With chores, chow and the wait for an alarm, Thursday was a routine day for firefighters at Engine Co. 18 on Detroit's east side.

But it was hardly business as usual.

That's because Engine 18 is going out of existence today -- after 113 years of battling blazes in Detroit, a routine that goes back to an era when the engine was pulled by a team of trained horses.

"We're losing a lot of tradition. It's a shame," said Lt. James Shinneman, the commanding officer of Engine 18.

"They are putting peoples' lives in danger by taking an engine out of our neighborhood," said Nefertiti Young, 25, who lives next door. "It's ridiculous. Then it's going to be just like Highland Park, where you wait while the whole block burns down."

City officials are removing from service Engine 18 and four other fire rigs and laying off 65 firefighters today. The moves are part of wider layoffs as the city begins its new fiscal year struggling to balance a budget that is about $300 million out of whack.

From legal secretaries to truck drivers, 677 city employees are out of work today as Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick slashes the payroll and curtails services even as Detroit continues to primp for the July 12 All-Star baseball game and next year's Super Bowl. More cuts could come later in the summer.

No uniformed police officers are affected by today's layoffs, though the city said 17 to 20 emergency medical technicians are losing their jobs.

With the layoffs spread across a municipal workforce of about 17,000, doing away with five large fire rigs is perhaps the most visible sign that the city is retrenching.

"It's potentially going to be devastating for both firefighters and our own citizens," said Dan McNamara, president of the Detroit Fire Fighters Association. "We're going to be playing with a short bench. We have no reserves."

Kilpatrick spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett insisted the administration made Fire Department cutbacks after careful study.

"The deactivations will not make the community vulnerable if a fire breaks out," she said.

Not surprisingly, reassurances from the Kilpatrick administration did not make Thursday's four-man crew of Engine 18 feel any better.

Shinneman noted Engine 18, located on Mt. Elliott south of Gratiot, responds to reported fires at the Detroit Medical Center, Eastern Market, Comerica Park, Ford Field and downtown. After today, another engine will have to take its place on fire runs, and that engine will be traveling from a longer distance.

Engine 18 shares space in its antique firehouse with Ladder Co. 10, and Quiett pointed out that Ladder 10 will remain in service.

Firefighters counter that Quiett's argument is specious because a ladder company's duties at fires differ from those of an engine, which pumps water. Taking five rigs out of service citywide means more work for the remaining crews, they argue.

Of the 17 total firefighters of Engine 18, 15 are being reassigned and two are being laid off.

The crews of Engine 18 and Ladder 10 were planning a farewell barbecue with a special cake Thursday evening. They were to eat it in the 113-year-old fire house that smells a little of soot and is filled with century-old treasures inside and out, like gargoyles, massive oak beams and the remnants of an old watch tower.

At 8 a.m. today, they will turn in their rig, along with its ripper bar, bolt cutter, hoses and axe.

But the bitterness will not go away.

"The city don't give a damn about us, and we put our lives on the line for them," Shinneman said.

Distributed by the Associated Press