helping san francisco stay safe. april 28, 2018, and the time is 9:00. item one, roll call. [roll call [roll call]. >> clerk: item two. members of the public may address the commission on any matter. speakers shall address their 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 a response by

commissioners or department personnel does not necessarily constitute agreement with or support of statements made during public comment. >> president cleaveland: is there any public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> clerk: item three. approval of the minutes. discussion and possible action to approve the meeting minutes of march 28, 2018. >> president cleaveland: any public comment on the minutes? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners, what's your pleasure? >> so moved, mr. chair. >> president cleaveland: do i have a second? >> second. >> president cleaveland: second commissioner veronese. all in favor of adopting the minutes say aye. [ayes]. >> clerk: item four. chief of department's report. report from chief of department joanne hayes-white on current issues, activities and events within the department since the

fire commission meeting on march 28, 2018, including budget, academies, communications and outreach to other government agencies and report from chief of operations, mark gonzales on overall field operations including greater alarm fires, emergency medical services, bureau of fire prevention and investigations. >> good morning. we will have a budget committee meeting this coming monday, 10:00 a.m. to recap the process thus far, as well as review priorities to date. and also on april 26th, we are preparing for a presentation before the budget and finance committee awaiting more details. but supervisor cohen has formated the process a little differently than the past. they have four main priorities that they're looking at at.

one is public safety and the 2 clean streets, third homelessness and affordable housing and the fourth is a catch-all for other policies. so, we will be presenting with other public safety departments on april 26th. regarding training, the 124th class is in their third week. we have a total of 54 members because this week, 12 members from station 49 comprised of eight paramedics and four emts joined. off to a good start. thank you for the division of training for the work they do. regarding we will have another class later this year in the fall, our 125th class. we have not begun selection for that class at this time. it is anticipated that either in may or june time frame we will ask that the national testing

network list be updated to capture those that have taken or retaken the test. and we will begin background selection process in a few months for the fall class. regarding activities since the last meeting, as you know you approved travel for me for two days to colorado where i participated in a panel for women's history month for that city. thank you. it was rewarding and satisfying to go to another place, hear different stories. i spoke on a panel with three other females that sort of were older than i was, trailblazers in their career. commissioner pilot, first four-star general in the military and the first female police officer in denver, colorado, who ended up being a u.s. marshal in the clinton

administration. she got her job in 1969 in denver as first female police officer and had some very interesting stories to share. so, thank you for approval of that trip. on april 3rd, i attended the board of supervisors where president breed submitted a resolution similar to the resolution brought forward at the last commission meeting acknowledging our members for their response and well coordinated efforts at the fire on march 17th. that resolution was co-sponsored by supervisor aaron peskin. on the fourth of april, many of us attended the funeral for retired battalion chief, who's son is also a member of the department. so, there were several members in uniform and a number of retired members at that funeral. on april 5th, i participate in a cal metro chief's conference

call to talk about what is happening in the state and similar issues and challenges that we have. it was all walk to work day. i didn't walk to work, but i participated on the steps. i walked a few blocks to the press conference and the theme that day was making sure regardless of your mode of transportation, but specifically for pedestrians that day, pedestrian safety and our renewed commitment to goals. on the ninth of april this week, chief bill scott and i have done this for past several years, delivered meals to a meals on wheels participant. she was an elderly female on about 24th and irving. it is always nice to go in and they have the meal. we partner with meals on wheels and they do great work as well. so, chief scott and i have done it two years now and i have done

it before that with previous chiefs. that was rewarding. also emergency dispatchers week this week. the deputies and i and chief cochran went up to the department of emergency management, specifically the second floor where the dispatches are done and thanked all the dispatchers, the civilians and we have our own staff up there as well. we wanted to acknowledge the great work, sort of the hub where it begins. and we need the department of emergency management to function at a high level because it is their work that creates the work that we do. and so, it complements each other well and we wanted to acknowledge them for that. yesterday i presented epicenter which was a combined effort. it is the second year i think they have they would the department of emergency management and the salvation army. a couple of hundred people

