PITTSBURGH -- A new report recommends the closing of a number of Pittsburgh fire stations. Target 11 has obtained a study that suggests the city is already falling short of national fire safety standards.

The city's draft report calls for reducing the number of fire stations in the city from 29 to 23. The mayor calls it a 10-to-15 year plan, and said there's plenty of time to consider whether closing fire stations is even necessary.

The city of Pittsburgh tracks response times every month and Target 11 has obtained results for the past 20 months. According to the report the city failed to meet the national standard of four minutes or less nearly half of those months.

The national standard says the first fire truck should arrive at your house within four minutes of the call. For a full-alarm three engines and a ladder truck should be there in less than eight minutes 90 percent of the time.

According to fire response times obtained by Target 11, the Pittsburgh Fire Department has achieved that goal in 11 of the past 20 months. In two months they dropped into the 70 percent range.

Fire union President Joe King blames it all on losing six fire stations in 2005. Public safety Director Mike Huss was the city's fire chief until last month. He argued that most of the response times are close to the 90 percent cutoff.

In fact, the average last year was 89.9 percent. So far this year, it's 86.8 percent. But will that be the case if the city follows the recommendations of a new report that suggests eventually closing six more stations?

King said, “Anytime you cut the services of the fire department, you're going to have severe problems that jeopardize not only the professional firefighter but the citizens as well.”

Huss responded, “We're struggling with living in the confines of the budget and Act 47 and everything else. We continually have to evaluate this because we have to make decisions as to our level of protection."

The public safety director said he will evaluate the recommendations in the report and then decide what to do. King said he would likely challenge any cuts in court.