The Fire Department revealed statistics showing that response times have decreased for the third year in a row. The 2007 average response time, based on 490,767 calls, was 4 minutes and 49 seconds (for FDNY & EMS services). In 2006, the average response time was 4 minutes, 54 seconds and in 2005 it was 5 minutes, 9 seconds. Response time is a general term for any sort of vehicle to come on the scene, not......

Yesterday morning's rain caused a recently installed sewer main to burst, flooding the basement and parking garage of a Battery Park City luxury apartment building. Water levels reached up to 20 feet. Not only were car owners greeted with news that their vehicles were either submerged or floating on top of sewer water, hundreds of tenants at 90 West Street were evacuated. Fire officials explained that, per WNBC, "rain flooded a re-routed sewer pipe,......

We love timely tips from the FDNY! The Fire Department is reminding New Yorkers that deep-frying turkeys is very, very dangerous. Why? Well, the fryers easily tip over and many fryers don't have automatic temperature control. Also, "oil may spill from the fryer onto the burner causing a fire." Underwriters Laboratories has a video of what can go wrong during turkey deep-frying and it is insane. It does seem like there's at least one deep-fried......

The Fire Department believes a bad connection from the gas line to the stove, not a gas leak, caused the explosion that caused a flash fire at 10 West 119th Street in Harlem on Saturday. Several people were injured, including four children and their mother who lived in the apartment. Initially, the FDNY said a gas leak on the first floor caused the blast, but Con Ed found no evidence of a gas leak. Now......

A family is mourning the death of a 7-month-old boy who died during an electrical fire on East 3rd Street yesterday morning. The Fire Department believes that the fire was caused by a "faulty timer that was rigged to an air conditioner in the baby's third-floor room." The Daily News explains that the family, the Goldmans, are Orthodox Jews who were observing Succoth. They had recently purchased a an electrical timer for the baby's AC......

Yet another depressing fact revealed about the Deutsche Bank demolition in the wake of two firefighters' deaths. The NY Times reports that contractors had created an emergency exit plan through sealed stairwells, but the firefighters didn't know about the plan. Fire department spokesman Francis X. Gribbon told the Times, “The Fire Department was not involved in creating this plan, specifically — and most importantly — with regard to the sealed staircases. We were not notified......

The Fire Department is investigating whether standpipes failed to bring firefighters water to help fight a seven-alarm fire that broke out on the 17th floor of the Deutsche Bank building on Saturday. The cause of the fire, which spread between the 14th and 26th floors of the lower Manhattan building, is also unclear, though the FDNY suspects it may have been caused by a cigarette or a faulty electrical panel. FDNY officials suspect that......

A 46-year-old Brooklyn man shot his 21-year-old son and then turned the gun on himself in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Lebrun Dossous, who the Post and Daily News describe as being depressed (the News suggests that he was "despondent that his son was moving out"), shot his son five times while he was taking a shower. Then Dossous shot himself in his bedroom. Yesterday morning, a neighbor called to complain about a leaking water. George Dupree......

The Fire Department has revealed the cause of yesterday's fire on the roof of 515 West 34th Street: Careless smoking. There are no further details, but we imagine careless smoking means a smoker on the rooftop didn't properly extinguish a butt. Over 100 firefighters responded to the fire which took place in a building the NY Times says "houses some apartments and offices for Coach." Two firefighters were injured, and different city agencies are......

Families, neighbors, and others mourned Wednesday night's fire that gutted a 4-story Bronx home and claimed the lives of nine people, including eight children. Fire officials investigated the Highbridge section structure, which was home to twenty-two Malian immigrants and believed that a space heater on the garden floor bedroom overheated and caused the fire, which spread uncontrollably due to what the NY Times calls "the most basic of human oversights and seemingly innocuous events."......

The Fire Department has been working with the US Naval Research Laboratory to develop transmitting chips for firefighter's gear that will allow electronic tracking of firefighters on the scene of a blaze. The chip would have to withstand the heat, smoke and water found while fighting a fire. It would be activated when a firefighter boards a truck to respond to a call. Currently, firefighters sign in to a paper roster. Under that system, according......

Yesterday afternoon, six adults and five children were stuck in an elevator for over three hours. The Fire Department was called to the Polo Grounds housing project in West Harlem when someone reported the elevator was stuck between the 15th and 16th floors. Somehow, the power went out around 3:45PM, and the passengers, stuck in the a 4' by 6' foot space, called 911. Seventeen year old Laquell Harris said, "We could barely move, and......

The city's Department of Investigation revealed that 14 current city firefighters have used fake college diplomas bought online to get ahead in the FDNY. And for three of them, it worked, making their way to positions like Deputy Chief and Battalion Chief! In the FDNY, you need at least 15 college credits to be hired and more to be promoted (ten of the other eleven fake-diploma-holders eventually got enough credit later on to be legitimately......

It was a normal Friday morning commute on the L train for many - until some substance caused the entire line to be shut down in both directions due to what the MTA's website calls a "police investigation." We have heard a couple things. The last car of a Brooklyn-bound train at the Lorimer stop was cleared, though people were still in other parts of the train. A train conductor was overheard saying something about......

