Since we were kids growing up on Maplewood Avenue on Bridgeport's West Side, in the shadow of Engine Co. 4 — "Fours," the firemen called it — they were fire engines.

(In those days, they were firemen, too.)

This Fours house closed long ago and moved to another site on Wood Avenue. But, the red brick building still stands, right across from 304 Maplewood Avenue, where as a lad I grew accustomed to sleeping through the din of their dead-of-night departures and returns.

Off they'd go, hanging on the rear of the fire engine, coats flapping, the old-fashioned siren screaming and dying, screaming and dying, like it was trying to catch its breath.

A lazily clanging bell heralded Fours return. Summer mornings or afternoons, we'd jump off our bikes and run into the open stationhouse to read the punch tape to see how close the fire was and maybe pedal frantically to watch the guys we knew at work.

I never knew until the other day about the divisions of responsibility at the scene of a fire, that there is substantial difference between a fire engine and a fire truck.

In oversimplified form it is this: A fire engine is what puts water on a fire; a fire truck carries the ladders and other equipment firefighters need to get into, out of, on top of, and off a burning structure.

And within the ranks of the fire department, there is a healthy rivalry between the troops of the truck companies and those of the engine companies.

It's not easy running a city like Bridgeport. There's never enough money, it seems. And now, Mayor John M. Fabrizi wants to close an Engine Company — Engine Co. 5, to be precise, to save money.

In a city that has had four fatal fires, with a total of 10 dead, in the last 12 months, it seems like a dubious way to save money.

Engine Co. 5 is based in Fire Headquarters at 30 Congress Street, in the heart of downtown, right next to the Congress Street bridge that is frozen in an open position, a severed artery between the city's East and West sides.

While the firefighters who currently constitute Engine Co. 5 will be assimilated into other units, the company will be gone, meaning one less company to respond to a call.

Listen to a police-fire scanner someday to get an idea of what your uniformed public safety people go through. It's incredible.

When politicians decide to tighten the belt, of course, it's the working people who always feel the pinch.

One of the dicey matters in the Engine Co. 5 story is the area it serves. One of those areas is zip code 06608.

Make no mistake: 06608 is no 90210.

Census data will show you that the population of 06608, which is bisected by East Main Street and Jane Street in the heart of Bridgeport's East Side, is 26 percent black and 65.4 percent Latino. It will show you that 32.4 percent of the families are below the poverty level and that annual per capita income is a shade over $10,000.

An interesting statistic that does not show up in the census data is the number of dwellings that have bars on the windows.

The price of home heating oil is drifting up toward $3-a-gallon. In a city like Bridgeport, that's going to mean a lot of improvisational heating in some of the drafty triple-deckers of the city's poor neighborhoods, neighborhoods like 06608.

"Space heaters, ovens. It's going to be a busy winter," said David Dobbs, a six-year department veteran and a member of the executive board of Firefighters' Local 834.

In emergency response work — police, fire, emergency medical technicians — time is of the essence. The bad idea of closing Engine Co. 5 is one that the local and the Bridgeport Hispanic Firefighters Association can agree on.

A police officer delayed can mean the difference between a domestic argument broken up and a homicide.

An EMT delayed on a call for chest pains can mean the difference between a successful trip to the emergency room and a fatal heart attack.

And a fire engine or fire truck delayed can mean the difference between a stove fire and tragedy.

Michael J. Daly is managing editor of the Connecticut Post. You can reach him at 330-6394 or by e-mail at mdaly@ctpost.com