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SFFD chief reports $876 million shortfall, prepares street teams rollout and CAD upgrade
Summary
Chief Dean Crispin told the Fire Commission the department faces an $876 million budget shortfall and described a March 24 rollout for neighborhood street teams, a permit fee study, a CAD dispatch upgrade, and an internal promotion to the H‑42 assistant fire marshal post.
Chief of Department Dean Crispin told the San Francisco Fire Commission on March 12 that the department is facing a large budget shortfall and is preparing several operational and organizational changes aimed at maintaining services while the city addresses revenue gaps.
“The overarching message is, we—re gonna have to do more with less,” Crispin said, adding that the department—s latest shortfall figure is $876,000,000 and that roughly $200,000,000 in FEMA reimbursements remain outstanding.
Why it matters: the reported shortfall and uncertain federal reimbursements could affect staffing, equipment purchases and rollout of new programs; Crispin described near-term steps to preserve essential services and to pursue revenue opportunities.
Crispin outlined several initiatives and operational changes:
- Street teams: Crispin described a city plan to field localized neighborhood street teams, initially three units (including a Tenderloin/Northern District team, a Mission team and a citywide roving team) with the stated aim of focusing on a by‑name list of individuals in need. The department expects a rollout on March 24 and said SFFD roles are still being finalized. “The plan…is to roll out this new plan of localized neighborhood based street teams,” Crispin said.
- Permit fee study and revenue work: Crispin said he and his command staff met with the treasurer—s office to explore increasing revenue from ambulance billing, permitting and fire prevention fees; he said Director Corso will hire an outside firm to conduct a fee study to determine whether fees align with costs.
- CAD upgrade and disaster manual: Crispin said the department will begin a long‑overdue computer‑aided dispatch (CAD) upgrade—its first in 17 years—and is revising the disaster manual to add a CD4 command staff role and clarify responsibilities for large incidents.
- Strategic planning: Crispin said the department is preparing a new strategic plan to follow the 2022–26 plan and to lay out priorities for 2027 onward.
Personnel: Crispin said interviews were held for the H‑42 assistant fire marshal position and that he selected a promotion from within. The chief announced the promotion in the meeting: “we came to the correct decision, which was to promote Captain [Gower] to the H‑42 position,” and noted the promoted officer was present at the meeting. The transcript recorded inconsistent first names for the promoted officer; the department announced the promotion during the meeting and the position is H‑42 (assistant fire marshal). The promotion was an internal personnel decision rather than a commission vote.
Community and outreach: Crispin highlighted recent community events and murals—including a Black Firefighters Association mural in the Tenderloin and a mural program involving department members—and he praised local training programs such as the city EMT cohort run by retired chief Attica Bowden.
Crispin said the department will continue to examine efficiencies and to pursue fee and revenue updates in light of the budget pressures.
Ending: Commissioners asked for follow‑up on fee‑study timing and details about the street‑team integration. Crispin said the department will return with additional information as projects progress.
