A dozen firefighters descended on City Hall Thursday to deliver about 5,000 mailer responses from the public, asking the mayor and City Council to rescind a cost-cutting measure which takes 15 fire trucks and nine ambulances out of service every day.Pat McOsker, president of United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, said continuing what the mayor calls the "Modified Coverage Plan" and what the union calls "brownouts" is dangerous and potentially deadly.

"We are at the beginning of brush fire season," McOsker said. "September and October traditionally are the worst months when we can expect to have brush fires and high winds.

"The Station Fire right now -- this 10th-largest brush fire in California history -- wasn't even a wind-driven fire," McOsker said. "Well, the winds are coming in September and October."

The union leader urged Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to suspend the service cutbacks for at least the next two months. He said firefighters are willing to defer their sick time payouts and uniform allowances to save the city $6 million during that period -- "no strings attached."

But the city's labor negotiators have already asked the Employee Relations Board to declare an impasse and send in a mediator. The board is scheduled to hold a Sept. 28 hearing on the matter.

Councilwoman Janice Hahn said she would consider proposing that the city dip into its Reserve Fund to help close the Fire Department's $52 million deficit.

"We need to find a way to ensure that these brownouts are a thing of the past. They never should be implemented, not any time of the year, even if it means dipping into the Reserve Fund," Hahn said. "Jeopardizing the safety of our residents is no way to find savings, even in these tough times."

McOsker said he hopes the mayor, who has vowed to fight any attempts to downsize the Police Department, would also keep the Fire Department at full strength.

"I don't disagree with him on the importance of a properly-sized LAPD. The work that they do is important, but it's no more important than the work that we do," McOsker said.

"(The mayor) should apply the same logic to his other public safety agency, the LAFD," he added. "What we do saves lives. What police officers do -- prevent crimes -- it's valuable, it's important, it very rarely actually intervenes in time to save a life. (Firefighters) do that every day in Los Angeles."

Under the Modified Coverage Plan, 15 fire trucks, nine ambulances, one battalion command team and three emergency battalion offices are taken out of service every day for a year. Those units are normally staffed with firefighters working overtime.

The main sticking point in the negotiations between the city and the union are pay cuts. The city has asked the firefighters take 10 to 20 percent in pay cuts during these tough economic times, but the union has called that unfair since other employees are not being asked to do the same.

McOsker said if a tentative deal with the Coalition of Los Angeles City Unions -- which protects civilian city employees from furloughs and layoffs and does not include pay cuts -- falls through, then the firefighters union is willing to soften its negotiating stance.

Asked whether they would be amenable to taking pay cuts, McOsker said, "I won't go into specifics about what we're going to do, but I think obviously it would change everybody's perspective on negotiations."