>> this is a reminder to silence all electronic devices. fire commission regular meeting march 28, and the time is 5:03. item one, roll call. >> president ken cleveland has been excused. vice president nakajo. >> here. >> commissioner hardeman. >> here. >> commissioner covington. >> here. >> commissioner joe alioto veronese. >> here. >> and chief of department,

joanne hayes-white. number two, general public comment. members may address the commission for up to three minutes on any matter within the jurisdiction and does not appear on the agenda. speakers shall address the remarks to the commission as a whole and not to individual commissioners or department personnel. commissioners are not to enter into debate or discussion with the speaker. the lack of response by commissioners does not necessarily constitute agreement with or support of statements made during public comment. >> is there any member of the public that wishes to give public comment at this time? seeing none, public comment is closed. madam secretary. >> item three, approval of the minutes. approval of the minutes from the regular meeting on march 14, 2018.

>> is there any public comment on the approval of the minutes of march 14? are there any questions or amendments from the commissioners in terms of the minutes? commissioner covington please. >> thank you, mr. vice president. i had a short conversation this afternoon with our commission secretary regarding just one item that may change. they suggested that it is the preface to the interaction with the chief regarding an email that all of the commissioners had received. and so it seemed to kind of come out of nowhere, that particular conversation. so i asked the commission

secretary to just put together a little preface, and she can read it. it's on page five, the third paragraph, the beginning of the third paragraph. >> the request of commissioner covington and in response to an email from a concerned citizen, the chief gave a brief update on the e.k.g. monitors that the department uses. >> and i submit that change with respect. >> thank you very much, commissioner covington. commissioners, is there any other questions or amendments at this particular time? >> i move the amendment. >> thank you, commissioner veronese. that was moved. i need a second please. >> a second. >> second, commissioner hardeman. move and second. call for the question. all in favor say aye. the minutes are adopted. madam secretary? >> item four, chief of department's report. report from chief of department, joanne hayes-white on current issue, activities, and events

within the department since the fire commission meeting on march 14, 2018, including budget, academies, special events, communications and outreach to other government agencies and the public. and report from administration deputy chief jeannie nicholson on the administrative division, fleet and facility status, finance, support services, homeland security, and training with the department. >> good evening, chief hayes-white. >> good evening, commissioners. this is my report since the last meeting held on march 14 regarding the budget, what i sent around is copies was our presentation before the budget and finance committee on march 15. and that went very well. i would like to thank deputy director corso for assisting with the presentation materials. moving forward, we're hoping to have the budget committee convened one more time hopefully

the week of april 9. and supervisor maria cohen as the chair of the budget and finance committee is doing things a little bit differently this year. they have spelled out four different budget priorities, including public safety, clean streets, homelessness and affordable housing, and then other policy priorities. so obviously we would be in the public safety category. so public safety issues will be discussed further at budget and finance on april 19 and will be part of the hear iing and they promise to provide us nor information with what the expectation is for further exploration. and as you know, the mayor will need to submit a balanced budget to the board by june 1, so we're continuing to have good dialogue, open dialogue with the mayor's budget office at this time. and we're also closing out and we'll have a nine-month status report. we're in the third quarter of

the budget. so at the end of april we'll be working with the mayor's budget office and controller in terms of where we're at. but we're right on track and what we had anticipated. there is no major surprises or anything at this point. regarding our division of training, we welcomed 42 members into the 124th class earlier this week. and they will be joined by 12 members from station 49 in two weeks after the e.m.t. portion of the academy is completed, so that will be a total of 54 members. the tepties were able to go -- the deputies and i were able to welcome them into the training academy and wish the assistant deputy chief well with the first class he is overseeing as the director of training. we wish all of those candidates well as they go through their training. and giving ourselves a little bit of a respite, but probably be getting in may-june time frame, we will begin looking at candidates for the 125th class, which will occur roughly in the

september time frame, another 54 people. on march 17, many of us participated in the st. patrick's day parade. that is always a fun event. a lot of people participating with us. on the 19th of march and deputy chief nicholson and i attended a very well attended meeting and the annual fire servicewomen's meet i meeting from the newer members of the female department and that was the nice event. we even had a cameo appearance by former deputy chief ramona williams enjoying her retirement. on the 20th of this month we had the monthly labor management and from vice president cleveland and who is the i.t. director for the department and he received a

