Council grills FDNY on ambulance delays today; a bill would send public alerts when 25-plus calls wait for an ambulance

City Council members will press the FDNY on Tuesday about why ambulances are taking longer to reach New Yorkers in emergencies. The Committee on Hospitals and the Committee on Fire and Emergency Management hold a joint oversight hearing on ambulance response times at 10 a.m. at 250 Broadway, 8th floor, Hearing Room 2, according to the Council's docket and ABC7.

The bill on the agenda: Int. 990

Members will also hear Int. 990, introduced Aug. 13 by Council Member Joann Ariola with Lynn Schulman and Frank Morano. Under the bill text:

• NYC Emergency Management, working with the FDNY, would send public notifications through the emergency alert system every time FDNY-EMS has more than 25 pending ambulance dispatches, meaning 911 medical calls waiting because no ambulance is free.
• The alerts would include information on medical care outside emergency rooms and on when people should consider getting to an ER by other means.
• Alerts would be required no more than once an hour.
• The law would take effect 90 days after it is enacted.

The bill's summary explains that when demand outstrips the number of in-service ambulances, FDNY-EMS triages calls and sends ambulances to the most critical cases first, so a queue of lower-priority calls can build up. The bill is still in committee, and a hearing is not a vote.

Why now

A report from the city comptroller found that response times to life-threatening medical emergencies grew by 3 minutes and 50 seconds, more than 41%, between fiscal 2015 and 2026, Gothamist reported. The city's own performance report shows the average response to life-threatening calls rose from 11:21 in fiscal 2025 to 13:09 in fiscal 2026, amNewYork reported. We covered the comptroller's findings, including ambulance staffing and EMS pay, here.

The issue drew new attention after a Queens family said their 14-year-old son waited about an hour for help during a stroke despite several 911 calls, and that no ambulance came, so they drove him to a hospital themselves, ABC7 reported. An FDNY spokesperson told the station the department is conducting "a thorough investigation into the 911 response."

"We know this is unacceptable and we are working tirelessly to reverse this trend," the FDNY said in a statement to ABC7, adding that it is working to improve staffing.

What to watch

Expect questions on ambulance staffing and how many units are in service each day, the stalled EMS contract, how 911 medical calls are classified and dispatched, and whether the city supports public alerts during backlogs. We will update this story with what officials say.