs had left. Some of the deficit is the result of promotions within EMS, but over 550 EMTs were no longer there, an attrition rate of 18 percent for that period. 

Failure to correct EMS' lack of pay parity with other "first responders" is continually cited as a cause of the FDNY EMS' harmful and wasteful staff attrition, and in turn, its lagging response times. Last month, over 100 New Yorkers with life-threatening emergencies waited more than 20 minutes for an advanced life support ambulance.

FDNY EMS pay parity came up last week at a joint NYC Council committee hearing on working conditions. During that hearing, an FDNY official testified that the 2025 EMT attrition rate is 5 percent, which FDNY EMS union president Oren Barzilay subsequently labelled as "funny numbers.”

The FDNY will have added more than 1,500 new EMTs during Mayor Adams' administration, but hundreds, perhaps a thousand will have departed. 

Helen Northmore