registered for that program. basically talked about the initial response and recovery from a large scale disaster including an earthquake. i was on the diversity panel workshop. we had a number of members attend. a couple of upcoming events on the 18th of this month, it is the 112th anniversary of the earthquake of 1906. so, many of us will be gathered at the fountain early that morning to commemorate. i believe i will be's courting mayor lee's widow, ms. l-- mrs. lee to that event. there's a fire department prevention district safety fair. i believe you have the information on that. that's on the 18th in lot a in conjunction with the mobile

command center rally where there will be a lot of different apparatus, not just from the san francisco fire department but to display the resources they would put together in the event of a large scale emergency. so, the 18th will be a busy day but an educational day as well. we always take the opportunity on the 18th to talk about the importance of having a preparedness plan and we have usually a high level of attention that day. it is good to get the word out about that. also in april, we typically have our nert drill. it begins at 9:00 a.m. james lick middle school in noe valley. usually we get 200 or 300 volunteers. and that's under the direction of captain erica. and then on the 22nd, we will be participating as we do every year in the cherry blossom

parade and you are all invited to attend if you so desire. that concludes my report. >> president cleaveland: is there any public comment on the chief's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners, any questions? commissioners verone -- commiss veronese. veronese thank you, commissioner, mr. president. chief, when you meet with the mayor's office on the budget issue having mentioned that public safety and homelessness will be priorities in this particular budget, i would hope that you would share the statistics that the department's been gathering over the last four or five months on homeless related calls that this department has responded to. i know the statistics aren't perfect. you could put an aster risk next

to it but they are close. and having looked at those statistics, i can tell you that i was surprised that the amount of calls and perhaps i shouldn't have been surprised at the amount of calls that the department responds to that are homeless related. and i think those statistics, particularly in the context of a budget discussion, there's been a lot of talk about, you know, the budget and homelessness and how much we spend on homelessness and those statistics in particular i think shed some light on how much of our budget is allocated towards that particular issue. and i think that if you bring those statistics up and show them to the mayor's office and to supervisor cohen, that i'm hoping that other departments will also start to gather those same statistics, the same metrics so that the leadership of this city can actually get a better idea of how much exactly we're spending on this

particular issue. so, i'm hoping that that at least becomes a part of that conversation with supervisor cohen so that they can make educated decisioned based on good information as opposed to -- decisions based on good information as opposed to -- because i think there could be good conversation. >> president cleaveland: thank you commissioner veronese. any other commissioners have any comments? questions for the chief? okay. chief gonzales, welcome. >> good morning, president, commissioners, chief. deputy chief mark gonzales. my operations report march 1st to march 31st, 2018, during this period we had greater alarms. first was second alarm.

there was heavy fire in this building surrounded by a fence. it was boarded up. it went defensive. they used multi-burst from the engine. two and a half inch lines. they hit from down below, break the ceiling of the building to try to get into the attic and put it out from the outside. they did a good job. alarm on st. patrick's day 59th and union. the chief was the incident commander. this was a challenging fire in that we spoke about it last commission meeting where there were many open channels throughout the building. the joist weren't covered or the studs. the doors were off the individual units. a lot of smoke presented when units got on scene. they made entrance on the side. they had two floors. they were attacking the second and third floor.

we actually had four lines deployed but they were surrounded by fire. they had to back out. eventually the fire took over the building. we went defensive. unit did a good job getting out of there and saving the building and keeping it do that building. the cause of the fire is still under investigation. there was a second alarm. our units did a great job at this one. they saved a woman off a balcony. 5091 jackson, unit 15. crews arrived on scene. nothing showing. they noted a woman trapped on the a balcony on the fourth floor on the polk street side of her building. urged her to keep the door closed and remain on the balcony. he notified that there was a woman that needed rescue.

while crews were advancing to lead off the pipe, crews located the apartment. they went in this apartment. i spoke to you about risk last meeting. they took extended risk. they went in this apartment without a hose line to make sure the woman was okay. they got to the balcony. once they got there, the fire had spread to the point they could not get back out. they kept the woman comforted while they got the aerial up to rescue the woman. eventually the other crews got the hose line into the fire unit and put it out. so, units did a great job, especially those three members. on some other notable incidents, on march 2nd, station 12 had a knock at the door in the early morning hours. it was their neighbor and she was in labor. they delivered the healthy baby boy to the world. the family is remaining private, but they have stopped by to thank the firefighters.

