2024/04/25 by Sukhwan Chung, Chung, Sukhwan, Madison Smith +11 · 2 citations
Health Professions · Medicine · #Emergency and Acute Care Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Homelessness and Social Issues #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2404.16965
openalex publication_date 2024/04/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Emergency services play a crucial role in safeguarding human life and property within society. In this paper, we propose a network-based methodology for calculating transportation access between emergency services and the broader community. Using New York City as a case study, this study identifies 'emergency service deserts' based on the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) guidelines, where accessibility to Fire, Emergency Medical Services, Police, and Hospitals are compromised. The results show that while 95% of NYC residents are well-served by emergency services, the residents of Staten Island are disproportionately underserved. By quantifying the relationship between first responder travel time, Emergency Services Sector (ESS) site density, and population density, we discovered a negative power law relationship between travel time and ESS site density. This relationship can be used directly by policymakers to determine which parts of a community would benefit the most from providing new ESS locations. Furthermore, this methodology can be used to quantify the resilience of emergency service infrastructure by observing changes in accessibility in communities facing threats.