Fire Commission - April 11, 2018

 

 

The Video can be viewed by clicking this link:  http://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=180&clip_id=30…

 

President Cleaveland called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.

 

1. ROLL CALL

 

Commission President Ken Cleaveland Present 

Commission Vice President Stephen Nakajo Present

Commissioner Michael Hardeman Present

Commissioner Francee Covington Present

Commissioner Joe Alioto Veronese Present

 

Chief of Department Joanne Hayes-White Present

 

Mark Gonzales Deputy Chief – Operations

Jeanine Nicholson Deputy Chief --Administration

 

Dan De Cossio Bureau of Fire Prevention

Andy Zanoff EMS

Tony Rivera Support Services

 

Assistant Chiefs

Robert Postel Division 2

Nicol Juratovac Division 3

 

Staff

Mark Corso Deputy Director of Finance

Elaine Walters CFO

Tony Boone Director of Occupational Environmental Health and Safety

 

2. PUBLIC COMMENT

 

There was no public comment.

 

3. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES [Discussion and possible action]

Discussion and possible action to approve meeting minutes.

 

• Minutes from Regular Meeting on March 28, 2018.

 

Commissioner Hardeman Moved to approve the above meeting Minutes.  Commissioner Veronese Seconded.  Motion to approve above Minutes was unanimous.

 

There was no public comment.

 

 

 

6. CHIEF OF DEPARTMENT’S REPORT [Discussion]

REPORT FROM CHIEF OF DEPARTMENT, JOANNE HAYES-WHITE

Report on current issues, activities and events within the Department since the Fire Commission meeting on February 28, 2018, including budget, academies, special events, communications and outreach to other government agencies and the public.

 

Chief Hayes-White reported on events since the last meeting on March 28, 2018.  Regarding the budget, Chief Hayes-White reported that there is a Budget Committee meeting on April 16, 2018 to recap the process so far and review priorities to date and on April 26th, they are preparing for a presentation before the Budget and Finance Committee and awaiting additional details as they have changed the process into four main priorities; public safety, clean streets, homelessness and affordable housing.  Regarding academies, she mentioned that the 124th class is in their third week with 54 recruits and they anticipate the 125th class will begin in the fall.  She touched on her recent visit to Loveland, Colorado where she participated in a panel for Women’s History Month for that city and stated it was a rewarding and satisfying visit and to hear different stories of the participants at that function.  Other events she attended included a Board of Supervisors meeting where a resolution authored by Board President Breed and co-sponsored by Supervisor Peskin where they acknowledged the members of the Department for their response and well-coordinated efforts at the fourth alarm fire on March 17th.  She, along with many Department members attended the funeral for retired Battalion Chief Mark Groshong.  She also participated in the CAL Metro Chiefs conference call where they talked about what's happening in the State and similar common issues and challenges they all have.  She touched on other activities she participated in including a visit, along with Chief Bill Scott to an elderly female where they delivered Meals on Wheels.  She announced that it was Emergency Dispatchers Week and she went to the Department of Emergency Management and thanked all the dispatchers and staff that work there.  Chief Hayes-White talked about upcoming events including the anniversary of the 1906 earthquake, a Fire Department Prevention and Public Education Community District Safety Fair, the NERT citywide drill, and the Cherry Blossom parade. 

 

Commissioner Veronese asked that when they meet with the Mayor's Budget Office, that they bring the homeless related call statistics that they have been gathering over the last four to five months, as he thinks those statistics may shed some light on how much of the Department's budget is allocated towards that particular issue.

 

There was no public comment.

 

REPORT FROM DEPUTY CHIEF OF OPERATIONS, MARK GONZALES

Report on overall field operations, including greater alarm fires, Emergency Medical Services, Bureau of Fire Prevention & Investigation, and Airport Division.

 

