May 11, 2022, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 400 n San Francisco n California n 94102

This meeting was held in person and remotely on WebEx

The Video can be viewed by clicking this link:  https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=180&clip_id=41243

Vice President Nakajo called the meeting to order at 9:02 a.m.

2.         Ramaytush Ohlone Land Acknowledgement

Vice President Nakajo read the Ramaytush Ohlone Land Acknowledgement.

3.         RESOLUTION 2022-09 [Discussion and possible action]

Resolution making findings to allow teleconferenced meetings under California Government Code Section 54953(e)

Commissioner Covington Moved to adopt the Resolution.  Commissioner Morgan Seconded.  The motion was unanimous.

There was no public comment.

4.         GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT

Brice Peoples stated the following: “Hello, Commissioners.  It's nice to see you this morning.  My name is Brice Peoples, a long-time resident of San Francisco, a 27-year firefighter, and also currently serving as the Department's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, the very first one, as Assistant Deputy Chief.  I'm coming today because I need help.  I need your assistance.  It's a transparency issue.  As you know, the law went into effect here regarding the Racial Equity Action Plan and how the Department and all the city agencies are supposed to interact with this law.  I would like for you to ask, please, the Chief and the administration two things.  Two things, please.  Number one, this document which you have not seen is part of the Racial Equity Action Plan.  It is the budget and the positions on how the plan will be implemented.  It has been suppressed.  It has sat on the Chief's desk now for six months.  I've asked it to be given to you to have thoughtful consideration as we go into the budget cycle, and it has not been allowed to be published publicly.  It is part of the law that this document should see the light of day for transparency.  So, as you know, if this, the budget, does not go into discussion, then the Racial Equity Action Plan does not exist either.  There is -- it is dead on arrival.  So these items are in conflict with the law.  The second question I would like for you to ask the administration is here is the progress report for how we have been doing under the Racial Equity Action Plan.  It was supposed to be submitted by the racial equity leaders, which was tried to submit on May 2nd.  It still has not been done.  And the racial equity leaders have been told not to do it.  So, I don't know what plan is for that.  Maybe you can ask the Chief what is the plan.  I would appreciate that as the oversight body.  Secondly, or lastly, please participate in an experiment with me.  This administration for the last two years has been the subject of four discrimination lawsuits.  And that is not the -- the horrible aspect of it.  In those lawsuits, it is alleged that the individuals have been retaliated against when they have spoken up about transparency and about social justice inside the Department.  The experiment I'm asking you to do now is I have just spoken up.  Let's see what they try to do to me.  Thank you very much.”

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

Discussion and possible action to approve meeting minutes.

• Minutes from the regular meeting on April 27, 2022.

Commissioner Morgan Moved to approve the minutes and Commissioner Covington Seconded. The motion was unanimously approved.

There was no public comment.

6.         CHIEF OF DEPARTMENT’S REPORT [Discussion]

REPORT FROM CHIEF OF DEPARTMENT, JEANINE NICHOLSON

Report on current issues, activities, and events within the Department since the Fire Commission meeting on April 27, 2022, including budget, academies, special events, communications, and outreach to other government agencies and the public.

Chief Nicholson reported on activities since the last meeting. She announced that next week they will be celebrating EMS Week and the theme is rising to the challenge.  She mentioned that EMS members Jennifer Ishikawa, Matthew Ferris, Larry Para, and Fred Salan will be honored by the Board of Supervisors.  She added that Captain Julie Mau was also honored at the Board of Supervisors last Tuesday in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.  Chief Nicholson provided a COVID update stating that six members are out with COVID, 8 members are on long-term COVID leave and 14 members are in quarantine.  She stated that last week they welcomed an H-3 Level 1 and Level 2 hybrid class and that two of those recruits are from the City EMT program.  She announced that May 15, 2022, is the Bay to Breakers race and they will be staffing up a bit for the event as well as a Walk with Sadie (the Department’s therapy dog) event at Lands’ End Trail on May 24, 2022.  She announced that she had several meetings with the supervisors regarding the budget and other items.

There was no public comment.