spur good government award and the municipal fiscal advisory council and we had nominated him and there were many nominations and he was selected and i believe there was four or five other awardees that night. congratulations to zamora. and on the 22nd with interesting technology and something with a close watch on and with autonomous vehicles and i believe pedestrian is the first city -- san francisco is the first city to convene a type of roundtable to discuss next steps for autonomous vehicles. there is a lot of uncertainty still. but the state has provided for that and is under the department of motor vehicles. so with a number of questions as it relates to with that

extrication and more to follow on that. it is coming very quickly. and i believe in arizona they have autonomous vehicles with a tragic accident that occurred. just i believe last week. so it's new technology and it's emerging and it's something that we really want to keep our eye on. but it's here in that the state is allowing for autonomous vehicles to apply for vehicle permits. none have in the city, but it is anticipated that could be the case very soon, so we will definitely keep you posted on that. we greeted the 42 new members

off the list of the 124th academy. and yesterday i attended the healthy streets which is comprised of the department heads and the departments that are working to keep our streets clean, safe, and healthy. so is the director of public health, chief bill scott, deputy chief of staff and chief of staff of the mayor's office and the d.p.w. director was there to talk about how on a regular basis we're coordinating our efforts to endeavor and to meet newly formed group and meeting at least once a month. and that concludes my report.

i wanted to request your adjourning tonight's meeting from vice president nakajo for the passing of retired battalion chief mark rishan who was a very dedicated member of this department. had a firefightering family. his brother mike was in the department. his brother-in-law al jones is in the department and his son john is a firefighter-paramedic. mark retired after 30 year of service and about 12 years ago, but had a very sudden diagnosis of cancer just a few months ago, and passed away last week. and happened to be a very good, close personal friend of mine. so i was with him and his family when he passed away. so i would ask that you keep him in your prayers and the funeral will be next wednesday. thank you. >> thank you, chief. thank you very mucher. commissioners, at this time would you like to ask the chief some questions or should we move on to chief nicholson?

>> commissioner veronese. >> chief, an the autonomous vehicles -- >> i knew you would have questions. >> since temperature representative of the department attending the meetings and asking the same questions and how they respond to lights and sirens, whole bunch of questions we would have especially in this city with the bike lanes and all this other stuff, and pulling into bike lanes and issues that come up. but as a representative of the department, i ask that if you do see some major issues, that you don't think are being addressed, that you would bring them up with the commission so that we can be your voice or be a second voice with those concerns. >> absolutely. thank you. >> commissioners? at this point we aer -- we are going to ask deputy chief -- excuse me.

public comment on the chief's report. please, chief. seeing that there is no public comment, we will ask the deputy chief nicholson. welcome, chief. >> greetings, commissioners, chief. deputy chief jeannie nicholson. deputy chief of administration, jeannie nicholson. this is my report for february 2018. by the way, happy spring. spring has sprung out there. pretty nice day. let's start with the illustrious division of training. as the chief stated, the 124th class is currently in, but going back a couple of classes the 121st class is undergoing the one year of testing so that they can pass the threshold into permanent h2s. that is happening this week. the 122nd class is understood

going the six-month testing and moving to the second houses as well. and the assistant deputy chief of training joe sotto is up and running and we had to replace him as well because he was the recruit captain. captain teresa kwan was on rescue two and engine 11 and we welcome her into the fold and really look forward to her contributions with the recruit academy. and as an aside, just so you know, she is no joke. she and her husband live in santa rosa and their house caught on fire during the whole firestorms, and they put it out. so they were out there with a chain saw and everything. and i digress. okay. back to division of training, the conex boxes that i spoke to you about last time and the shipping containers for live fire training are over there and

currently being fabricated. and we sent five of the training staff to attend the live fire training instructor class in menlo park. fire control 3b so that trains them to teach class a. live fire, which includes fire behavior, and you get all the heat, smoke, and flames and is much more realistic than just a regular burn room with propane. inservice suppression training for the month of february, close to 800 hours with 273 members in attendance. and we also had hazardous materials recertification. we trained 98 students, so that is a good pool for us to have within the department. incident support specialists, often known as operators, and people who assist our chief, they fill a critical role from balancing department in the morning to being the eyes and

years of i.c. at incidents. we are conducting training this week. we had 21 people in the first class. and we're hoping that finished today with a two-day class starting tomorrow. our safety officers, assistant deputy chief satto and assistant deputy chief cochran both went to three working fires including union street and early morning bart fire. our e.m.s. in service training, they are having their annual h3l1 one-year post academy testing, and that will make them eligible to be in our next, quote, bump up class or paramedic class. and in total for the month of february with online and in service training for e.m.s., 1,451 members partook in a total of 10,328 hours of training.

that is including our online and inservice. next on to our fabulous fire reserves. they gave us 202 volunteer hours in the month of february and they also responded to the fourth alarm. we always appreciate their assistance, and i believe there are several in our current academy from the fire reserves who have transitioned into our 124th class. neighborhood emergency response team, nert, continues to prepare citizens with 22 classes and events getting the public ready to take part in their own well being as well as that of their neighborhoods and the city as a whole. and in fact, our very own maureen conefry completed nert training last month and actually made it out alive. maybe not unscathed, but alive. onto the physician's office.

they conducted firefighter candidate physicals to get people into the 124th class so that was going on a lot during the month of february as well as probationary and permanent physical for other ranks and bump-up ranks from h30 up to h3 up to h40. i.s.b. investigative services bureau, all random and post accident tests were negative. 87 in total. and moving on to the assignment office and we have had 11 permanent promotions in field. battalion chief captains and lieutenants. and 28 acting promotions from incident sport specialist h10, h20, h30, and two h32s which i will also transition into our support services.

h32s are actually positions within fire prevention. they are captains of fire prevention, and they report to fire marshal decoseo. we made two acting h32s that will work closely with assistant deputy chief rivera in terms of projects with m.t.a. and with developers in the city. it's going to make the process of working with the developers and m.t.a. transparent and with regards to approval of traffic devices, street and sidewalk modifications, basically fire department access. and water supply kind of stuff. so that's really great that we have those two guys in place right now. captain michael patton and captain chad law are the two new captains. moving on to the ambulance

deployment facility, the artist selection process is underway again. and it is going really well. i met with some members of the community as well as d.p.w. as well as the arts commission, we worked collaboratively one afternoon and selected five artists to bid on the work at the new ambulance deployment facility. they are all local artists. we are really happy about that. and we're really happy with the art commission for really hearing us and what we had to say. and we're going to take those artists on a walk through of the space sometime in april where the art work is to be and explain more about what we are looking for. and at some point, i think june or july they will present what they have come up with for us and then we'll select from that. station 16 still on track for september 2018. station 5 still on track for december 2018 completion. in regards to pump station one.

if we needed it tonight, it works. there are a few finishing touches on the list and if we were to need it right now, it would be a go. both of our springer ambulances, the vision zero, are on the street undergoing evaluations by a different crew and the same timeline for the truck in november. and the engines are in process with o.c.a. and finally, i think, is it finally. yeah. homeland security, last but not least, michael cochran is now our t.l.o. that is terrorism liaison officer. and he got that through northern california regional intelligence center. and so part of that involves

getting intel from them and giving them any intel. and so for instance, today, there was an incident you may all have heard about the van that struck five pedestrians on 24th and illinois. of course we think what is that about? so he was able to that it was not an entries incident. this is a valuable tool learning whether something right off the bat is terrorism related or not. and also chief cochran, with the chief zanoff facilitated the st. patrick's day parade event action plan, so strong work on that to both of you. and chief cochran has been involved with multiple agencies on table tops by a watch drill,

high-rise fire operations drill with the office of resiliency. f.b.i. multi-agency isotope tabletop and hazmat drills and all sorts of things. he is continuing the collaboration with multiple agencies for a multitude of scenarios that could play out. and then also under chief crock -- under chief cochran, our canine unit deployed for a simulation of mass destruction attack of the of menlo park. we had three dogs with three handlers, and they did really well. they had 17 live finds there. miller, martinez, and thomas the three guys with the dogs. and chief cochran is also working on the continuity of operations project that needs to be submitted to the mayor's office this july. basically it is how we are going to operate after a disaster not

just out in the field but administratively. how do we take care of those administrative function supports. and he is working on that. our stress unit and we have begun receiving signups for the peer support training class. and that concludes my report. >> thank you very much, chief nicholson. we will ask for public comment first before questions or comments from commissioners. is there any public comment on the report by deputy chief nicholson from the administration? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioner covington. >> thank you, mr. vice president. welcome, chief nicholson. >> thank you. >> yes. i wanted to know a little bit more about the artist and the art work that's being proposed. is this going to be public or

