Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
FDNY: City Had Fewest Fire Deaths in 2009
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 11, 2010
Modified Jan 11, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 11, 2010
Modified Jan 11, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Good news to assuage pyrophobics across the five boroughs: the FDNY released their annual report, and revealed that there were only 73 civilian fire deaths in 2009, down from 86 in 2008.
This is the lowest number of fire-related fatalities in the city's history, since they started keeping records in the early 20th century. The previous low was 77 in 1919; the all-time high was 310 in 1970. As the Post points out, it's been a remarkable run for the FDNY over the last decade: "up until 2002, there had been only three years (1919, 1921 and 1927) when the city recorded fewer than 100 fire deaths." Since 2002, it's been below 100 six times.
In addition, the FDNY recorded its fastest emergency response time to structural fires—four minutes and two seconds, down over 30 seconds from 2005. For further reading, check out the full FDNY report [pdf], and the Post has its own graph [pdf] covering some of 2009's hottest statistics .
Tagged
fdny
fire deaths
good news
safety
statistics
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 4:22 p.m. ET
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
News
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
NYC’s bridges can last 'forever,' if we take care of them
By
Clayton Guse
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .