Protestors gathered in front of City Hall Tuesday to speak out against the closings of several fire companies, ahead of Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta's testimony before the City Council on the proposed cuts to the department.

Residents afraid of losing their fire house said they think the cuts will affect public safety. The FDNY also plans to cut the number of on-duty firefighters at dozens of houses.

"I'm here to declare war against firehouse closings," said City Councilman James Vacca.

But Scoppetta defended the changes and said response times will not be affected.

"We have carefully picked the companies with and effort to reduce any impact on operations," Scoppetta said. "You do the best you can with these things and I think in the past we made wise decisions and I hope that we have made wise decisions here."

The department is planning to permanently close Ladder 53 on City Island in the Bronx.

Some city officials argue that on City Island, response times would be raised from five to 10 minutes.

Engine 4 in Manhattan, Engine 161 on Staten Island, and Engine 271 in Brooklyn, which are all already shuttered overnight, will also be closed. In July, the houses will only have ladder companies.

Twelve others are set to close in the months ahead.

Scoppetta said the closures will save about $18 million.

However, Scoppetta said if the firefighters union was able to agree on eliminating some positions, the closures would not be necessary.