Fire Commission urges mayor to convene task force on coastline safety after Fort Funston fatality

The San Francisco Fire Commission on March 13 approved a nonbinding resolution asking the mayor's office to establish an ad hoc task force to study and recommend measures to reduce cliff, sea and beach rescues.

Commissioner Joe Alioto Veronese, who introduced Resolution 2019-1, said the proposal grew out of repeated, high-risk cliff rescues and the Feb. 22 cliff collapse at Fort Funston that resulted in one fatality. "We have an obligation to our people and the people of San Francisco to minimize those dangers," Veronese said during discussion on the measure.

Public commenters supported the resolution. Chiara Mia Veronese Linde, who identified herself as a friend of a woman who died in a 2017 cliff incident, said the city "can fix our coastline and make sure no one else has to go through this." Retired firefighter Mike Coleman urged consideration of leash rules on cliffs after describing repeated rescues caused when dogs go off-leash.

Operational leaders described the February Fort Funston response in detail. Battalion Chief Nicole Juratovac characterized the incident as a "high-risk, low-frequency" event in which multiple agencies established a unified command before switching from rescue to recovery after roughly two hours and 45 minutes on scene. Lieutenant Jonathan Baxter, the department's public information officer, described outreach steps the department has taken, including flyers, high-surf banners and targeted handouts on advisory days.

Commissioners debated whether to delay adoption to ensure the mayor's office had been warned and to add statistical data to the resolution. Commissioner Ken Cleveland, who seconded the motion to adopt, supported including incident statistics as an addendum. Final action came after a roll-call voice vote: Commissioners Joe Alioto Veronese, Ken Cleveland, Michael Hardiman and Vice President Francie Covington voted yes; President Steven Nicasio voted no. The motion passed 4-1.

The resolution asks the mayor to convene a task force that could include the fire department, San Francisco Police Department, National Park Service, Department of Public Works, Department of Recreation and Parks, the Youth Commission, the Port Commission, California Highway Patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard. It envisions bi-monthly meetings for six months and a plan of action delivered to the mayor. The measure does not itself create regulations such as leash rules; it directs a cross-agency study to identify gaps in coverage, signage, outreach and technology that could reduce rescues and protect both the public and first responders.

Next steps: the commission will forward the adopted resolution to the mayor's office; the resolution requests a report back after the task force convenes and studies possible interventions. The commission recorded its support for the resolution as a policy recommendation rather than a binding city directive.