art work and art within the facility itself? and it is going to be art work on both of the fences that lead into the a.d.f. so on gerald street on one side and mckinnon on the other side. i can forward you the information on the artists if you are interested. and knowing who they are. we are doing a walk through next month. >> yes, i did hear you say that. and this is not for the interior of the building. just for public art. >> correct. it will be facing the street. >> great. and what is the involvement of the arts commission? did they or did the department have a grant for this work? >> an i believe is it 2% of every new construction, city building, in the city is awarded

-- is given to art or earmarked for art. and so they -- the arts commission basically asks for submissions from artists who are interested and then we go through the selection process with them. they facilitate that for us and give their input and expertise. >> so it was the committee of the art commission that decided who the finalists were. >> so some was the art commission. the fire department was also given two votes on this panel. >> two out of? >> two out of -- two for the arts commission, two for the fire department, and one for a citizen. >> two out of five. >> yeah. >> and we went through however many there were and came to a

consensus. we're pretty happy with it. everyone was happy with it. >> an it sounds very exciting. that is going to be such a large facility, so to have these massive blank walls painted and given some sort of beam, i think it will really be fantastic to look at and really help with the residents of the community to welcome us. to that facility. >> this is going to be art work on both of the gates. >> very nice. let's see. i had another question. the two in arson, are those entirely new positions or have other captains moved on? >> so these are two new position s and in terms of -- do you want to take this in terms of --

>> absolutely. so they're not arson captain. they are captains assigned to the bureau of fire prevention, but the sustained fire marshal and the artists and deputy chief and support services. they are newly created positions. so no one vacated the position. we are delighted to say we have worked with m.t.a. and the office of -- >> and the developers. >> -- to obtain funding. this is not coming out of our budget. there is a new opportunity and the selection process and that was conducted a week or so ago with the fire marshal and a few others on the interview panel and two other selections were made. and working as fire prevention lieutenants and the bureau of fire prevention overseeing inspections. >> are these temporary positions

or do you see developers continuing to support the two new staff positions. >> the funding will be indefinite and something we would need to lobby for. and continue for some time. and the whole goal is to have one person focused on m.t.a. issues and development issues. and i should mention both of the selections have substantial operational experience as well. and they come from the field as well, so you need both in order to be successful. so i think the funding that we have received will be money well spent because i think that the end product is you will have one person fully focused on the projects that are coming much more frequently. so at least until that pace slows down, i see that these would be funded into multiple

years. and with the m.t.a. position, it is similar. we have a lot of the streets are changing. there is bike lanes, and devices and something that we proposed and did a good job justifying it and to fund the positions. >> captain michael patton will have one -- >> correct. >> and patton. >> right. and captain law will also have just a very specific portfolio, correct? >> correct. and if the question comes up, if one of them was out for a period of time, the goal because some of these meetings m.t.a. issues come up with development, so the goal would be they might be able to on occasion attend a meeting for the other person, but they

will have specific job scopes. >> okay. >> and they are just getting understoodway. >> a thank you for -- they are just getting underway. >> thank you for that. the t.l.o., chief nicholson, the terrorist liaison officer, and chief cochran seems to have hit the ground running. there is a lot to do these days in regards to, you know, that focus for the department. and you may or may not know the answer to this. are we getting any particular fun funds, for want of a better word, targeted at beefing up that particular unit? >> i believe his position is grant funded and we also have a lieutenant within the organizati

organization, and i believe that is also grant funded. and other than that, no. >> those are federal grants? >> correct. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, commissioner. >> commissioner covington, have you concludeed? >> yes, i have. thank you. >> thank you very much, commissioner. commissioner hardeman. >> thank you, vice president nakajo. chief nicholson, glad to hear of all the promotions and including the acting and so congratulations to all those folks, to you and the chief and to everyone that -- i am sure these people get the opportunity to get promoted. you mentioned the three dogs. we have four recently. >> we have four and one retired. >> retired.