a female and one canine rescue without injury or incident. why do we have to call them canines and people get offended by calling them dogs. so, i will refer to them as canines. march 6th, they distinguished a debris fire. our fire boat three has the ability to reach farther, the hose stream. i saw this when fire boat three came in under the golden gate bridge. we had both streams going. you could see how much higher it would reach. that stream actually reaches 300 feet whereas the old one maybe 200, 220. it was impressive and was able to put the fire out. on march 7, 2018, first alarm,

38726 street was distinguished. on march 20th, a red alert. ems vehicle collision on golf and bush streets requiring multiple jaws of life rescues. the incident is still under investigation by sfpd. some of our members were also part of that extra -- extracation. you dos to sf fire department for knocking the fire down. good morning america aired a piece on our new engines. as you know, we are streamlining our engines as much as we can to get around the city efficiently.

less accidents. our outreach mentioned a few of the things we're doing. i would like to remind the public to sign up for emergency notifications by texts alert sf to 888-777. and also would like to remind the public we joined the national fire service come pain called close your door before you dose. close your bedroom door. if there's a fire outside the door, it will save you. so, close your door before you go to sleep. other messages we are putting out, bicycle messages and pedestrian safety messages, all going out on social media. we're doing a good job on the outreach. on ems, st. patrick's day i want

to thank two for developing the event action plan for the parade. we had two mini pumpers deployed along the parade route. there were no major incidents and the fleet an apparatus, both units were in service. anxiously awaiting what modification recommendations members will make to see if it's possible if we're going to go along that line to getting more of those types of ambulances. hp level one emt, we had a graduation. 36 members graduated. also attached to my ems report is my ems six. and commissioner veronese, we added the identifiable home address page on the back. those numbers still need to be i would say -- i would say they are rough numbers. sometimes if they do have an address, it doesn't mean they

are homeless. it could be because the ambulance crew didn't put it down, the address or the person was unconscious and we couldn't get it. we are going to try to streamline these and make them more accurate. but these are rough numbers. headquarters update on the admin permits done by captain russell, which is attached. the bureau fire prevention held education in the month of march. they are doing a great job with outreach and training the public as well as getting violations corrected in a timely fashion. task section updates also attached to my report. i don't know if you wanted my fire marshal to update you on the captains we just fired to take care of division zero. but that's part -- they are going to be taking care of the

task. that's their assignment. bureau fire investigation, they have as of march 2018, 66 open reports, which is going down very good. and commissioner covington, i would like to tell you the airport bike medics are a huge success. they are doing a good job. i was told there was a young man that fell down, cut his head. we had a bike medic on scene in 30 seconds. so, the director of the airport was happy about that customer service and the kid is going to be okay. that concludes my report and available for any questions. >> president cleaveland: thank you, chief gonzales. is there any public comment on the chief's report? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners, do you have any questions for chief gonzales? commissioner hardeman. >> commissioner hardeman: thank you, mr. chair. chief, nothing specific.

as usual, very good report. there was an article this morning. i don't know if you read the article. i'm hoping you did regarding the smoke inhalation of wildfires. >> i saw the article. i still need to read it. >> commissioner hardeman: it was very good that somebody -- >> it was conducive to heart trouble. >> commissioner hardeman: right. trying to show the relationship to variety of different heart problems. it doesn't seem like it was completed, but it's a start. it was a good report that showed that increased heart problems people had any significant exposure to the wildfires. and i thought that was very good that somebody has gone to that length. i don't know how much they shared that with the fire department and around the area.

