A comment at pipenozzle.com on the funny math used to report response times by FDNY and LAFD.

"For fire departments, measuring anything is tricky. Does the local government brag that it has a good fire department because of the increasing number of emergency responses each year? Nope. Though the fire department would look productive, that would not make the city seem like a safe place to live. Could the local government measure the number of days that pass without an emergency worth noting? Nope. That would make it seem as if voters are paying for the fire department to do nothing, even though doing nothing means fire prevention is working and therefore the fire department is being highly productive. Well how about response times? That’s a good number. Voters like to know that if they dial 9-1-1, their tax dollars assure a fire truck or medic van will show up outside their front door in no more than five minutes."