BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- The city needs the Bakersfield fire department to cut $890,000 from their budget. So they left Fire Chief Ron Fraze the task of deciding where those cuts would be made.

Fraze presented two options: either close fire station 14, which just opened in January, or, cut a person from ladder company seven. That would leave other stations responsible for responding to a fire in their jurisdiction to pick up the slack. The Bakersfield Firefighters Labor Organization isn't happy with those choices.

"I live in station 14's area," said BFD Capt. Mark Cohen, a member of the BFLO. "So if I have an emergency at my house, I mean that could be the life of a family member if they're not there. So I mean, it's really important that they're there. The flip side of that is, we could lose multiple lives if we don't have effective truck company operations."

With so many people upset, the council voted to defer the matter for another two weeks. That way, the union and the fire department may be able to meet and come up with another solution together.

"It's frustrating, we've been hammering at this for 9 months now and we haven't been able to come up with anything different," Fraze said. "We're going to drag it out for two more weeks and see what comes out. Who knows, maybe it's like Councilmember Hansen said, miracles do happen. So maybe we'll get lucky and find something that everybody can be happy with."

But City Manager Alan Tandy said they've combed through the budget, and there's no money. He also said in the last two and a half years of negotiations, there's been no better solution offered either.

"I'm not optimistic about this, but it would be nice, if in the next couple of weeks, there were a solution found that is not as onerous as they feel it is," said Ward 4 councilmember David Couch. "But the recommendation we have is from the fire chief, who's the expert on fire protection in the city of Bakersfield."

The city council will pick this matter up again at their next meeting on September 22nd. But they say these numbers could get all muddled again, after they hear how the state budget will affect Kern County.