>> okay. >> so we have three now? >> yes. and we're going to -- is there any conversation about moving that number up again? >> there is. chief cochran has been working with them. >> good. i was just curious if that was going to happen. it seems to be a good thing to have -- >> absolutely. >> -- available. very good. the art at station 49, you were talking about the location. it is going to be at the entrance. could you explain how that goes? >> there will be two gates going into the facility. one on the mckinnon street side and one on the gerald street side. the artist wills fabricate something that could be out of metal to go on these gates and

fences. >> so that decision has been made to do them on the gates? >> yes. >> i like commissioner covington would like to keep abreast of how this is going. i think it is great. it should be a significant amount of dollars available for this because of the amount that is authorized, so it should be quite a nice project. i hope your team keeps doing a good job. >> we're happy to keep you informed on it. >> thank you. and i think that's it. thank you. >> thank you, commissioner. >> thank you very much, commissioner hardeman. commissioner veronese. >> one more question on the art, chief. who is it that decides what piece, what the art looks like or whether or not it will be accepted or whether or not there's offensive material, for example, in the art, or -- who has that authority? does the commissioner have that authority? to decide if we actually want

this piece of art that is made to put on one of our buildings? or is somebody else making that decision? >> it's a collaborative decision between us and the arts commission. >> but the end of the day, off minority vote on that decision, is that what i am hearing? >> yes. just doing the numbers. two of five. >> let me jump in. >> that was two of five to select the artist. >> that is what i thought. >> a usually before the final project is decided upon, it comes back to the fire department. so correct me if i am wrong, the panel you were discussing was to select and narrow done the -- narrow down the number of folks that would be smithing their materials. the final project will come to the fire department. >> a when you say the fire department, it will come to you, not the commission? you will make the decision to whether or not -- i want to make

sure there is somebody at the fire department saying, this is okay, and this is not, or this is not okay. before it goes on one of our buildings. >> a correct. >> u an i see you smiling a little bit, chief. >> in the past we have had to make some changes or decisions that didn't necessarily line up with the arts commission. yes, it is final decision is ours. >> okay. >> and is the administration's. and in the future, we would be happy to share with the commission. but usually we get -- it's not just -- ultimately it is my decision, but we usually see the input from the members that are going to be working there, and we try and make -- build consensus around it. >> is there going to be some subject matter relevance to this art? is it going to have something to do with the fire department? or could it be -- >> that is what we would like and most of the input that we have been giving to date. we did have some renderings brought to us that none of us

really -- didn't resonate with us for that very reason. so it will be fire department related. city related. >> okay. >> all right. i just don't want a hearing later on about some controversial piece of art. as long as there's somebody in the department with their eyes on this thing because art, i mean, a lot of first amendment in art, and i would hate to have this become an issue in the future. thank you, chief. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, commissioner. commissioner hardeman, did you have another comment? >> thank you, mr. president. real quick. we don't have a real big agenda, so i thought i would bring up a curiosity thing. and i was on the fort commission, we -- when i was on the port commission, we voted with cupid's bow is now. and the embarcadero, and the art commission and the port had approved a giant foot. it was just going to be a foot. about 50 feet tall that was

going to go there. and all been approved. and then people started complaining. what is a foot doing? the foot represent ed the embarcadero and embarcadero is spanish and taking a journey. and that turned into such a big battle royale that the foot disappeared. there was no foot. but now you see cupid's bow and that was just as controversial, but that was paid for not by the city but by the developer across the street who was trying to get rights to put in the building and the restaurants that are there now. and they were able to do it. but sometimes these innocent art projects can get out of control. but i think the gate should be pretty good. i just bring that up as curiosity. thank you. >> thank you very much, commissioner hardeman. chief nicholson, my comment on the art piece is that, as you said, the funding from the art piece comes from the new

construction fee that goes to the art commission, this was, did you say 2%? >> yes. >> and the funding comes from the development of and is a great example of collaboration if we can get it in terms of making everybody happy to the art commission and to our department as well. that is what the oversight is and i am glad we are in there as commissioner veronese was talking about as well. i want to make sure that that sense of cooperation between the department and our department, arts department, sometimes can be touchy, if you will. so that, again, if we can work in the collaborative manner and ask communication back, that would be wonderful for the commission. thank you, chief nicholson for your report. >> thank you. >> thank you, chief joanne hayes-white for your report. i am going to move the agenda, madam secretary. >> item five, discussion on how firefighters assess the plan of

