Bridgeport Fire Fighters Association Local 834 claims that eliminating a company would mean longer response times to fires. "We're looking at alternatives and we're trying to do everything we can to prevent this," said David Dobbs, a firefighter and a member of the union's executive board. "It's a life safety issue for residents and firefighters."

In May, the City Council approved the mayor's recommended 2005-06 budget that reduced the Fire Department's funding by $1.1 million, dropping it to $21.4 million. Last year's budget was $22.5 million.

Caryn Kaufman, spokeswoman for Mayor John M. Fabrizi, said disbanding a company is a "worst-case scenario."

"Both sides have to figure out other ways to get there," she said. "That's not to say it's not on the table for discussion."

The city's new budget takes effect today, the start of the new fiscal year.

At least four firefighters make up an engine company. If one is closed, the personnel in the company would be redistributed and the apparatus put aside as a spare, said Firefighter Robert Whitbread, union president. There are 10 engine companies, four truck companies, one rescue company and two battalion chiefs in eight firehouses, including headquarters on Congress Street, he said.

It would not be the first time the city has eliminated companies. Since the late 1980s, the city has eliminated Engines 2, 14 and 8, Ladder 3 and Service Ladder 12, Whitbread said.

Closing a company could mean that in case of two separate, simultaneous calls, another company would have farther to go, making response times longer, according to Whitbread.

"The coverage has been thinned out. Two can cover more area and respond to more calls," the union president said. "It's simple math."

Whitbread added that the number of city firefighters has dropped from about 400 in the late 1980s to 317 uniformed personnel, 280 of which work on the line. Fabrizi has said no new police officers or firefighters would be hired this fiscal year.

Whitbread acknowledged that there are fewer fires, but said "there's still a significant fire load in the city."

Firefighters also respond to medical calls and car accidents, Whitbread said.

Nine people have died in four fires since October 2004. One was declared an arson murder; another, under investigation, killed a Vietnamese mother and her children, and seriously burned her husband earlier this month.

Smoke detectors were either absent or not working in three of the fires.

Aaron Leo, who covers regional issues, can be reached at 330-6222.