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 the SFFD deploys strike teams through state coordination and stages at regional training locations when sent on mutual-aid assignments. On aerial support, he said the city can request state aircraft but availability depends on statewide demand.

Lieutenant Mary Shea of the Bureau of Fire Prevention summarized the department's prevention and weed-abatement work. She said the city enforces portions of the California Fire Code (she cited a provision she referenced verbally as "section 304.102") and local Title 19 guidance requiring owners to cut and remove ignitable weeds and maintain a 30-foot defensible area around buildings in certain circumstances. The fire department and the Department of Public Works send joint letters to repeat problem properties (two weeks before July 4 was given as an example) and proceed with inspections; if owners do not comply, DPW can abate hazards after a roughly 10-day period. Shea said the department receives complaints mainly in summer ‘‘in the hundreds’’ annually and that many are neighbor disputes; the department emphasized outreach, assistance for seniors and inspections to determine hazard validity.

Bijan Karimi of the Department of Emergency Management described DEM's role in preparedness and recovery: public guidance (sf72.org), citywide notification systems, Emergency Operations Center activation and post-incident recovery coordination with Human Services Agency, the Small Business Administration and nongovernmental partners for sheltering and assistance.

Kurt Ittson, UCSF campus fire marshal, said UCSF manages the 63-acre Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve, conducts periodic arborist reviews and completed defensible-space work in 2013 covering about 15.6 of the reserve's 61 acres (thinning, removing small-diameter trees and mowing nonwoody plants). UCSF plans to repeat the defensible-space maintenance and said protecting adjacent medical facilities and student housing is a high priority.

In public comment, residents and neighborhood advocates urged nuance. Denise Louie asked whether preschools and canyon-access paths have evacuation plans; Sally Stevens cautioned against replacing trees with grassland that can be more flammable; Rupa Bose noted that fog and tree canopies can hold moisture and that removing vegetation in some microclimates could increase fire risk; Anastasia Glickstern criticized herbicide use and said scrub and dry grass are often more flammable than living trees.

After hearing from staff and the public, Chair Yee said she was "very confident" San Francisco is prepared, and she praised interagency coordination and UCSF's work on Mount Sutro. The committee voted to continue the item to the chair for follow-up.

What happens next: Officials said they will continue interagency assessments, repeat defensible-space work at Mount Sutro this fall pending SFFD review, and maintain the public reporting and DPW abatement process; the committee continued the item to the chair for any required follow-up actions.

Representative quotes from the hearing: "Not only are you my district supervisor, but I don't recall in my nearly 12 years as chief that we've had a discussion, in the legislative branch of government on this topic." — Chief Joanne Hayes White "Our weed-abatement program...we enforce section 304.102 of the California fire code." — Lieutenant Mary Shea "We became concerned about the potential fire hazards...we all agreed that up to 100 feet defensible space must be created in areas around structures." — Kurt Ittson, UCSF campus fire marshal

Ending: The committee closed public comment, thanked presenting agencies and UCSF for coordination, and voted to continue the item to the chair for follow-up and any action items identified by staff.