BOROUGH PARK, Brooklyn — An ambulance in New York City as part of a Federal Emergency Management Agency initiative to help agencies slammed by the coronavirus collided with another vehicle and overturned, officials said Sunday.
The vehicles collided near 18th Avenue and 52nd Street, police said. Officers responded just after midnight. The ambulance crew was checked out. They are OK. The driver of the other vehicle was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not considered life threatening.
The ambulance was from American Medical Response, part of a FEMA contract that has brought more than 250 additional ambulances to New York City.
The coronavirus crisis is taxing New York City’s 911 system like never before. Operators pick up a call every 15.5 seconds.
Panicked voices tell of loved ones in declining health. The system is so overwhelmed, the city has started sending text and tweet alerts urging people to only call 911 “for life-threatening emergencies.”
The coronavirus crisis is taxing New York City’s 911 system like never before. Operators pick up a call every 15.5 seconds.
Panicked voices tell of loved ones in declining health. The system is so overwhelmed, the city has started sending text and tweet alerts urging people to only call 911 “for life-threatening emergencies.”
The Fire Department said it has averaged more than 5,500 ambulance requests each day. That’s about 40% higher than usual and eclipses the total call volume on Sept. 11, 2001.
The Fire Department said response times for the most serious calls have been averaging more than 10 minutes, up from about 6½ to 7 minutes normally.
