>> clerk: this is a reminder to silence all electronic devices. fire commission regular meeting january 8, 2020, and the time is 9:00 a.m.

item 1, roll call. [roll call] >> clerk: item 2, general public comment. members of the public may address the commission for up to three minutes on any items in the commission's jurisdiction that does not appear on the agenda. speakers may address their remarks to the commission as a whole and not to individuals or commissioner. commissioners are not to engage in conversation with the speaker. >> president nakajo: thank you very much, madam secretary. at this time, if there's any member of the public that

wishes to give public comment, please approach the podium. seeing none, public comment is closed. madam secretary? >> clerk: approval of meeting minutes. approve of the minutes of the special meeting on december 20, 2019. >> president nakajo: thank you. madam secretary. public comment. is there any member of the public that wishes to give public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> commissioner hardeman: move to approve the minutes. >> commissioner cleaveland: second. >> president nakajo: all for the question. all in favor, say aye? opposed? >> clerk: and minutes from the

regular meeting on december 12, 2019, as well. >> president nakajo: seeing no public comment, i'll call for the question. >> commissioner cleaveland: so moved. >> commissioner covington: second. >> president nakajo: thank you. it's moved by commissioner cleaveland, seconded by commissioner covington. minutes are approved. >> clerk: budget for fiscal year 2021 and 2022. >> president nakajo: we'll take public comment after this. we welcome director corso. >> happy new year. i have a couple of presentations on the agenda today. the first one's just kind of an

overview of the instructions of the budget from the mayor's office. so budget instructions were released after last meeting, on december 16, so that's why they're being presented in this meeting. so i wanted to give you a brief process of the background, instructions for us, timelines, some information on some new budget legislation, and then open it up for any comments or discussion. so kind of overview of the analysis process, the department receives budget instructions from the mayor's office in december. the department submits its budget, not just our department, all departments submit their budgets to the mayor's office on december 21. budget hearings are in late

june-early july at the board of supervisors, and this is a continuation of the two-year budget process. most departments, that's a two-year rolling process, so every year, we look at the next two years out. last week, the mayor, board, and wicontroller's office released the financial plan, giving the city's financial status as well as a projection for the next few years which contains the instructions for our office. so kind of an overview, the city is projecting a triple-figure deficit over the next two years of over $400 million. the other stress from the mayor's office is that this deficit is higher than it has been at similar times in the past few years. so as you look at the table, the bar graph on the far right, you'll see that the $400

million exceeds previous deficits at the same time. what are some of the reasons for that? well, revenues overall. while they're still growing for the city, the rate of growth has slowed down, but expenditures keep growing and are anticipated to grow at a rate higher than that revenue growth, so that gives the offset of the deficit. most of the expenditure increases are due to personnel costs in the upcoming years. this assumes continued economic recovery for the city. it doesn't take into account some of the recession concerns that are kind of concerns in general, and this'll be updated in the next few months as new information comes, and the city completes its six and nine-month reports. the city is looking at projected deficits of $195

million and $224 million in the second year for $400 million combined with deficits increasing in subsequent years. so departments have been instructed to cut budgets by 3.5% in the next two years. for the department, that decrease is equivalent to $2.7 million, and the 7% over two years is equivalent to $5.4 million.

there's a continued focus from the mayor's office as in previous years of accountability, and also to push for equity, as well. i did want to highlight one minor change. there was legislation approved by the board and signed by the mayor last month regarding budget process, with the goal of more transparent process and allowing more public feedback in all phases, not just during the board phase but in the department phase, as well. so there was a recent ordinance that amended the legislation for the city. the two main pieces focused on communities having hearings during the budget process as well as an increased ha

transparency for the public. we are meeting these marks already, so i don't think there'll be much of a chase. the only change would be, even though all our documents are available publicly, it's to be more documents centered and offering that more readily to the public, and so i'll be working with the controller's office on providing that information. kind of an overview on overall timelines. today, we have capital budget, which is the next item before you. that's due a little bit ahead of time on the budget schedule. then on february 21, we have

budget submissions due to the mayor's office, and then june 1, budget submitted to the board, and eventually, budget hearings at the board of supervisors itself. as far as the commission timeline, today, budget instructions and capital. january -- the next meeting would be the initial discussion would be continued to be heard with initial draft of the budget and kind of overview for what our base budget is for discussion. february 12 would be submission of the final budget. if needed, february 13 would be a special meeting called if necessary, with february 21st, the budget submitted to the mayor's office. and that's my presentation.

