NEW YORK, NY January 07, 2008 —The department says the citywide average response time for all incidents was 4 minutes and 49 seconds in 2007. That's 5 seconds faster than in 2006.

Firefighters and EMS technicians responded to record numbers of calls.

Structural fires increased slightly last year from 2006.

Ninety-six people died in fires last year, including the 9 children and a woman who died in a house fire last March in the Bronx.