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The San Jose firefighters union Friday overwhelmingly rejected a proposal by the city that would have allowed 49 recently laid-off firefighters to be rehired, calling the offer unfair.

More than 600 firefighters participated in the vote, which took place during a two-day meeting that concluded this afternoon.

About 88 percent of the firefighters voted against the city's proposal, which asks for an 8.9 percent cut in total compensation that would amount to a 14 percent pay cut.

"We're very disappointed by the vote today," said Michelle McGurk, a spokeswoman for Mayor Chuck Reed. "This was an opportunity to bring the 49 firefighters back to work...instead those firefighters are sharing 100 percent of the pain."

After the vote, San Jose Firefighters Local 230 Vice President Jeff Welch said in a statement that Reed and the City Council are "misspending millions" and prioritizing spending on "high-priced consultants and a new fleet of cars" over public safety.

"The mayor and City Council must recognize the strong statement firefighters have made today," Welch said. "We ask them to end the irresponsible and reckless game of politics and to immediately restore positions and put our firefighters back to work."

The city has said it was forced to lay off the firefighters after negotiations between the city and union stalled and a proposal put forward by the union failed to achieve the city's cost-cutting goals.

The union has offered to take a 5.25 percent wage reduction and to accept increased health care co-pays and premiums as well as other health care coverage reductions.

San Jose's police union offered the same reduction package, which the city accepted.

Before the firefighters' vote was announced, union president Randy Sekany and nearly 250 firefighters held a news conference to discuss the department's response to four fires Thursday that ultimately destroyed two homes, killed two dogs and caused $1 million in damage to an asphalt plant.

Sekany said the layoffs, elimination of five fire companies, and closure of one station have depleted the department's firefighting capacity.

"If one more emergency or fire had occurred, we wouldn't have been able to respond," he said. "Thank God nothing else happened."

The first fire was reported at 3:51 a.m. at Reed and Graham, an asphalt production company at 690 Sunol St., near Interstate Highway 280.

The one-alarm blaze caused more than $1 million in damage and disabled a mixing unit, which San Jose fire Capt. Debbie Ward said will affect the company's production.

Shortly after 5 a.m., firefighters were called to 921 Rockdale Drive, where a two-alarm fire was burning at a home. A family of three was able to escape, but the home was destroyed.

Firefighters were still at the scenes of those two fires when a larger blaze was reported at 910 Del Monte Place at 5:22 a.m. Because they were busy with the other fires, it took firefighters 11 minutes to arrive, three minutes longer than the city's standard response time.

The house was engulfed in flames when they got there, and firefighters focused on preventing the blaze from spreading to adjacent homes.

The homeowner's two dogs, a Weimaraner and a Rottweiler, died in the blaze. Several birds and four cats also perished.

The last of the fires was a 40-acre vegetation blaze in the Santa Teresa Foothills later in the afternoon.