>> president nakajo: thank you very much, director corso. at this point, any member of the public wishes to give public comment on this item, item 4, overview of the city instructions and process, please approach the podium. seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners? >> commissioner veronese: mr. corso. quick question. yesterday, at the board of supervisors, supervisor haney called for a resolution passing some sort of state of crisis, health crisis in san francisco involving what we're seeing on our streets and calling for additional funding resources and other things to address that, and certainly our department is going to be a part of it. it called for federal funding, as well, and i just want to make sure it's made painfully office to the mayor's office and everybody else that our calls are increasing, and we're

one of the three or four or five larger departments in the city that are dealing with the crisis that supervisor haney is talking about. and so when the mayor's talks about cutting back, we just need to make sure that we put up a really -- the best possible argument for being a part of that, those new resources that could potentially come in to address this crisis. i don't know, chief, if you're aware of this crisis that supervisor haney put up yesterday, but i believe it was approved by all the members of the board yesterday, so i think we play a critical part of that, but it's goes to translate into -- it's got to translate into mandated that are funded as opposed to these unfunded mandates that come across our table. >> so if i may -- good morning, everyone. we recently had supervisor haney on an e.m.s. 6 ride along, so he is very well aware, and we are working

closely with the mayor's office. we've already started. we're way ahead of where we were last year on the budget, so -- >> commissioner veronese: thank you very much, chief. >> president nakajo: thank you very much, commissioner veronese. commissioner cleaveland? >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you very much, director corso, and happy new year. >> happy new year. >> commissioner cleaveland: you mentioned a $5.4 million, and that'll be requested in the second year? >> they requested $2.7 million, and they anticipate those cuts to be ongoing, so another $2.7, and the cumulative amount is 5.4. >> commissioner cleaveland: and i suppose it's too early to propose where those cuts would be made.

>> president nakajo: thank you very much, commissioner cleaveland. if there's no other comments or questions, we're going to move this agenda along. madam secretary. >> clerk: item 5, report on fiscal year 2020-2021 capital budget requests. >> president nakajo: thank you. we'll hold questions until after director corso presents. director corso? >> thank you very much. mark corso. it's similar this is similar to what has been done in previous years. the departments are required to submit their capital budget requests by january 17 to the mayor's office and capital planning committee. they're vetted to the capital

planning committee in april and may, and the capital planning committee develops scenarios once approved by the budget and mayor's office, and once that funding is set, they determine the projects that will be funding, and those scenarios are incorporated into the overall mayor's budget that's due june 1. so just looking at our current allocation this year and next year and what was passed in july, the department was allocated approximately $2.9 million in the current year for capital expenditures. a big chunk of that, $1.7 million, was set aside for the upcoming eser bond. so in general, we were funded for just regular facility maintenance and maintenance of our fuel tanks. in addition, we were funded for ff&e for some of the other projects and they're very much

intertwined with capital projects that we have going on. so currently, obviously, we're continuing to work with department of public works on administering projects for the eser bonds both 2010, 2014, as well as the 2016 public health and safety bond -- bond programs. with he ha we have a lot of focus scope projects going on, recently completed stations 16 and 5, as you know, and we're continuing planning underway for the next eser bond, which is scheduled to go to voters in aremarch, wh is right around the corner. we're working on a fire station needs assessment analysis where we take a look at all the fire stations and determine their needs, taking into account all the work that has been completed and upcoming eser programs. we're working with the d.p.w.

and p.u.c. on other improvement projects, chiller repair, as well as some of the work that we'll be doing on our stations. so in general, the capital budget is for projects that we anticipate not to be covered by the eser program. obviously, there's some -- while we work out the 2020 bond, a lot of those projects aren't known for sure, so until that information is solidified, this is our request, and we prioritize based on the project type. there's an accompany document that shows the break -- there's an accompanying document that shows the breakdown and cost estimates. that's provides by d.p.w. based on anticipated costs for other stations or anticipated costs of the analysis.

so going through briefly, exterior windows, showers, hvac and mechanical upgrades, electrical infrastructure, sidewalk repair, data infrastructure upgrades, chief's resident, boiler maintenance, and then also study for some future projects for the electrical equipment and future study on the electrical wiring of facilities. and with that, i'd like to open it up for any questions. >> president nakajo: thank you very much. at this point, we'll open it up for public comment on question number 5. any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioner comment. commissioner cleaveland? >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you, mr. president. good morning, mr. corso.