Chief Gonzales reported on activities for the month of March.  He mentioned that there were three greater alarms.  The first was a second alarm on March 1, 2018, 1147 Ozbourn Court with Chief Juratovac as the Incident Commander and that responding units did a good job.  The second was a fourth alarm on March 17, 2018, at 659 Union Street and Chief Velo was Incident Commander.  He mentioned that this was a challenging fire where there were many open channels throughout the building and joists and studs that weren't covered.  He stated that the fire is still under investigation.  The third was a second alarm at 5091 Jackson Street where they rescued a woman off a balcony and the Incident Commander was Assistant Chief Postel.  He acknowledged BC Frank Cercos, Lt. Rosser and Firefighter Edelman for the valiant efforts during this rescue.  He touched on other notable events during the reporting period including a woman in labor where Station 12 staff delivered a healthy baby boy, a cliff rescue at Fort Funston of a female and a K-9, and Fireboat 3 extinguishing a fire underneath the Bay Bridge.  He stated that ADC Rivera did a good job presenting on the new streamlined engines on Good Morning America and he reminded the public to sign up for emergency notifications by texting "ALERTSF to 888-777.  He also announced that they have joined the National Fire Service campaign called “Close Your Door before You Doze, which means close your bedroom door so if there’s a fire outside of the door, it’s more than likely going to save you.  He added that outside that door it could be a thousand degrees.  With a closed door in front of that fire, it will be 100 degrees.  They are also putting out messages pertaining to bicycle safety, pedestrian safety, distracted driver safety, cliff and rock safety through the department’s social media.  He touched on the EMS Division, Bureau of Fire Prevention where they held 13 community outreach presentations and education in the month of March as well as getting violations corrected in a timely fashion.  He stated that Bureau of Fire Investigation has 66 open reports and that the Airport bike medics are back and are a huge success.

 

Commissioner Hardeman thanked him for his report and talked about the article in Chronicle where they reported on the relationship to a variety of heart problems from smoke inhalation at wildfires and mentioned it was a very good article.  He asked about the rotation of the fireboats and Chief Rivera stated that the St. Francis and Phoenix are currently in service and the Guardian is dry docked and being retrofitted and is due back in service shortly.

 

Vice President Nakajo thanked Chief Gonzales for his report and acknowledged Battalion Chief Cercos, Lt. Rosser and Firefighter Edelman for the challenging rescue they performed.  Chief Gonzales confirmed that they have been recommended to the Meritorious Award Committee.  Vice President Nakajo commented that he thought the incident photos in his report submitted by Lt. Baxter are very helpful.  He asked if the ambulance response times are reaching the goal.  Chief Gonzales responded that they are good and will hopefully get better when the quick response vehicles are put in service this week.  He touched on the community outreach being done by the Division of Fire Prevention and stated he feels that education to the public is really key and the more that they can get out there the better it is.

 

Commissioner Veronese asked Chief Gonzales if he could include in his “SFFD Incident Distribution Identifiable Homeless address”, what stations are responding to each incident because he thinks it will give a sense of where the resources are being spent in the city.  There was a discussion on the goals of the EMS-6 program and how they are predominantly servicing people who don't have identifiable homes and it should be brought to the attention of the Mayor.  Commissioner Veronese asked if the Department Physician is tracking and studying members who deploy to wildland fires to make sure that their health is in good order, and if not, the department should take a look at instituting some sort of program where members are testing regularly, voluntarily, so that they can determine whether or not these incidences of exposure are creating a higher number of diseases, cardiac issues, and cancer. 

 

Commissioner Covington asked if the information that Commissioner Veronese brought up about EMS-6 call volume to homeless patients has been brought to the attention of the Budget Committee.  Chief Hayes-White responded that call volume and the types of calls that the Department responds to are a regular conversation that they have with the mayor's budget office, but specifically to the Budget Committee, they have not been presenting that.  Commissioner Covington recommended that to the extent that they can amplify the message around this particular issue would be good and would let people know of the activities that the Department deals with, related to the homeless population and possibly make it a budgetary priority for them to give us the resources that are needed to continue to do the good work that’s being done.  She asked Mr. Corso to give an update on what’s going on internally regarding the budget at the Budget Committee meetings.  Mr. Corso responded that they are scheduled to meet on April 16th and they met a few weeks back where they discussed the city’s budget process as well as some of the financial implications long term over the next few years.  They had a brief discussion internally about priorities and what the Department should be advocating for.  Commissioner Covington acknowledged the memo he sent out and wanted to make sure the budget messaging included the homeless issue.

 

Commissioner Hardeman asked if they had an idea on how many members should be trained for wildland firefighting.  Chief Hayes-White explained that they never force anyone to take that training, it is all voluntary to do so, but to be wildland trained, there is an annual requirement to recertify and she believes the department has about 180 members that have gone through the training in the past.

