The FDNY is celebrating a milestone: June is the first month in the department’s 150-year history that there have been no fire deaths.
Commissioner Daniel Nigro said increased prevention and quick response times to fires by firefighters, EMTs and paramedics contributed to the historic statistic. “The Department’s efforts are makign a significant impact and saving lives in communities throughout the city,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
So far this year, there have been 29 fire-related deaths, the FDNY said.
The FDNY emphasized that there were fewer fire deaths citywide between 2010 and 2014 than at any other period in the city’s history.
The city first started keeping record of fire fatalities back in 1916. Fire deaths reached a high in 1970, when 310 people died.
