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Residents, community activists and local leaders gathered in South Beach to protest the closing of Engine Company 161, one of four firehouses set to close on July 1.

Engine 271 in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Ladder 53 in City Island, Bronx and Engine 4 in Manhattan will also close next month to save the city $16 million.

Twelve other companies will close in January.

Residents say they have been shortchanged by the city for years when it comes to emergency services and some worry about the impact this will have on public safety.

"If anything happens, it's pretty far for the other fire station to get here," said Sister Denise Martin of St. Joseph Hill. "And I'm really concerned about the schools that are in the area, [St.] John Villa, the elementary school here, the nursing homes. And also I think it's really important to keep this here because of the Verrazano Bridge being so close. Anything happens there, we could be in really difficult straits."

Fire union officials say the closings are a threat to public safety, especially in a borough where response times are an average of four minutes, 38 seconds, compared to the citywide response time of four minutes, 12 seconds.

"Our response times are not very good on this island to begin with. The fire companies are very, very distant and we have less firefighters on duty today on Staten Island than in 1975," said local Uniformed Firefighters Association Trustee Donald Ruland.

City Councilmen came from all over to the rally to pledge lasting action.

"Yes we can find $16 million in a $60 billion budget, yes we can find enough money to guarantee essential services, yes we can save Engine Company 161," said Staten Island Councilman James Oddo.

Brooklyn Councilman and public advocate candidate Bill DeBlasio, who was arrested protesting the closure of Engine Company 204 in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn back in 2003, said that previous protest was a worst-case scenario, but that a similar protest on Staten Island should not be ruled out in the future.

"For some reason, this administration is focused on closing firehouses and we just got to stop them," said DeBlasio. "We have to draw a line in the sand at this point."

Residents were angered when Mayor Michael Bloomberg first proposed closing the companies during the overnight hours and said if he moves ahead with this plan, he will be taking a significant risk in an election year.

"A lot of the community residents are saying no to Bloomberg, and they're not happy with him at all," said Joseph McAllister of the South Beach Civic Association. "This is something they shouldn't even be discussing, closing firehouses. It shouldn't even be on the agenda."

The Fire Department would not comment on the rally, but fire officials previously said that plans to close the firehouses remain unchanged.