on the final budget, who makes the determination on which stations gets the work does? who makes the prioritization? >> the department does. on the eser program, if we were to have that allocated, that would be along the department's priority, but it's looked at globally as to what the most pressing needs are. >> commissioner cleaveland: who does the estimates? >> so these estimates are based on some of the d.p.w. estimates that have been done, both based on similar work that's been done with other stations but also other costs. >> commissioner cleaveland: all of these estimates are based upon doing the work in-house, correct? >> correct. >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you. >> president nakajo: thank you, commissioner cleaveland. commissioner hardeman? >> commissioner hardeman: thank you, mr. president. good job, mr. corso.

your presentation shows you know the subject, and nice, easy graphics. >> thank you. >> commissioner hardeman: could you go into the infrastructure figure? >> the infrastructure for i.t. for wiring, cabl for -- could you go into the infrastructure figure for i.t. and data? >> just being able to take advantage of the new technologies and what they offer, we'd have to have upgrades. and a lot of those stations are getting upgrades when they're rebuilt, but given the age of some of our stations, they need work. >> commissioner hardeman: that

was my only question. thank you for that presentation. >> president nakajo: thank you very much for that presentation, director corso. in this capital budget presentation, you made some mention of station 5 and the training facility. how are those areas integrated within this capital budget? is there a reflection? >> so they are essentially funded completely out of the eser under abond and not part . the part that we get funded for this is the furniture, fixtures, and equipment, things that are not budgeted for. >> president nakajo: so just in terms of station 35 which is currently being worked on, the e.m.s. station, when is that, again, the projection of that station, station 49, projected to open? >> i believe at the end of this calendar year. >> president nakajo: okay. and part of those are part of

the eser bond. >> just to be clear, the station 35 is part of the eser bond. the deployment station is part of the public utility bond. >> president nakajo: okay. is it too early to talk about training facility in terms of what the latest status is of that? >> at this time, i'll defer to the chief, but we're still working with the mayor's office and real estate on that. >> president nakajo: okay. chief nicholson, is there any comment you would like to make on this item? >> no, there's not. >> president nakajo: thank you very much. this is an action item, so i need a motion. commissioner covington? >> commissioner covington: i would like to approve the items

submitted by mr. corso. >> commissioner cleaveland: second. >> president nakajo: we have a motion by commissioner covington, second by commissioner cleaveland. i'll call the question. all in favor, aye. all opposed? thank you very much. madam secretary. >> clerk: item 6, chief of department's report. report from chief jean nicholson since the meeting on december 19, 2019 including academy, special events, outreach to other government agencies and the public. >> president nakajo: thank you very much. chief nicholson? >> thank you. happy new year to everyone, and thank you, president, vice president, commissioners, maureen. this is my report since our last meeting, december 11. and just as an aside, at 11:00 a.m. this morning, i will

be going down stairs, probably a little bit prior to it, as i know vice president covington will, as well, for the swearing in of mayor london breed, which is taking place in the rotunda. i'll also be going to the swearing in of our new district attorney. on december 12, we had the spca -- you'll like to hear this, commissioner veronese -- visit station 49 with a therapy dog, and we're working on an m.o.u. with the spca to have visits at other stations, as well, and see how it goes. so chief bello has been working on that, as well as chief parks. but it was very well received, and i might have -- i might have gotten more dog time than

anybody else, but i think it was very well received by those numbers there. the 15, we did have the mayor's meeting, and we did get our budget instructions, as you heard from director corso. clean streets, equity, and our budget does align with the mayor's priorities, and so we are currently doing a lot of work on that. and in fact we have a meeting this afternoon with the mayor's budget office -- myself and director corso do. on the 17, we had an electric fire truck demonstration over at our 19 and folsom division of training. it was interesting and pretty cool, and we're not ready for it, and they're not ready,

either, but it was really intere interesting to see some of the technology that they're working on, and these are primarily being sold in europe right now, i believe. i had a meeting with folks down at the cow palace, and we discussed partnering for disaster operations, staging and sheltering, so that's a wonderful partnership to have. had a meeting with rec and park with fire marshal dicosio, about fire abatement and working with the residents, park and rec, as far as allaying the residents' fears and doing our jobs, as well. so we have a good working relationship with rec and park there. again, budget, we've had several in-house budget meetings. and new year's eve, i just