but very good. a lot of focus was on the 2015 wildfires, lake county fires. so, it was very good. i recognize the paper for putting it in prominent position and good public service and defining firefighters particularly in that situation, not just the average person. but firefighters in particular that are exposed to smoke. >> they are definitely exposed. just from talking to the members when they came back even days after, they still have a raspy voice. there are filters they are working on. personally, i would wear what i could when going to those fires whether they are approved or tested, anything is better than nothing because they are exposed

for long periods of time to that smoke. >> commissioner hardeman: and particularly people that have a heart problem, the incidents of having something go wrong shoot up dramatically. okay. thanks for that, chief. the other one was i don't know if this would be you or chief nicholson on how is it going? it has been quite a while since i have been on the fire boat and i'm wondering how is the rotation going? they are always having two in service, no problem? do we have any in dry dock? >> i can get an update. do you have that? chief rivera. >> good morning, president cleaveland, fire commissioners, chief hayes-white. assistant deputy chief tony rivera. we currently have the st. francis is in service and the phoenix. the guardian is being -- is at dry dock being retrofitted at this time.

but it should come back in service shortly. we have the -- st. francis is docked or berthed at pier 22.5 which is the fire boat's current facility. the phoenix is at pier 26, which has been ret to fitted to have the -- retrofitted to have the guardian. we have two fire boats in service and we will hopefully get the guardian shortly. i believe the final step is just painting the exterior of the guardian, which they have been waiting for some clear weather to have the ability to have that paint treatment not be damaged by the weather. >> commissioner hardeman: good. that's great. always having two available or having three of them is really good. that was the goal. thanks, chief.

>> president cleaveland: thank you. >> thank you very much president cleaveland and chief gonzales for your comprehensive report. >> vie president nakajo: i wanted to make a couple of comments on page three in terms of the report for the second alarm. i appreciate the narrative. it sounds like not only was that a challenging fire, but also it was a challenging rescue. and i know chief postal was at that fire. but it also shows the coordination of a fire that has multiple responsibilities, which is put the fire out, but let me

back it up, primarily identifying and being able to save and rescue. i just think -- not trying to make it less important, but that's exactly what we do in this department. sums up in terms of the staff and the crew. at some point i will leave it to the discretion of the chiefs and your office in terps of what these firefighters have done another this particular rescue. and i know that acknowledging our men and women at incidents and scenes doesn't demean any other work any members do at any one time. i just wanted to mark that first. chief gonzales. >> it has been written up to the meritorious committee, a recommendation. >> vice president nakajo: on page nine out of the public information officer's report from lieutenant johnson baxter,

nine, ten, 11. i know the audience doesn't see that. but in terms of our packet, these photos of incidents or these photos of community out workstation -- outreach, these photos of training, they're very, very helpful. i wanted to acknowledge that as well in terms of this very large comprehensive report. the photos and what occurs within that is helpful. in terms of page 12 when it comes to -- and i know that assistant deputy chief, was there anything you wanted to remark chief gonzales on ambulance response times or any of that in terms of up to date with our general goal at this time? >> the response times look good.

i believe we are at 9.15 for first ambulance on scene, code three. transport units for als units, it was 6.198th percentile. still challenging for the 4.5 minute, which we have to make for the first unit on scene. but we're close, 5.22. but we have been talking about that to dr. brown and our quick response vehicles will be out there hopefully either this week or this weekend. that should help because i believe it is a very high volume of calls we have in the areas we plan on putting them. so, they will be available to take the call for engine one or three. when engine three is out at a different call and trouble one is out and rescue one is out, that qrv will pick up that run quickly. i think it is going to bring it

down a little more. especially if we could get two units out there. right now we are going to do one. >> vice president nakajo: chief, what is your page reference to your statistics so the commissioners and i can follow you? are you reading off this document? >> it is after the first tab. if you take the first tab, in the back of the actual page report. it is the second section. it is called the san francisco fire department monthly response to calls. >> vice president nakajo: thank you. in terms of fire prevention and investigation and i know fire marshal nacasio is here, there's two pages of 19, 20, 21, the former senior senate that i was director for was the beneficiary of that.

i feel education to the public is really key and the more that we can get out there just the better it is. the grass root neighborhoods and the parents are key and i believe that in education as well. i just really wanted to acknowledge these community outreach as well as i know that is part of our public education. the more we tell people how to act and what to do, the better it is. i wanted to acknowledge that as well. thank you all again for this very comprehensive report. chief gonzales, you have a tremendous responsibility and i have one question for chief hayes-white if i may, mr. president. >> president cleaveland: absolutely. >> vice president nakajo: what was the time for lotus fountain? what is that time? >> we usually get there about 4:45 and gets underway at just about 5:00 a.m. >> vice president nakajo: 4:45?

