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Select State: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Conn. Delaware. D.C. Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Okla. Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming The FDNY will be slashing nighttime staff at a handful of firehouses around the city in a belt-tightening move that critics say threatens to increase response times and that has residents and union officials seeing red.

The department expects to save $9 million by deactivating three engine companies and one ladder for the overnight shift when the plan goes into effect on Jan. 17.

"It's no secret that the city, the country is facing hard economic times," Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said yesterday as he detailed a $60 million cost-cutting package.

All of the affected houses - Engine 4 in lower Manhattan, Engine 161 in Staten Island, Engine 271 in Brooklyn, and Ladder 53 on City Island in The Bronx - will lose one of their two units from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m., when covering units can respond faster.

Between 80 and 100 firefighters will be reassigned across the city. The companies facing cutbacks - chosen based on the number of calls, response times, the amount and type of work that each unit does, their proximity to other houses, and geography - ranked among the 25 lowest in call volume out of the 350 units citywide.

Union officials blasted the move.

"More fatalities happen at night," Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy said.

"Closing companies compromises public safety."

Engine companies are responsible for putting water on fires and assisting EMS in medical emergencies, while ladder companies search for victims trapped in blazes.

Chief Salvatore Cassano said the cuts were made "in the areas where we think it will have the least impact."

Also facing the ax is the fire station on Governors Island, a unit manned by three Bravest who responded to only 10 calls in the last 22 months.