Pol alarm as ambulance times worsen

DESPITE A budget boost, it took ambulances 9 minutes and 22 seconds in 2015 to get to life-threatening medical emergencies — a jump of nine seconds from the average the year before.

“Each and every year, it is taking longer in life-threatening emergency situations for help to arrive,” said Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, chairwoman of the Fire and Criminal Justice Committee, who grilled FDNY officials at a hearing Tuesday.

“They are worse than they’ve ever been,” she said. “You don’t have 10 minutes when you’re in cardiac arrest.”

The FDNY added 45 more ambulance shifts last year after Mayor de Blasio boosted the budget by $70 million over five years for EMTs and dispatchers in an effort to cut response times.

That was supposed to shave 20 s seconds off times, officials said. But the average, which was 9 minutes and 13 seconds in 2014, has instead gone up, according to the m most recent stats.

Fire officials said they’ve been hit with record increases in people calling for help — a 17% spike in life-threatening incidents last year — leaving even their increased teams stretched thin. Without the new shifts, response times would have been nine seconds worse, they said.

“It’s stressing us. ... The growth was unprecedented,” said Chief of Department Jim Leonard.