Life-threatening emergencies dropped slightly, by 2%, from 633,361 to 620,467, but the volume remains well above 2021’s total of 515,558. “It’s poverty wages, and they don’t want to fix it, so they lose manpower on a daily basis.”Local 2507 has long raised concerns about pay disparities between EMS workers, FDNY firefighters and NYPD officers. After five years, FDNY EMS workers often reach a top salary of about $59,000, while firefighters can make around $110,000. In 2022, veteran FDNY EMS Lt. Allison Russo was stabbed to death while on duty in Queens, and in 2017 EMT Yadira Arroyo was run over and killed in the Bronx by a patient who stole her ambulance. He became an EMT after a friend died in a motorcycle accident and said response times have worsened because of chronic understaffing.