New York City lawmakers will address growing concerns over emergency response times after a new report showed first responders are taking longer to answer life-threatening calls. NBC New York's Romney Smith reports.

New York City lawmakers will address growing concerns over emergency response times after a new report showed first responders are taking longer to answer life-threatening calls.

A new report out late week by the city comptroller's office comparing 2026 to 2015, showed FDNY ambulance response times to emergencies increased by 3 minutes and 50 seconds. That makes a more than 40% increase.

Response times for non-life-threatening emergencies, meanwhile, more than doubled, to 14 minutes and 49 seconds, on average. It's not just the response times that have gone up: Call volume is also increased.

On Tuesday, the New York City Council will hold a hearing to analyze this latest report, hear testimony and consider possible legislation to improve emergency response operations.

The comptroller's data acknowledges that this is going to take a multifaceted approach to fix and includes addressing everything from the high turnover rate of EMTs and paramedics to their pay, logistics, staffing high volumes area appropriately, and making sure more of the ambulance fleet is in good working condition to respond to emergencies.

In an effort to help this issue, Councilwoman Joann Ariola plans to introduce a bill that would require New York City Emergency Management to issue an emergency notification each time the FDNY has more than 25 pending ambulance dispatches at a time.

The FDNY called the increasing response times "unacceptable" and pledge to reverse the trend in a statement Tuesday morning.

From Manhattan to Queens to Brooklyn to Staten Island and all points between, NBC New York covers New York City news, weather, traffic and more.

“The Department is currently engaged in a challenging period of increasing response times. We know this is unacceptable and we are working tirelessly to reverse this trend," a spokesperson said.

"We will continue to take steps to improve response times and keep New Yorkers safe, including improving coordination with hospitals, enhancing efficiency in high-volume areas, and increased operational visibility to help return units to service quickly."