In the letter dated Sept. 23, union vice president Joe Arnold wrote that members should "respond appropriately, stopping at all red lights, stop signs, etc." He also told members to let the union know about any runs they make that were affected by the brownout, including "longer response, fire got bigger, got lost because you were running in an unfamiliar area."

The brownouts, rotating closures of fire companies at six firehouses throughout the city, are aimed at preventing the department from going more than $2 million over budget by the end of the year. The plan saves money by not paying overtime to firefighters who fill in for others who are sick or otherwise not on duty.

The brownouts started Thursday.

Mayor Charlie Luken was among the city officials who wanted to make sure the letter wasn't a veiled suggestion to firefighters that they should respond to the city's budget-cutting brownouts by staging a work slowdown.

"My immediate reaction was, it's a lot of winking and nodding and telling firefighters what to do," Luken said.

But he said he knows Arnold and other union officials well, believes the city's fire department is professional and wouldn't think they would stage a work action.

Both union President Joe Diebold and union spokesman Doug Stern said Sunday the union would not advocate a slowdown. The letter also urged firefighters to stay safe, attend their community council meetings and to apologize to any callers whose response time was longer because a closer company was browned out.

Firefighters are concerned about the brownouts' effects on public safety, Stern said, to the extent that some are canceling vacations to try to avoid a brownout on their company. People with that work ethic would not, he said, endanger public safety more by slowing down on the job.

Stern said Arnold's point was to urge firefighters not to try to make up extra time by running red lights.

"That shouldn't be misconstrued," he said. "We are unequivocally not calling for a slowdown."

But the "stopping at all red lights" language is similar to words some police union officials used in the wake of the April 2001 riots and the felony indictments of several officers. That slowdown, prompted by officers' feelings that they were not supported by city officials, resulted in decreased arrests and fewer traffic and parking citations.

"And again, I hope this isn't what's happening," the mayor said. "But I promise you, I'm not going to go through a slowdown again."

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E-mail jprendergast@enquirer.com