for folks at the fountain it is market and -- >> third, market and kearny. >> vice president nakajo: are you going through that particular celebration with the golden hydrant as well as the silver hydrant ceremony as well this year? >> i believe the golden hydrant is set for after lotus fountain at 20th and churn. silver hydrant i don't know that that's occurring on the 18th. >> vice president nakajo: okay. so, again, the general public is invited to join us at 4:45? >> yes. we usually have two or 300 people there. a lot of generations -->> vice president nakajo: right. we know you're a san franciscon when you are there. i think it is good for all to recollect those times. >> great tradition. >> vice president nakajo: and i will be there at 4:45 a.m. thank you very much for your

report. thank you chief gonzales. >> thank you, mr. vice president. commissioner veronese. >> commissioner alioto veronese: turning to the -- you knew i was going to do this, right? >> yes. [laughter] >> commissioner alioto veronese: so, the urn -- turning to page 14, it says san francisco fire department final homeless address. -- identifiable homeless address. i appreciate you including this in the report. if you could in the next report also include -- i don't think the picture that this doesn't paint is incident wide what across the department for the stations, what -- i know you have the statistics because i have seen them.

>> geographic cal information? >> commissioner alioto veronese: no, but station by station. because it will give us a sense of where our resources are being spent in this city. interestingly enough on the information that you did provide here and i'm thankful for it, for ems six it appears as though over the last three months you have 70%, 80%, 72% that don't have identifiable homes. am i reading that correctly? >> go ahead, andy. >> good morning commissioners. good morning, chief. those numbers are the encounters that ems six had with their clientele. >> commissioner alioto veronese: right. am i reading that correctly that ems six in those months where it says underneath it says no, that means no -- >> no identifiable home, correct. >> commissioner alioto veronese: okay.

what is interesting about that and why this information is so important is because i know -- i have ridden with ems six in april and the other gentleman who i rode with -- simon. wonderful man. i know that the orangeal mission because i have studied -- original mission because i have studied this is to address the frequent callers, right? and that's exactly what they're doing. the idea is to bring down just so the public knows -- the idea is to be able to relieve the 911 dispatch center of these frequent callers by addressing their issues before they pick up the phone and call us and take up those resources. so, we're allocating specific resources to those people. what these statistics tell me is that our actual clientele, 70% of our clientele -- and it is

important to know who your clientele is. what this information tells me is that our clients, 70-80% of the time are homeless or people who don't have identifiable homes. and why is that important? that's important because it was obvious to me when i road with ems six because with us half of the time was the san francisco hot team, the homeless outreach team. it is on those resources are being brought in to address that specific client. but it is important for this commission also to know that looking at those statistics, this is not necessarily -- or rather let me put it this way, the people who are frequent flyers are on the 911 dispatch center overwhelming are people who don't have homes. and that's what this tells me by looking at these statistics. so, it allows us as a commission and you as a chief and of course you as the chiefs to better service those people by

allocating the right types of resources. it also allows us, chief, you specifically, to go to the mayor to say hey, by the way, department of health and department of homelessness, our ems six unit is predominantly servicing people who don't have identifiable homes. it is not targeting them. we're just saying as a fire department we created a unit that specifically addresses this homeless problem. and that is important information for the leadership of this city to see. on the issue of the city wide or rather department wide, station wide statistics that were provided that i have seen and i have only seen the month of december. and i know you guys continuously work on these numbers and making them more accurate. but station 29 would be interesting for this commission to know. 73% of the calls that station 29

responded to were homeless calls. >> where is station 29? >> vermont and 16th. under the freeway. >> commissioner alioto veronese: and there are more than a half dozen stations that teeter around the 50% mark. the busiest station which understand in the station is station one. correct? >> yes. one or three. they are both very busy. >> commissioner alioto veronese: close to 50%, 45% of the calls at station one goes to are homeless related calls. station three as you mentioned in the month of december is 33%. so, why do i bring this up? again, i reiterate that if you look at this department wide, our department is addressing this issue and it is important for the leadership to know that a significant portion of our budget is being spent on

