San Francisco officials detail preparedness for urban brush and forest fires; UCSF and residents raise vegetation-management concerns

San Francisco officials told the Government and Oversight Committee on Sept. 17 that the city has trained personnel, specialized equipment and mutual-aid protocols in place to respond to brush and urban-forest fires, but residents and UCSF urged caution about vegetation-removal plans that could unintentionally increase fire risk.

Chair Yee opened the hearing saying the goal was to assess whether the city is ready for an ‘‘urban forest or brush fire’’ and to avoid conflating preparedness with tree-cutting debates. Chief Joanne Hayes White of the San Francisco Fire Department said the department maintains a wildland-trained contingency—more than 200 firefighters receive wildland training and the city participates in the state'master mutual-aid system—while reserving resources to protect local wood-frame neighborhoods.

Deputy Chief Mark Gonzales presented SFFD's Urban Wildland Interface operations, describing four mini-pumpers (about 200 gallons each) positioned in drier southeastern neighborhoods to reach areas larger engines cannot, specialized wildland tools (Pulaski, McLeod), lighter wildland PPE and five engines the city acquired from the state that have been used on strike teams for out-of-county deployments. Gonzales said…