attack on a working fire. deputy chief of operations mark gonzales to explain how firefighters assess the plan of attack on a working fire. >> good evening, vice president nakajo, commissioners, chief. i was trying to figure out how to work on my opinion in the art work on the subject, but i don't think i can. so i'll go ahead. so it is a very comprehensive subject how firefighters and commanders assess the plan of attack on a working fire. structure fires are very dynamic incidents that require in most cases a complex decision matrix within one's head. fire ground decisions are made based on experience, training, resources available, building construction type, occupancy type, smoke conditions, fire conditions, building access, street access for apparatus, sides of the structure, roof type exposure, weather, time of day, topography -- as you know,

we have hills. dispatch information you receive over the radio. on scene occupants give you info. often times that is vital information. our building under construction or renovation as we experienced on union street. and also the favorite subject, obstacles such as overhead wires, muni wires, it all comes into account. i will cite a lot of pointers that were in the risk management mn yule done by -- -- manual very well done by battalion chief hale from 2012. and the rules of engagement for firefighter survival and the incident commander's rules of engagement and put some pointers added to it. and i will put the best effort forward to answer any of your questions. so first of all t rules of engagement for firefighter survival, size up the tactical area of operation. determine the occupant survival profile. if you are going to make that

risk and go into rescue mode. do not risk your life for lives or property that cannot be saved. extend limited risk to protect saveable property. extend vigilant and measured risk to rescue saveable lives. that is be aware of changing conditions. take deliberate steps such as staying in place. this is very important. going together, stay together, come out together. maintain continuous awareness of your air supply situation, location, and fire conditions. constantly monitor fire on the ground communications for critical radio reports and updates. you are required to report unsafe practices or conditions that can harm you, stop, evaluate, and decide. and you are required to abandon your position and retreat before deteriorating conditions can harm you. and the battalion chiefs and the members in the companies at that fire on union street the other night did a great job of doing that. they got off the roof and out of the building when they should have. and declare a mayday as soon as

you think you are in danger. a mayday is one of us are in danger or is down or can't get out. and that operations cease and the i.c. will activate the rapid intervention crew and try to address the situation of any companies in the area. and they will make decisions based on what type of attack they will be doing from that point forward, but their primary priority during that time of a mayday is to save those firefighters that are in danger. on to the incident commander's rules of engagement for firefighter safety. rapidly conduct or obtain a 360 degree size up of the incident. and most of our fires we do not have this luxury to do a 360 due to tight property lines. the i.c.'s generally get ready reports from roof units or units inside that have made it to the rear of the building to get the report for the back and side of the fire building. fire, smoke conditions inside, back of building sides, sides of building, exposure problems, etc. determine the occupant sur viefl

-- survival profile. and conduct the initial risk assessment and implement the safe plan. if you don't have the resources to protect firefighters, seriously consider defensive strategy. i am a huge advocate of call more resources if you need them. if nobody behind you, pull the hook and the next level of alarm. rater have the resources there and not need them than need the resources and not have them. do not risk firefighter lives for or property that cannot be saved for life or property that cannot be saved. seriously consider a defensive strategy. extend limited risk to protect favorable property. we do that often because we're trying to contain the fire to the building of origin, as you know, and with the property lines a lot of fires are in buildings that are type five and spread to other buildings. we do aggressive interior attacks as one of the, i would say, normal plans of attack. normal operating procedure. and extended vigilant and measured risk and rescue saveable lives.

act upon harming firefighters, stop, evaluate, and decide. the safety firefighters do that when they roam the fire ground looking for things unsafe. and maintain treekt two-way communications and this is vitally important and frequently communications are essential on the fire ground. and helps to drop the ground for everybody on the ground. this doesn't mean unses chatter and clear, concise messaging and if conditions are deteriorating on the outside, it is incumbent to notify communities inside. so they know what is going on. the same goes for units inside. if conditions are deteriorating, it is incumbent upon the group leader, division leader, or any officer to notify the i.c. up front. the communications are some of the most important on the friar ground and acknowledgment of the messages is required and also vitally important. often if you send a message and it doesn't get acknowledged, it