addressing this issue. i know we will work on the numbers and make them better. but i really do hope they become a part of the discussion as we ask for full-time employees in the future or we ask for additional resources on this particular issue and we look at the different programs that we currently have, including ems six and decide how it is that we can best service the clientele that we are servicing. thanks a lot. >> president cleaveland: thank you commissioner veronese. obviously, i think we need to expand the ems six program if those figures are correct. commissioner covington had a comment or a question. >> commissioner covington: yes. thank you, mr. president. just piggy-backing on what it is that commissioner veronese just pointed out. since we are currently in the budgetary process, the logical

question is, is this information being pointed out to members of the budget committee? so, i would like a response from mr. corso as well as chief hayes-white on that. >> sure. call volume, the types of calls that we respond to are regular conversations that we have with the mayor's budget office. specifically to the budget committee, we have not been presenting that. in this specific forms. when we went before them in march, we talked about our rising call volume. we didn't get into a lot of the details because we were asked specific questions so we stuck to the script. but it is certainly something we can incorporate more specifically and we will do so. i will try and definitely work it in on the april 26th meeting. but, the mayor's budget office

is aware of the increasing call volume and the specific numbers we respond to as it relates to the homeless population. as i mentioned before, i'm part of a policy group, healthy streets initiative. so, regularly at least once a month, sometimes twice a month, a meeting with the mayor's chief of staff, jason elliott, deputy chief of staff, kate howard and my colleagues from other departments such as the department of public health, the police department, department of homelessness, department of public works, we all meet together, department of emergency management to discuss sort of the common aspects related to responses to the homeless population. so, we are sharing data. could we do a better job of that to commissioner veronese's point? probably so. but every department is tracking that data. and i will defer -- i don't know if you have anything else to add. i think i got it. thanks. >> commissioner covington: well, the healthy streets initiative,

the kind of data that you're sharing with them should definitely include asterisk or highlighting this information more than we have been doing in the past. i think what commissioner veronese is trying to point out is that a lot of people do not know the extent of the activities that the department has related to the homeless population. and because they may not know it, it may not be a budgetary priority for them to give us the resources that are needed to continue to do the good work that's being done. so, to the extent that we can amplify the message around this particular issue i think it

would be good. >> agreed. >> commissioner covington: thank you. well, i did want to have mr. corso come to the podium. about something else. mr. corso, can you bring us up to date on what's going on internally regarding the budget and the budget committee? just how things are going. >> absolutely. good morning everyone, mark corso, finance and planning. our prove -- previous meeting was a few weeks ago. an overview and where we are so far as well as some of the financial implications long term over the next few years and challenges the city are facing. we got a brief update from them on that. i had a brief discussion internally about priorities and those kinds of -- what the

department should be advocating for. so, since that time, we have had one hearing as the chief mentioned at the board of supervisors in early march and that was kind of a general department specific overview of the department's budget. and then there's the hearing in april, policy related, policy section of public safety related. as we get more info on that, we will be providing that of course. but right now will be working with the supervisor's office to get a better idea. we have begun discussion with the mayor's office. they have been looking at all city departments -- reviewing all city department submissions they have received. they have been looking at everything holistically. they have been been an update to the city's joint report that showed a little bit of improvement as far as deficits. that's good news, but it is nothing that solves any of the major structural issues the city is facing. but that was at least some good news going forward. as i mentioned, we have been

working with the mayor's office and we will continue to do so over the next few weeks and over the next month or so leading up to their formal submission in june. looking more in depth about equipment, staffing, some of the issues obviously that you mentioned that are priorities regarding homelessness and we will continue those discussions and debriefing the commission as things come up. >> commissioner covington: thank you, mr. corso. i want to just point out and you said exactly what was written in your memo to everyone regarding the budget process and the focus. i'm just quoting. we have begun focus on some of the larger areas in our brugets, staffing, equipment -- budget, staffing, equipment, et cetera. so, before the et cetera, homelessness so those are the

