Colleagues, union urge review and reinstatement of San Francisco fire protection engineer

Members of the public and coworkers asked the San Francisco Fire Commission on June 27 to reconsider the department’s termination of fire protection engineer Mark Ma.

Paul Kim, a union representative for IFPTE Local 21, said the department required Ma to repeat probation under civil service‑exempt rules and that, as a result, Ma “was not afforded due process rights” when investigated over an incident described as alleged harassment. Kim said he and colleagues collected “56, 57 signatures” asking the commission to compel a departmental review and reinstate Ma.

Several coworkers and family members spoke in support. Janice Chung, a civilian fire protection engineer, described cultural and social cues that she said could have caused a misunderstanding about an exchange of a gift and said Ma returned the item because he understood the rules. Victor Lubet and others described Ma as punctual, conscientious and a family man. Tom Haney read a statement from senior engineer Fred Stump saying Ma was terminated “without getting to tell his side of the story” and calling the dismissal “too harsh.”

Ma addressed the commission directly, saying he loves his job, that he would never misrepresent himself and apologizing for any language or cultural barriers that may have complicated the incident. “I hope you will reconsider my case and I look forward to coming back to work here,” he said.

A separate commenter, Estella Irving, raised unrelated public‑safety complaints about the department’s handling of calls and vehicles; the record shows no immediate departmental response to either the Ma appeals or Irving’s allegations during the public‑comment period.

No formal action or vote on personnel procedures or Ma’s dismissal was recorded at the meeting. The only formal motions during the session were approval of the minutes and the meeting adjournment.