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Fire officials outline $58M in fire-related projects inside $350M public health bond, including new ambulance deployment center
Summary
Fire Department leaders told the Fire Commission the June $350 million public health and safety bond would allocate about $58 million for department needs: roughly $44 million for a new ambulance deployment center behind Station 49 and $14 million for upgrades to neighborhood firehouses and technology.
The San Francisco Fire Department on May 11 told the Fire Commission that a $350 million public health and safety bond on the June ballot would include roughly $58 million to address department facilities and ambulance deployment needs.
Chief Lombardi said the largest fire‑department component would be about $44 million for a new ambulance deployment center behind the fire station cluster that currently serves Station 49, with about $14 million earmarked to upgrade neighborhood fire stations and their wiring to support modern dispatch and training systems. "The bulk of the bond is Station 49," Chief Lombardi said during the presentation, describing a multi‑story facility with four indoor restocking bays, classroom space and room for future growth.
Brian Strong, director of capital planning, framed the bond as part of a multi‑cycle capital program for the city. He said the city recently sold bonds at favorable rates, noting the April sale produced an approximately 2.58% interest rate and that the city's credit ratings are at multi‑decade highs. "We have the highest bond rating, I think, we've had, at least in the past 20 to 30 years," Strong told commissioners.
Gabriela Juddsarelli, the Department of Public Works project manager who oversees neighborhood fire‑station portfolios, explained the bond in the context of earlier EASER (Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response) geobonds passed in 2010 and 2014. She said prior voter support for emergency‑response facilities remains strong and that the city still faces hundreds of millions in fire‑station needs: "The pre‑bond report in 2009 identified a fire station need in excess of $350,000,000, and that need has really only grown over time."
Chief Lombardi described the proposed ambulance deployment center as a three‑story, 30,000‑square‑foot building on city‑owned land behind the existing Station 49 footprint. The ground floor would include a three‑story garage and four indoor bays to speed restocking and turnaround; the second floor would hold locker and fitness areas and the third floor classrooms to reduce out‑of‑service time for training currently held off‑site. He said the existing temporary deployment site — a bureau warehouse at 1415 Evans — was not designed for current operational scale: the department has grown from roughly 36 paramedics and 15 ambulances in 2006 to about 200 EMTs/paramedics and 54 ambulances today.
Commissioners pressed for detail on how the $14 million for station upgrades would be spent and asked for a later, deeper breakdown of project priorities and community outreach if the measure passes. Chief Lombardi said project specifics will be refined after any successful ballot measure and that CEQA review constrains early specificity during the campaign phase.
Next steps: commissioners scheduled follow‑up briefings and asked staff to return with a more detailed timeline and expenditure plan if the bond measure advances.
