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Grand jury finds gaps in building and fire inspection systems; departments outline reforms and IT upgrades
Summary
The civil grand jury warned that San Francisco faces an elevated fire risk because of building stock and inspection gaps; DBI and the Fire Department described steps taken — added inspectors, focused enforcement, outreach and IT work — and the committee filed the report for continued oversight.
The Government Audit and Oversight Committee reviewed a civil grand jury report on building and fire safety inspections after recent fires raised concerns about enforcement, translation and technology barriers.
The grand jury said staffing shortfalls, deficient DBI technology and inconsistent fire‑code enforcement left the city exposed to fire risk in some neighborhoods with older wooden-frame buildings and contiguous construction patterns. The jury recommended increased transparency and easier public access to inspection results — suggesting something comparable to restaurant inspection ratings for building safety — and urged improved coordination between the Department of Building Inspection (DBI) and the Fire Department.
DBI Director (recorded in the transcript as Director Huie/Huey) and Chief Housing Inspector Rosemary Buskey described reforms under way: the board approved $2.2 million to support better MIS systems for the Fire Department, DBI added focused code‑enforcement teams and billing/cost‑recovery practices and increased outreach and partnership work (including the Fire Safety Task Force and community‑ambassador programs). The Fire Department described internal reorganizations including a consolidated fire‑complaint section and new staffing dedicated to community outreach and fire complaint response; the department reported adding a captain, lieutenant and six inspectors to handle fire complaints and creating a new fire complaints section.
Commissioners and community groups pushed for better public access to inspection data, translations for non‑English speakers and more proactive outreach in SROs and vulnerable multi‑unit buildings. The Department of Technology said it is helping re‑scope a legacy project (Acela) and can assist in linking fire data to the property information map. The committee filed the report and signaled continued oversight.