REPORT FROM OPERATIONS, DEPUTY CHIEF ROBERT POSTEL

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

Chief Postel reported on Operations during April.  He reported that they had 12,700 calls for service, 22 working fires, three greater alarms, and one mutual aid deployment.  He described the second alarm fire at 400 Upper Terrace, which was a wind-driven fire and they experienced significant challenges with access to the building for rigs and personnel due to its location up on top of the hill on a narrow street.  He added that Assistant Chief Storti was the incident commander and that the crews did an excellent job.  He also described in detail the third alarm at 141 to 147 Noe where crews did an excellent job of containing the fire to the two originally involved buildings and that Assistant Chief Mike Thompson was the incident commander at that fire.  The third fire he described was a third alarm at 301 West Portal which was started on the roof by roofers of a large single-story commercial occupancy building with multiple businesses on the ground floor where the fire quickly consumed the roof and spread to the very large attic space.  Assistant Chief Nicol Juratovac was the incident commander who did an excellent job.  Chief Postel also described the mutual aid request from the City of Benicia for the fireboat to assist with a large 4^th alarm pier fire.  He stated that they approved the request knowing that San Francisco has the only fireboat with the capability needed and the SFFD fireboat St. Francis provided the needed support to contain this very stubborn fire.  He touched on the EMS Division where last month the call volume was fairly steady with 300 to 350 calls per day.  He added that Medic to Follow calls were substantially reduced on most days due to the increased staffing from the H-3 Level 1s and the H-3 Level 2 bump-up academies that concluded last month.  He also touched on the additions to the Street Overdose Response Team and the Street Wellness Response Teams.  He expanded on the success stories of EMS-6 and the Street Crisis Response Team.  He touched on the Bureau of Fire Prevention and Investigation which they are continuing its efforts to efficiently process plans for the Plan Check Division and meet bi-monthly with the MTA and Transportation Advisory Safety Committee (TASC) to review streetscape changes that impact the fire response and access.  He reported that the Airport responded to 438 calls for service, and bike medics responded to 225 of those incidents as well.  He announced that Assistant Deputy Chief Brown has notified the Department that he intends to retire by the end of June.  Regarding the Division of Training, he stated that the 129^th academy class is scheduled to graduate June 3, 2022, and the sixth H-3 Level 2 academy graduated April 15^th with 13 members in total.  The H-3 Level 1 class is due to graduate on May 20, 2022, with 25 graduates.

Commissioner Morgan told Chief Postel his report was great and that he liked the videos with the fireboat in Benicia.  Commissioner Morgan confirmed that a “full box” means when there is a report of smoke or fire in a building dispatch will strike a full box assignment and it goes back to the original dispatch days of the Fire Department with the bells.

Commissioner Covington thanked Chief Postel for his report and added that when you have so much to report, brevity goes out the window.  She invited Chief Juratovac to add to the incident she commanded.  Chief Juratovac stated that anytime she gets a chance to brag about the firefighters in her division she is more than happy to do so.  She described the third alarm fire in West Portal and added that because of the men and women of the San Franciso Fire Department, West Portal is safe and sound.  Chief Storti thanked BC O’Connell, BC Gearing, and BC Siguenza who did an excellent job keeping their firefighters safe at the Upper Terrace fire and confining it to the two apartments and keeping it to a second alarm.  Commissioner Covington also mentioned that she loves the videos and level of detail, and she finds them very helpful.  She confirmed through Chief Pang that Buprenorphine is considered a medication treatment that is similar to Methadone, and it is a way for people who have an opioid substance use disorder to substitute Buprenorphine for whatever it is that they are dependent on.  Commissioner Covington asked Chief Cofflin to talk about how the Streetscape plans are developed and implemented and if they impact response times.  Fire Marshal Cofflin responded that they have different members working directly with SFMTA for input and concerns regarding challenges that affect the department and ultimately, they run that through the chain of command and based on field input, what they are going to object to or work further on with SFMTA.  Commissioner Covington congratulated Chief Brown on his upcoming retirement.

Vice President Nakajo thanked Chief Postel for his comprehensive report and acknowledged Chief Storti and Chief Juratovac for their comments on the recent fires they described as well as the members of the Department and battalion chiefs that responded to those significant fires.  He thanked Chief Brown from the Airport for his hard work and experience.  He confirmed some of the incidents in the Operations Report overseen by Chief Pang and confirmed that police code 800B is a mentally disturbed person with a B priority meaning that there is no report of violence or weapons.  Vice President Nakajo highlighted some of the success stories outlined in the report.  He confirmed with Chief Kaialoa trainings that took place during the reporting period including SFFD leadership class and wildland training.  He also verified with Chief Postel that Department General Orders are sent out in paper format, but they are also sent to each member which needs to be acknowledged and reviewed through the HRMS system.  Additionally, every company officer at roll call reviews any new or pertinent general orders that have been issued so that everybody’s familiar with them.  Vice President Nakajo confirmed that Lt. Nancy Galvin oversees the NERT program. 

There was no public comment.

7.         ADJOURNMENT      Vice President Nakajo adjourned the meeting at 10:12 a.m.