Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Battalion Reactivation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commissioners applaud plan to reactivate Battalion 5 in January 2017
Summary
Deputy Chief Mark Gonzales outlined plans to reactivate Battalion 5 at Station 21 in Hayes Valley, adding three battalion chief positions expected to improve incident command across dense neighborhoods. The commission credited the mayor's office and Board of Supervisors for restoring the resource.
Deputy Chief of Operations Mark Gonzales presented the department's plan to reactivate Battalion 5 on Sept. 28, saying the battalion was deactivated on May 25, 2004 and that the reactivation is planned for mid-January 2017 with the battalion headquartered at Station 21 in Hayes Valley.
Gonzales said Battalion 5 will cover Haight, Western Addition, Cole Valley, Hayes Valley and parts of the Inner Sunset and will include target hazards such as University of California and Saint Mary's Hospital, University of San Francisco and older wood-frame Victorian buildings. The reactivation will add three permanent battalion chief positions; those vacancies will be advertised and filled at the discretion of the appointing officer, the chief.
Commissioners thanked the mayor and the Board of Supervisors for funding the add-back and emphasized the operational value of additional command staff in a denser city. Gonzales said battalion chiefs provide incident-command functions that can limit loss at working fires by improving tactical decisions early in an incident.
