Updated 01/02/2013 03:40 PM
City Had Record Low Number Of Fire Deaths In 2012
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Speaking at a New York City Fire Department promotions ceremony Wednesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the city has only 58 fire fatalities in 2012, which is a record low.
The previous record was 62 fire deaths in 2010.
Figures show in most of the 2012 fires there was no working smoke detector.
The mayor called 2012 a historic year for fire safety.
"Since 1916, there's only been nine times we had less than 100 deaths, and nine of them have been in the last 11 years. It is really quite an amazing job that is done," said Bloomberg.
The mayor also says EMS response times for life-threatening emergencies set a record at 6.5 minutes, which is one second faster than last year's rate.
Response times to structural fires increased two seconds from last year, thanks in part to the large call volume during and after Hurricane Sandy.