doesn't get heard. so acknowledgment is very important. and repeating the message back to the original transmitter of the message is the best way to acknowledge a message. so the struck five, we have heavy fire in the back of the building, then the i.c. report copy, truck five, heavy fire in the back of the building. to acknowledge and both people hear it and other people around the fire are more likely to hear it as well. then, clear, concise messaging and location, conditions, actions, needs. that is a good way to communicate. the operators use the ipads aened the division operators do that and do a good job with the incident commanders. after completion of the primary search, little or no progress has been achieved, seriously consider a defensive strategy. always have a rapid intervention

that is an engine company with rescue tools and an extra bottle in case they have to intervene and help the firefighters down inside the building. and always have firefighter rehab services in place at all working fires. and i'm available for any questions. >> okay. thank you very much, chief gonzales. at this time, we'll ask for public comment on this before we have the questions from the commissioners or comments. is there any public comment on this presentation? >> i would yield. >> seeing none, public comment is closed. xhe commissioner veronese. >> thanks, chief, for your presentation. i imagine that there's a lot that goes into fighting fires and a lot of these decisions are made on the ground when you've got your feet in the water around facing the fire. i believe this item probably appeared on this agenda because

of the fire that occurred on union street on the 17th i believe it was, st. patrick's day. i actually, as you know, i was there that night. i responded to observe our members at the fire. and i was pleasantly surprised to say the least that the attack of that fire was, as i have mentioned before, a well orchestrated opera. it was done well and i wanted to commend you and the chief and as well as all the members of the command staff that were there as well as the members of the department that went face to face with that fire as well as the reserves who were there in the yellow jackets. i thought that was really neat that they were there helping out. i also wanted to commend members of the other city agencies and the police department was on

scene. captain yin was on scene and they helped clear some of the neighboring buildings. as well as some of the ore city agencies that were there to help out. and the mayor's office of housing and to make sure that the members of the public displaced were taken care of as well as the other victim services that were there. and great job to you and the department. it is the reason why this commissioner will be voting on a measure, i believe, is the next item on this agenda that i will discuss at that time, but quick questions to you. we are at the fire. we had responded to that fire. if you know the details, let me know, and just go ahead. but i believe we are on scene within two minutes, is that correct? >> one. >> i believe so. >> just under two minutes. >> between one and two minutes. pretty outstanding. and we had water on that fire within six minutes? >> that is what was reported, yes. and they eventually had four lines on two in the second and two on the third floor working.

they had -- they were faced with tremendous obstacles. there were bare studs, bare joists, a lot of the apartments did not have doors. there were holes in the floor, heavy fire load. they did as much as they could the primary search on the second and third floor. heavy heat conditions, very low visibility on the third floor. units were surrounded by fire at one point. fires underneath them and behind them and they did a fantastic job at that fire. as i said, we do an i a greszive interior attack -- an aggressive interior attack and much of a search as we can, but the front load was too heavy before we got there. >> i know there was another city department -- >> t.h.c. was there as well to help with the water supply. >> a different city had a fire recently where they pulled out too late and they lost a member, as i recall. this is within the last two or three weeks, is that right? >> i think new york -- >> rierght.

>> lost a firefighter. they called what you are calling -- >> a mayday. >> and those members pulled out and one of them was lost in that pull out. so big hats off to you and the members of the department who made that call. i noticed that on scene there was we were a difficult fire to fight and to fight it in the collapsed zone which is the zone if the building were to fall forward and you would be within that and no option there because of the topography and the geography of the area, is that correct? >> you can always move the rigs out of the collapse zone. it was, i would say, watched. and look for buckling and any time you have type three and reinforced masonry, it is a concern. >> i also notice that i believe there were about six trucks that deployed their ladders. >> i wasn't sure how many ladder pipes and a couple of deck guns. deck guns is with the large nozzle stays on the engine and some they took it from the

ground and 2 1/2 inch,hand held lines, from the ground. i saw five ladder pipes as well. >> between the neighborhood power lines, which there were three overhead lines t residential lines from the neighborhood power lines into the houses as well as the muni lines on at least two sides. >> correct. and stay 10 feet away from them. and while they were doing that, they are sitting in a foot of water which is the water being pumped out and thrown on this fire that is running under your feet, correct? i noticed it was a lot of water that night. >> there was a lot of water. >> right. >> job well done to you, chief. one last thing i wanted to mention that there was a drone on scene. it was not a department-owned drone because we don't have them yet, but -- >> an i didn't see it. the gentleman that was handed off to the new specialist and

