Labor and the union representing firefighters are calling for Fire and Rescue NSW not to add a handful of Hunter facilities to a list of stations that can be put temporarily offline during staff shortages.
But the emergency agency says the practice has been taking place in various parts of the state since 2008 and would not impact service delivery in this region.
The Newcastle Herald understands Paxton, Maitland, Minmi, Teralba and Swansea - stations from which retained, on-call, firefighters work - would be added to the list, under the plan.
The move would mean trucks, which Fire and Rescue NSW call "mobile assets", from nearby stations would respond to emergencies in those areas when inadequate crew numbers are available.
Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery, whose electorate includes Minmi, said she was concerned that a "cost-cutting" measure would put communities at risk.
"Taking any fire station offline deprives a local community of a critical emergency response, leaving any response up to fire stations from further away and reducing the number of fire trucks at any incident," she said.
"The community deserves their fire truck to remain online. They pay their taxes, they pay their Emergency Services Levy through their insurances and their rate notices, and to deprive them of their fire protection despite that would be an insult."
Fire Brigade Employees' Union state secretary Martin Dixon said personnel shortfalls should be fixed by addressing broader "understaffing and underfunding" of the agency.
"At the moment, fire stations without sufficient crewing levels are supplemented by other firefighters at overtime rates, which is necessary to keep our communities safe," he said in a statement last month.
In response to questions from the Herald this week, Fire and Rescue NSW Deputy Commissioner of field operations Jeremy Fewtrell said the agency was not reducing service delivery, nor was it closing fire stations.
"The practice of temporarily taking fire trucks offline at some on-call stations has been in place for more than a decade and it was introduced with union support," he said.
"FRNSW fire trucks are part of a mobile network of resources which don't stay permanently parked at stations. All trucks have Automatic Vehicle Location to enable the closest and most appropriate truck to respond.
"Trucks will only be temporarily taken offline if it is safe to do so and there are other trucks in the network which could quickly respond to an incident."
Fire and Rescue NSW is yet to respond to questions from the Herald regarding the state of staffing levels.
