New chief outlines safety, local hiring, training center and potable-water upgrades

Chief of Department Dean Matthew Crispin delivered a department report at the San Francisco Fire Commission’s Feb. 12 meeting outlining staffing, training and infrastructure priorities and introducing several new members of the department’s command staff.

Crispin told commissioners that “the most paramount issue for us is safety of our members,” and said that safety will guide equipment purchases, training and operations. He said the department will place a priority on hiring candidates with an attachment to San Francisco and on expanding community engagement through enhanced contact between company captains and neighborhood leaders.

The chief listed three top budget priorities: staffing, fleet condition and facilities. Regarding apparatus he said the department is exploring purchasing, leasing and public–private partnership options and set an aspirational safety goal: frontline apparatus no older than 15 years and relief pieces no older than 20 years. Crispin said leaking roofs and seismic vulnerabilities at stations are driving facility requests.

Crispin described disaster-preparedness work and regular exercises: “we meet in our FDOC, and we conduct a large scale exercise. So far, we've had an active attacker exercise, and we've had a tsunami exercise,” and said those Monday exercises will cascade down through command ranks.

He announced several leadership appointments and organizational changes. He introduced Fire Marshal Chad Law and Chief of Training Mark Casper and said both bring experience the department will use to align in-service and academy training. “When someone gets out of the division of training, they come into the field, they're being taught the exact same thing,” Crispin said.

The chief highlighted capital projects and community coordination: the department is installing a potable firefighting water system (referred to in the meeting as a potable water/PUFS system) in parts of the city including West of Twin Peaks; a new division of training is planned for Carroll Avenue (several years away), and the department is pursuing a new computer-aided dispatch project with attention to user training before rollout.

Crispin also noted recent community events and a soft opening of a Sixth Street Triage Center, and said the department will continue collaboration with other agencies for major events such as the Lunar New Year parade and the NBA All-Star weekend.

Commissioners asked for clarifications on event coordination and staffing projections. Crispin said the department projects 40–50 retirements in the coming fiscal year and about 117 retirements in the following year and emphasized that continued hiring is necessary to avoid reliance on overtime.

The chief concluded by reiterating the department’s attendance at community events, the mural project at headquarters to mark the ambulance service anniversary, and his commitment to work with finance staff on budget proposals.

No formal action was taken on the report; commissioners followed with questions and discussion.