Residents oppose fire changes

A new plan to scale down the number of fire engines around the city to save $54 million was met with frustration on Wednesday in Porter Ranch, one of the communities that would be hit hardest by the plan. C.J. Lin in the Daiily News.

While residents at a community meeting said the plan made them feel vulnerable, fire officials tried to assure them that the San Fernando Valley as a whole had some of the lowest call volumes in the city and that resources would be available in the event of an emergency.

"If there is an incident of any large scope here in the Valley ... we (would) send all our resources," Brian Cummings, an assistant Los Angeles Fire Department chief, told about 60 residents who gathered at Sheppard of the Hills church.