 

President Cleaveland also acknowledged Battalion Chief Cercos, Lt. Rosser and Firefighter Edelman for their extraordinary efforts at the Jackson Street fire and for Lt. Baxter for his excellent outreach program to the public.  He confirmed that the Department currently has two engines that have a smaller wheelbase and six are on order.  Chief Hayes-White stated that the future of the Department is to have these rigs that have now demonstrated their ability to be used very well in San Francisco and as they order more engines, they will have the same profile with the shorter wheel base and better turning radius.  He asked Fire Marshal DeCossio how many of the notice of violation actually get corrected.  Chief DeCossio answered that a vast majority are abated prior to the administrative hearing process and the administrative hearing process they implemented over a year ago has been very successful.  He also confirmed that at the Airport, the TSA audit can come around whenever they want to audit and it’s usually done annually.  They confirmed that the audit consists of making sure the firefighters' badges are up to date and there are no lost badges.  There was discussion on the types of calls that come in such as medical calls, overdoses, vehicle collisions and how the calls come in to dispatch.

 

There was no public comment.

 

 

8. COMMISSION REPORT [Discussion]

Report on Commission activities since last meeting on January 24, 2018.

 

Commissioner Hardeman talked about Barney Crotty, who passed away and was a retired CCSF employee and asked that the meeting be adjourned in his memory.

 

Vice President Nakajo stated that he extended an offer to attend the Guardians of the City’s next board meeting as a gesture of continuing communications and coordination with the Guardians over the issues of the antique rigs.  He also invited everyone to the first weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown.

 

There was no public comment.

 

9. AGENDA FOR NEXT AND FUTURE FIRE COMMISSION MEETINGS [Discussion]

Discussion regarding agenda for next and future Fire Commission meetings.

 

Commissioner Veronese described in detail the Resolution he is working on with the Chief which pertains to the Stress Unit and how he would like the Department to have a state of the art Stress Unit that the rest of the nation could look at.  He would also like the Commission’s input on it as well.

 

• Outreach presentation

• Stress Unit Resolution

• Homeland Security position overview

 

There was no public comment.

 

7. PUBLIC COMMENT ON ITEM 8

Public comment on all matters pertaining to Item 8 below, including public comment on whether to hold Item 8(b) in closed session. 

 

President Cleaveland called for public comment.  There was no public comment.

 

8. POSSIBLE CLOSED SESSION REGARDING PERSONNEL MATTERS

 

a. VOTE ON WHETHER TO CONDUCT ITEMS 8(b) IN CLOSED SESSION [Action]

The Commission may hear Item 8(b) in closed session pursuant to Government Code Section 54957(b) and Administrative Code Section 67.10(b).

 

Vice President Nakajo made a motion to conduct items 8(b) in Closed Session.  Commissioner Hardeman seconded, and the motion was unanimously approved.  (5-0; Cleaveland, Nakajo, Hardeman, Covington, Veronese)

 

The Commission went into closed session at 10:23 a.m.

 

b. CASE NO. 2017-06:  COMMISSION DELIBERATIONS ON PROPOSED FINDINGS OF FACT, AND POSSIBLE APPROVAL OF FINDINGS OF FACT REGARDING COMMISSION’S DECISION ON EMPLOYEE SUSPENSION APPEAL, FOR VIOLATIONS AS FOLLOWS:

 

The appeal is from a six calendar day suspension for violation of the Rules and Regulations as follows:

 

Section 3919 – Proper Behavior

Section 3920 – Unacceptable Language

Section 3923 – Acts Detrimental to the Welfare of the Department

 

At the Commission’s meeting on February 14, 2018, the Commission deliberated and decided member’s appeal of a 6-day suspension imposed by the Chief of Department and by a unanimous vote the Commission upheld the violation of Section 3919, Proper Behavior, found insufficient evidence to support the violations of Section 3920 – Unacceptable Language and Section 3923 – Acts Detrimental to the Welfare of the Department, and reduced the 6-day suspension to a 2-day suspension.  The Commission is now considering proposed Findings of Fact in relation to that decision. [Discussion and possible action]

 

c. IF CLOSED SESSION HELD, RECONVENE IN OPEN SESSION. 

 

The Commission reconvened in Open Session at 10:36 p.m.   

 

i. REPORT ON ANY ACTION TAKEN IN CLOSED SESSION as specified in California Government Code Section 54957.1(a) and San Francisco Administrative Code section 67.12(b).

 

There was nothing to report.

 

ii. VOTE TO ELECT WHETHER TO DISCLOSE ANY OR ALL DISCUSSIONS HELD IN CLOSED SESSION, as specified in San Francisco Administrative Code Section 67.12(a).   [Action]

 

Commissioner Covington Moved to not disclose discussions held in closed session.  Commissioner Veronese Seconded.  The motion was unanimously approved.  (5-0; Cleaveland, Nakajo, Hardeman, Covington, Veronese)

 

14. ADJOURNMENT 

 

President Cleaveland adjourned the meeting at 10:37 p.m. in the memory of Barney Crotty.