The Toronto fire department is the latest organization to brace for deep downsizing as Mayor Rob Ford’s administration presses for a smaller workforce.

Sources say Chief Bill Stewart recently submitted a report to the budget committee stating 22 trucks — about 300 firefighters — would need to be pulled off the road to meet the mayor’s reduction target.

A cut of that size would mean a 16 per cent service reduction, which union leaders say will send insurance rates up and put lives at risk.

“It’s going to be devastating. They’re playing Russian roulette with people’s lives,” said Ed Kennedy, president of the Toronto Professional Firefighters Association.

Toronto Fire is already spread dangerously thin and understaffed compared with other municipalities, he said.

It’s a claim that seems to be supported by the KPMG core service review, which found that “Toronto has fewer vehicles deployed per capita than other cities in Ontario.”

KPMG also found Toronto’s travel time to calls is 24 per cent longer than the council-approved target. This will only get worse if even more teams are pulled off the road, Kennedy said.

Staffing and response times are used by the Fire Underwriters Survey to determine a city’s risk grade, which insurance companies use to set rates for homeowners. Typically, the longer the response time, the higher the cost.

Survey director Mike Currie said it’s hard to say for sure without knowing specifics, but it’s logical that a cut to staffing that big would affect insurance rates. The actual grading process is complex, he said, involving 500 variables — with staffing being one.

“But generally, you could make a fairly accurate statement: When you see decreases in the investment in fire protection, then you typically see fire insurance grades (get worse) and property insurances rates probably go up,” Currie said.

In 2002, the Fire Underwriters Survey sent a warning to the City of Toronto that failure to replace aging firetrucks would affect its safety grade.

Despite the risk, Toronto Fire, like all city departments, has been told to make a 10 per cent reduction in its budget. Fire has a budget of $371 million, 92.5 per cent of which is tied up in salary and benefits.

The Toronto Police Service finds itself in a similar position. On Tuesday, police board vice-chair Michael Thompson said “much higher than 500” officers will need to be let go if the mayor sticks to his guns on savings.

Thompson’s comments came the same day a buyout package was sent to all 17,000 permanent City of Toronto employees, excluding the firefighters. A source told the Star that officials hope to see 3,000 take the offer. Layoffs are the next step.

Ford told a news conference that at this point, layoffs are not on the table, but he left the door open, saying, “We have to look at ways of downsizing our workforce. We have too many employees here. Everyone you talk to agrees with that assessment. And it’s eating up a huge chunk of our budget.”

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The city is facing a $774 million budget shortfall next year.

Chief Stewart was away from the office Wednesday and not available for an interview. Budget chief Mike Del Grande did not respond to a request for comment.