NEW YORK, NY December 04, 2008 —Starting in mid-January, the Fire Department is closing four firehouses overnight.

The budget-cutting move will affect Engine 4 in Lower Manhattan, Engine 161 on Staten Island, Engine 271 in Brooklyn, and Ladder 53 on City Island in the Bronx.

Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta says the night closures will save money without risking people's lives.

SCOPPETTA: We can get there faster at night. There's a very different traffic condition at night. And so that's why night closings make sense.

REPORTER: The firehouses will close from 6 PM to 9 AM.

The firefighters' union says is blasting the move, saying the FDNY has responded to more emergency calls in the last four years than at any other time in its history and now is not the time to close firehouses.