three key things in any messaging. i think that's very important. >> absolutely. obviously it is not just department specific. the city is looking at solutions city wide and there's a lot of departments involved in that. just last year, we were allocated some additional funding to enhance the ems six program. obviously we will continue to advocate for the department and additional resources to help. >> commissioner covington: very good because we have a department of homelessness, but even though we don't have that title, that's a very large part of our portfolio. >> absolutely. >> commissioner covington: okay. thank you. >> president cleaveland: thank you commissioner covington. commissioner hardeman, you had additional comment? >> commissioner hardeman: yes. i'm glad you brought that up about the budget, commissioner covington. i really appreciate earlier this

week you had a very lengthy memo out to us describing what was going on in the budget. really helpful and it shortens the meeting because you have answered a lot of questions with very good -- very thoughtful of you to get that out. also helps everybody in the audience don't have to sit here and listen to our questions. so, what was my question? now i got thrown off. there was one other question that i had. i guess that was it. i was just going to bring -- oh. chief, this should be chief nicholson's duty with the training. but your general orders that you issue that most people don't see

as you run the department day-to-day are very interesting and one of them, you have the cert training update. i don't know how many people you're increasing that number. but i was more particularly interested in the number on the wild land training. i haven't received any complaints from any firefighters, which sometimes gets you thinking. but it would seem to me that with all these great number of wildfires that having an increased number of people taking these classes you anticipate increasing that group by 10%, 20%? is there an anticipation by you and your command staff on what that number should be because it seems sort of low when you get

into what we went through last season. >> i'll take the question and you can add if you want. so, it is voluntary to do so. it is a different type of fire fighting and it is an annual requirement to recertify. to certify and then recertify. i believe we have about 180 that have gone through training in the past. but again, it's a voluntary assignment because as you know, the deployment could be seven days, ten days, up to 14 days depending on how the request comes in and the rig that is sent. out of the 180, my information tells me that there's a core group of between 75-80 that typically deploy. there's family considerations. there's a lot of things that go into being availability to deploy. i though that some -- available to deploy.

we have great firefighters that have done work for cal fire. so, i anticipate that with some of the newer hires that we have done that we will see probably at least a 10% spike. there's a number of people i guess that have been hired that have had the wild land experience. again it is a voluntary opportunity. >> chief answered it more comprehensively than i could. but what i wanted to add was of that 180, there's a core that go all the time. they want to go all the time and there's a certain group of them that don't go that much. so, we're trying to increase the training of the new people coming up. but they have to have a certain number of years before they get deployed. but the goal of the wild land committee's chair and co-chair is to increase the core that want to go. >> commissioner hardeman: thank you. >> president cleaveland: thank you commissioner hardeman.

commissioner covington had a follow-up question? >> commissioner covington: yes. thank you, mr. president. the general order that was issued on march 26th regarding the training for wild land fire, i just have a quick question rega regarding -- it says members may view the manual online and it says additional copies are available for purchase. that is the california incident command certification requirements are attached. but there's a manual. does anyone know how much that manual costs? >> not off the top of my head. i could find out. >> commissioner covington: i only ask that because the single book for the one class that i

took in the introduction to fire science, if i recollect correctly, i think it was $125. >> i don't -- i'm not sure if that is that much. most of them are 15 or 20 bucks but i could be showing my age. i could research that and find out how much it is. >> commissioner covington: because i think if it is $100 or whatever, perhaps there's a way that we can offset the cost because it really makes a difference when you have the book available to you at all times in a format that permits you to make as many comments and notations in the book as possible. so, if the cost is a bit prohibitive, then perhaps there's some small stipends that we can give -- stipend that we can give. >> commissioner, we will get the

specific information. but under bullet six, it indicates it is our internal manual. so, i think deputy chief gonzales is on the money. it is not a book for purchase outside of the department. if it's on our manual, it's probably more -- >> commissioner covington: more inexpensive. >> we will find out for sure. >> commissioner covington: it says additional copies are available for purchase. >> correct. we sell manuals there. but often times we reproduce them ourselves. i'm not familiar with this one. we will find out. >> commissioner covington: thank you. i was thinking it was a statewide manual. thank you. >> good use for the covington benevolent fund. >> commissioner alioto veronese: i won't ask you how much you think a cable car ride is.

seven bucks now. given there's a core group of people that go to these wild land fires, i think you said 180 of them and given the more recent news that commissioner hardeman had pointed out, i hope and i'm sure this is happening, but i hope also those people, their health when it comes to cardiac and cancer and all that other stuff, there's special significance given on their health since they are typically going to those fires. >> i agree with you. special attention was given to the members that went to the recent north bay fires. they were doing urinalysis and those tests should be forthcoming. alan presented i think last meeting regarding that issue. but i agree. the more they go, the more we should be paying attention to it.

