FDNY EMTs load a female victim into an ambulance after a double-shooting at 301 W. 150th St. in Manhattan on January 16, 2021.
EMTs working for the FDNY must receive body armor and regular self-defense training courses thanks to a pair of bills passed by the City Council on Thursday.
The legislation, which now heads to Mayor Adams’ desk for his signature, comes amid an uptick in attacks on EMTs in the city in recent years. In 2022, there were 363 attacks on emergency medical service workers, a fourfold surge compared to 2018, according to the most recent FDNY data.
Staten Island Councilman Joe Borelli, who penned the two bills, highlighted the 2022 killing of FDNY EMT Capt. Alison Russo-Elling.
Lt. Alison Russo-Elling was fatally stabbed in Astoria, Queens, on Sept. 29, 2022.
Russo-Elling, who died from being stabbed in a random attack while on duty near her Queens home, may have survived if she had body armor on, Borelli, the Council’s Republican minority leader, noted.
“These folks don’t have a choice whether they get to respond to an incident or not — we expect them to go wherever the danger is,” he said before the vote. “They’re our angels and we should treat them like that and make sure they are given the best chance of coming home safely to their loved ones every night.”
The mayor’s office did not immediately return a request for comment. Borelli said he expects Adams to sign both measures, though.
The body armor bill, which passed the Council in a unanimous vote, requires that all EMTs who respond to emergencies be provided with vests that meet ballistic and stab resistant standards.
FDNY EMTs outside Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, New York.
A second bill, which also passed unanimously, would require that FDNY EMTs receive self-defense and de-escalation training at least every three years.
“We owe it to them to take every possible measure to safeguard their lives while they protect ours,” said Councilman Kevin Riley, a Bronx Democrat who co-sponsored the bills.