Dunh dunh DUNH. The Fire Department threw out an interesting statistic during a community meeting about NASCAR on Staten Island: Somehow, they calculated that an average of six people die during NASCAR weekend. The Staten Island Advance reports, "The deaths are put down to such causes as heart attacks, fires, injuries and auto accidents in and around the tracks." Does this count for deaths in a thirty mile radius of the tracks, because that......

A three story building at 34 East 62nd Street, between Madison and Park Avenues, has collapsed. Reports say that there was an explosion and fire. It's unclear if there are any people inside. Fire Department staging is at East 65th Street; expect lots of traffic diversions in that area. Update: The Times is reporting that Con Ed was in the building next door, investigating a gas leak, when the explosion occurred. The White House......

The Fire Department unveiled its memorial to the firefighters who "fell" and "who carry on" yesterday afternoon. The 56-foot long bas-relief is on the side of Engine Company 10 and Ladder Company 10 at 124 LIberty Street. The NY Times described it as a "full panorama, centered on the flaming towers, with heroic and humbled firefighters on either side." Almost immediately after the unveiling, family members were rubbing paper against the memorial's names. Fire......

Gothamist now officially cannot wait for 2007: The Fire Department has released its new New York City Firefighters Calendar! Yes, it's another new edition of firefighters posing shirtless in neighborhoods and in front of landmarks, with proceeds going to the The Children's Storefront, a tuition-free school in Harlem, and the Thomas R. Elsasser Fund, which raises money for firefighters' families. You can buy the calendar online from the NYFirestore ($14.99), but we recommend heading......

Yesterday afternoon, a pizzeria on Avenue U in Brooklyn got an unexpected delivery - through its front facade. Linda Danielson had backed her SUV into Trio Pizzeria; she had been trying to back into a parking space, but her sandal got caught in the gas pedal! And what's more, she doesn't even have a driver's license! Holy moly, what the hell are people thinking. Danielson's accident not only caused a senior citizen to have a......

There are a few pieces of ground zero news today, so we're just going to resort to that old school blog fallback, the roundup: The Air Back There And the discussion of what exactly was in the air after 9/11 continues. Today the Times tackles the topic:After nearly five years, it is still too early for these doctors, scientists and forensic pathologists to say with certainty whether any long-term cancer threat came with exposure......

The Fire Department's arson investigators will be looking for traces of accelerants left at the Greenpoint Terminal Market site, though it's possible much evidence has been destroyed from the 10 alarm fire that lasted almost two days. The real estate dealings behind the warehouse are of natural interest in the investigation, though sources say that the land's owner, Joshua Guttman, is not a suspect. Guttman, who bought the buildings for $25 million in 2001,......

Firefighters are still working to put out the huge ten-alarm Brooklyn warehouse fire that started yesterday at 5:30AM. Fifteen buildings the Greenpoint Terminal Market were hit by the fire. The Fire Department used eight to nine million gallons of water during their work, and since there was no "immediate threat to life," the fire became a sort of clinic for the department to "plan strategy," according to the NY Times; the FDNY also used......

The Fire Department is still investigating the cause of Saturday night's fire at 575 Broadway, better known as the building that housed the Prada and American Eagle stores on the northwest corner of Prince. Also in the building: Interview magazine, Bobbi Brown cosmetics, the Lure Fishbar, plus Antiques and Art in America magazines. The fire started on a low floor, then spread through air ducts to the other floors. According to amNew York, officials......

- Gas and oil heating prices are going to go up 50% this winter - start saving up, all of you who have to pay the oil and gas! - The Fire Department recalled the safety ropes that were ballyhooed as being the best - Flood watches and screwed up air travel - thanks to the rain... reservoir, we expect to see you more filled up by the end of the week! - The City......

Lucky for Circle Line passengers that touring around the island of Manhattan on a Circle Line boat means that if something goes wrong, you're not too far from civilization. Tourists enjoying a three hour Circle Line tour had to evacuated the boat when it hit something in the East River near Harlem. The Fire Department helped the passengers to shore in the Bronx, where they needed to cross Amtrak train tracks (Amtrak halted service for......

The big bird downtown is not Mayor Bloomberg but Zelda the Battery Park turkey who stopped traffic when she wandered onto the West Side Highway yesterday. The amazing thing is that cars skidded to avoid her (Gothamist finds this amazing because drunk drivers manage to humans which are larger than turkeys; sure, Zelda was walking around during the day when people are sober, but still, there is no excuse for drunk driving). The Fire Department......

Lower Manhattan was stalled, shut down, and frightened as both anthrax white powdery substances at the Canal Street 1 train and a mysterious vehicle on the Brooklyn Bridge were seen. The white substance was in a manila envelope, with the words "Go to hell" written on it. The Fire Department quickly dispatched their Hazmat team to deal with the situation, which hasn't led to any firm findings yet. (The white substance incident reminds Gothamist of......