SFFD reports new academies, station upgrades and injury data as commissioners press for PG&E cost recovery

At the Oct. 23, 2019 meeting of the San Francisco Fire Commission, Chief of Department Janine Nicholson and Deputy Chief Jose Vela outlined a range of operational and administrative activities including new academy starts, interagency EMS collaboration, station construction updates and an injury-data initiative aimed at reducing sprains, strains and lower-back injuries.

Nicholson told commissioners that members of Station 49 had "started in our suppression academy this week. So we're going full bore now," and described meetings with the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation and with Dr. Clement Yeh on community paramedicine and psychiatric emergency services. She said the department is coordinating with hospitals and the Department of Public Health on triage and diversion strategies to keep people who do not need an emergency room out of the ER.

Deputy Chief Jose Vela presented administrative highlights and training activity, reporting that a recruit class started Oct. 7 and that 55 recruits remain in the class after one attrition. Vela said Station 50 is "50% complete" with a projected final completion date next September and that Station 31's emergency generator pad has been poured and a generator is expected by December. He also reported apparatus procurement activity: two jet-ski bids to be issued and six engines in pre-construction.

On member safety, Vela said the department has begun analyzing injury data and that sprains, strains and lower-back injuries are primary concerns. He described planned mitigations including training modules and technique videos to teach safe lifting and a three-point technique for boarding and disembarking apparatus.

Commissioners pressed for additional, anonymized data about PTSD and stress-unit interventions. Commissioner Joe Alioto Veronese asked whether the department could drill further into stress-related incidents; Vela and Nicholson said they are working with the stress unit to capture anonymized measures such as visit counts, durations and incident types to better understand support needs.

The potential operational impacts of the PG&E rolling blackouts drew particular attention. Veronese argued that intentional, preannounced outages shift costs onto local responders and suggested the city seek compensation from PG&E for increased emergency response expenses and other burdens. "When these rolling blackouts happen, that's basically them handing off a huge expense to this department," Veronese said. Vela described internal fuel strategies and said many stations have diesel generators that "can last up to 3 days in a row without refueling," and the department is coordinating refueling plans with other city agencies.

Commissioners also raised interagency funding questions tied to past construction bonds. Vice President Franci Covington asked about line items showing up to $489,000 in liquidated damages on page 24 of the packet; Vela said those funds are administered by Public Works and do not automatically flow to the Fire Department, prompting calls from commissioners to examine whether departmental revenues have been lost in prior contract settlements.

The commission agreed to pursue follow-up: members asked for more detailed, anonymized stress-unit metrics; additional breakdowns of injury data; updates on station construction timelines and apparatus procurement; and a deeper review of bond- and contract-related funds the department may not have received. Commissioner Michael Hardiman also asked for a future agenda item to review a potential grant-writer position to bolster outside funding efforts; Chief Nicholson said applicants' resumes have been circulated to commission leadership for follow-up.

The meeting later moved into closed session under cited government and administrative code provisions; the commission voted to go into closed session and subsequently voted not to disclose the closed-session discussion.

The department's next procedural step is to provide the commission with the requested data and a written update on the grant-writer recruitment and any advocacy measures related to PG&E and contract recoveries.