the security chief. >> right. right, mike? you talked to him today? what was his name? >> i don't remember the exact name, sir, but i did speak to him, sir. >> i have seen that footage and he shared it with me. it is pretty incredible footage. i wouldn't recommend that anybody ever do this at a fire because in many instances it is illegal to do, especially when there are planes in the air. however, it just goes to show how important the drones and how great of a weapon they can be against the fires to have the eyes above the fire level. chief, i look forward to continuing to work with you on the drone issue. but just ending this up, congratulations to you, to the department, and to you chief for a successful fire. i know we had one firefighter who was armed the next morning from a fall. he is mentioned in the resolution that we will present. and he is not mentioned by name for purposes of protecting his privacy. i just wanted to mention that.

hats off to you all. >> thanks, commissioner. >> thank you very much, commissi commissioner. commissioner covington. >> thank you, mr. vice president, and thank you, fellow commissioner veronese. i ask that this item be put on the agenda because now that we are televised, i think we need to take advantage of every opportunity available to educate the public, our fellow citizens, as to how the members of the department do their job. and that way there is less chance of confusion going forward. there was no confusion among the ranks of firefighters and the leaders of the department during the most recent four-alarm fire. everything went as it should have gone.

there was no loss of life. everyone was able to return home for those people who were not displaced on that evening. i think it is really incumbent upon all of us to understand that there is a very classic system of how to fight a fire. it is not something that people develop on the fire ground. this is drilled over and over again. people know what they're doing. they know what their roles are. they know who their fellow fire combatants are. it is for those reasons and others, it is a noble profession being a firefighter.

as commissioner, i'll just speak for myself, i do want us to whenever possible, talk about how members of the department go about doing their work. and i just do have a few questions for you. >> yes, ma'am. >> chief gonzales, how do you measure the force of water coming out of the hoses? >> p.s.i. >> yes. what is the -- >> feel like i am back at the tower. but go ahead. >> i just want you to kind of explain to us how forceful that water is and how important it is to get it out before you -- >> go ahead. >> an i think i know where you

are going with this. we have large streams, hose stream, small hose streams, small line, big lines, and deck guns, and when we dpo in, we're -- when we go in, we are generally hitting with 1 3/4. and very rarely 2 1/2 is a handheld offense i have attack. when we hit from the outside with larger appliances, that is considered defensive. it is very, very rare we would ever do a combination attack. the main concern at the fire building that night was to make sure that the department was complete and that everybody was out there before we started putting lines into that building. if there are large home streams, it can push the fire into the tenable area where the rest of the personnel may be, so there might have been an impression that at that fire that there was no water on the fire, but there

was water being put on the fire inside the building on the second and third floor with four hose lines. they weren't making headway. therefore, they had to get out, but they had to make sure that everybody was accountable outside of that fire before we started putting big lines into that building from the outside. >> so the four hose lines were not visible from the exterior of the building. >> where most of the people were, they were in the square across the street on columbus, the four hose lines went into the residential entrance on powell street. >> good. and you made reference to a heavy fire load. could you talk a little bit more about that please? >> it is just more fire -- the amount of water that you have is going to put out. it's not going -- you don't have enough water. not going to put it out. the fire is taking over. not enough steam is being produced. you are not going to put it out with what you had inside.

and headway meaning it had a head start before the members got in with hose lines in place, so the fire was entrenched in the building. it had already made itself known. we weren't going to stop it, not from the interior from where they were and not with all the hazards that i mentioned. >> and this is with everyone arriving on scene in under two minutes. >> correct. >> it was already pretty fully -- >> it was exposed joists, exposed studs. no wall coverings on anything, so it was all exposed woods and open door. that door would stop a fire right there from penetrating that open. that open door would not, so the fire would go uncontrolled through the door. >> so had a lot of room to expand -- >> correct. >> and did so quickly. i would like you to tell how many members were there on the

fire ground and how many pieces of apparatus. >> i believe 130. let's see. >> about 40 apparatus. >> 38 to 40 units. >> i'm sorry, again? >> 38 to 40 units. >> i commend everyone and i wanted to thank the chief of the department with sirens from across town while visiting her dying friend. and i think and i want to thank you, too, chief, because i did see you being extremely live. and i think everyone did what they were supposed to do, did it by the book as a result of it. >> the last thing is the most important thing. >> and it is.