>> commissioner alioto veronese: if you could have the department's doctor to send a note specifically if that is -- if they are studying those particular people to make sure their health is good or given they have a higher incident to be exposed to wild land fires. if there isn't a problem we should be taking a look to maybe instituting some sort of program where people are tested regularly, voluntarily of course. but tested so we can determine whether or not these incidents of exposures are creating higher incidents ofs. thanks, chief. >> president cleaveland: thank you, commissioner veronese. chief, i had a couple of comments. i wanted to echo our vice president's commendation for the report. it is always a really good comprehensive report. appreciate it. i would like to echo vice

president's recognition of battalion chiefs and the firefighter for their efforts at the jackson street fire. that was worthy of commendation. i would like to commend lieutenant baxter for his excellent outreach program to the public. i agree with vice president nakajo it is important to edge kate the public how to not have fires. i think all of us on the commission appreciate the additional outreach being done by the department and in particular by lieutenant baxter. i wanted to ask you about the incident on march 20th, the red alert ems vehicle collision at goth and bush. five critical injuries that required multiple jaws of life rescues. the incident is under investigation by the police department. do we have any updates on that? >> we do not, but i can get that for you off line. >> president cleaveland: okay.

i know we had good morning america airing the new piece on our new engines, smaller fire engines that can make those corners that have been bulbed out for vision zero purposes. how many do we need as a department of these smaller, more nimble fire engines? >> i could let rivera answer that. but i know engine 28, engine 32, we require smaller rigs at those stations. >> president cleaveland: we have two currently, right? >> so, when chief rivera will have a comprehensive answer. i would say to your question it is kind of the future of the fire department is to have these rigs that have now demonstrated their ability to be used very well in san francisco. eventually as we order more engines, they will have the same profile with shorter wheel base, better turning radius and so forth.

and i know we have more on order. correct? >> that is correct. >> president cleaveland: i was wondering how many we needed? >> i think the answer how many we need is we would love to replace our fleet with these newer, more efficient engines. the other aspect to this is the health and safety. all these new engines since 2010 all have -- they are fully smog compliant. so, they are safer not only for our members but for the public also. we purchased eight of these fire engines. we have another six on order. and we're currently working with deputy corso and his team to look at purchasing more later next fiscal year. >> president cleaveland: and the good news they are much cheaper than the ones we were ordering, correct? >> i would say they are cheaper. i think when the bid originally went out, there was a lot of

vendors that competed for the bid. so, we did get a pretty good price on it. the other thing is it's a five-year contract. so, we will be able to purchase a lot from these -- from this contract if we get the funding for it. >> president cleaveland: thank you. >> yes, sir. >> president cleaveland: i would like to also echo commissioner veronese's concern about the fact that our fire department really is the first responders to so many of the homeless issues and homeless problems in the city. i noticed on the report here that one client had 231 responses from the fire department since january 1st of last year. 231 for one person. it is good he or she is in acute diversion care. but that goes to show you how many times we as a fire department respond to the same individual over and over again and how much of our budget is

spent on these frequent flyers and problems on the street. so, good work, chief. it is certainly a difficult job every day that you and your paramedics and emt's having in responding to the city's homeless crisis. i noticed on page 17 that we actually inspect cryogenic fluids? so we have some fluid being held in our city. so, it gets around. i thought that was pretty interesting. you want to add to that? >> were you holding that for yourself? [laughter] >> president cleaveland: i had a question for our fire marshal. the percentage of notice of violations, how many notice of violations actually get corrected or -- and what percentage have to be referred