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Operations report: greater-alarm warehouse fire, hazmat response at Customs, and festival preparedness
Summary
Deputy Chief Patrick Rabin described a July greater-alarm fire at 746 Natoma, a hazmat response to a suspicious package at US Customs that required federal coordination, and ongoing event and training operations including support for Dead & Company and Outside Lands.
Deputy Chief Patrick Rabin briefed the Fire Commission on field operations for July, describing a significant warehouse fire in South of Market and a separate hazardous-materials response at the U.S. Customs office on Battery Street that required federal coordination.
Rabin said the greater-alarm fire at 746 Natoma involved a two-story reinforced-masonry warehouse with a woodworking operation on the ground floor. The fire was "deep seated and presented with dense smoke and 0 visibility," he said, and the department credited coordinated truck and engine company actions with evacuating exposed rear units and preventing early rescues from becoming entrapments.
On a separate incident, Rabin said a suspicious package addressed to a Customs agent prompted the hazmat entry team to deploy a Raman identification device. "The hazmat entry team used a Raman device to identify the materials in the package," he said. The department notified SFPD and federal explosive ordnance disposal teams; the FBI hazardous-materials team in Washington, D.C., was consulted by phone, and the evidence and materiel were turned over to federal investigators.
Large events and specialized teams
Rabin described the department's preparations for summer events including Dead & Company and Outside Lands. For those events the department assigns a battalion chief to unified command, deploys HAZMAT and radiological-screening team members for daily checks, positions tactical EMS (TEMS) teams and pyro standbys, and station fire-prevention inspectors on-site to review vendor and propane compliance. Rabin said the department has provided a pyrotechnics engine and daily briefings and that, so far, responses have been managed on scene.
Training and mutual aid planning
Rabin said operations staff are participating in long-range planning for capital (EASTER bond) needs and noted the department's work with mutual-aid and regional partners on rescue-task-force planning. He described an effort to host an Orange County rescue task-force (Mobex) drill at Treasure Island in January 2026 as part of building a local rescue task force available for earthquake or large-scale regional incidents.
Ending
Rabin thanked the reserves and local partners for support on the Natoma response and said the department will continue to refine dispatch and event planning as call volume increases.
