New York City Fire Deaths in 2009 Hit an All Time Low!

FDNY officials announced that New York City experienced just 73 civilian fire deaths last year, which is the lowest number ever recorded in the city’s history. The previous record low of 77 deaths took place in 1919. The FDNY also said it achieved the fastest average response time to structural fires on record at just 4 minutes and two seconds.

Mayor Bloomberg said “In terms of public safety, 2009 was a year for the history books. The Fire Department’s performance in reducing fire fatalities and saving lives by getting to fires faster than ever, when combined with the extraordinary successes achieved by the NYPD in driving down crime to record lows, are the result of hard work, innovation and use of data to achieve results.” Personal injury lawyers in New York agree with Mayor Bloomberg.

Fire deaths fell 15 percent in 2009 compared to 2008. FDNY officials said that there were 86 deaths in 2008. Up until 2002, there have been only three years (1919, 1921, and 1927) when the city recorded less than 100 fire deaths. The record high for most fire deaths in a year was in 1970, where 310 people died.