wanted to say thank you to those who really worked hard on our plan, including chief cochran, chief tong, chief wyrsch, chief bello. everybody really had a good night, and we staffed up, so thank you, everyone, for your diligent work on that. much appreciated. and then physician position is open right now, and we are looking for a new department physician, as you all know. and one more item would be the career track work group. c.d. 2 and 3 myself met with the career track work group, and this is a long-term project that we're working on, and it's -- it's going to give everyone an equitable opportunity to promote by offering classes in-house and

that type of thing. so it's a work in progress, but we're -- we're looking to the -- to the future to really make some of these things -- institutionalize them along term. so that concludes my report for today. >> president nakajo: thank you very much, chief nicholson. at this point, we'll call for public comment on the chief's report. any member of the public wishes to give public comment on item 6, the department -- chief of department's report, please approach. seeing none, public comment is closed. at this point, vice president covington. >> commissioner covington: thank you, mr. president. through the chair to the chief of the department, chief, you mentioned equity. can you talk a little bit more about what equity in the san francisco fire department -- >> certainly. so right now, what we have is if you want to take a class that can sort of further your

education, further your knowledge, most of those classes, we do not offer within the department. you may have to go to san jose or livermore or wherever to get that class. if you're a single parent, that could be hard. if you've got other responsibilities, that could be difficult. so what we want to work towards is training our own members so they can then deliver these classes in-house to our members who want to promote or learn or the like. so that's -- that's some of what we're doing, and it's -- it's going to take a little while to get it off the ground, but we want to make sure that everybody, you know, starts from the same -- the same level in terms of being able to move forward in their career. >> commissioner covington: and so that is in line with the

mayor's initiative on equity? >> yes. so that is -- that was one of our directives was equity and equitable outcomes, and so yes it is. it's also in our strategic plan and the like. >> commissioner covington: and are there any other initiatives that will be forth coming from the department -- or you will share those with us as they are developing? >> yeah, i'll share them with you as they develop. we are looking at an e.m.s. core class, but it will be put on by a nonprofit and not by us. but we are sort of leading the charge for that. but we don't have all those pieces in place yet, so we'll get those to you when we -- when we know more. >> commissioner covington: well, thank you. and please feel free to use the commission and the members of the commission as a brain trust of sorts. >> thank you.

>> commissioner covington: thank you. >> president nakajo: thank you, vice president covington. commissioner cleaveland? >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you, mr. president, and thank you, chief, for your report. quick question on the work with the park and rec. is that in response to the complaints from the residents around glen canyon, that they were having issues with fire protection or they thought they were having issues with fire protection? >> yeah, that's some of it, and some other areas, as well. you know, there was a fire out -- out in the avenues, near lake merced, i believe. so we're just reaching out and working with park and rec and speaking to different neighborhoods to ensure that they are safe. cleaveland cleavela>> commissi that's good. thank you. >> president nakajo: thank you very much, commissioner cleaveland. commissioner hardeman? >> commissioner hardeman: thank you very much, mr. president. chief, thank you for your

report, too. the electric rigs, engines, trucks -- was that just engines or -- >> it was an engine. >> commissioner hardeman: but at the end of your report, did you say something about in europe, they're using them? >> so i believe they've just ordered some for amsterdam, and i believe if they're not using them, they will be in the next year or so. >> commissioner hardeman: wow. that's flat lands out there. they don't have any hills. been there. bicycle heaven. >> yeah. it will need -- and you never want to buy the first, you know, model of anything, so we're a ways off of this for sure. >> commissioner hardeman: so we're all nice and calm here, including mr. corso, and all the commissioners, but inside, i'm jumping up and down, saying

here we go again. this is ridiculous with the budget cuts. it's very upsetting, but it's something we're going to have to address. we've been very calm in our reaction, but i don't think any of us are calm. so i don't think -- at least for me, i don't want you to think that wow, all of these commissioners are rolling in line, and they're willing to take this huge hit on the department that can't bear it. so just to let you know, that's how i feel personally. i can't speak for everybody else, but i'm sure their -- >> well, we will come forward with our data and statistics and everything else. >> commissioner hardeman: okay. i just want you to know that i just think that in my opinion, we were on board as it's no big deal. it's a really big deal. thank you. >> president nakajo: thank you very much, commissioner hardeman. vice president covington, are you still up for comment?

>> commissioner covington: no, but i would echo commissioner hardeman's comment about the budget. i think we may be a little weary, so we're just resting up for the fight. >> commissioner hardeman: yeah, there you go. >> president nakajo: thank you very much, vice president covington and commissioner hardeman. and again, the sentiments are part of our upcoming strategies and willichallenges. may i have you, madam secretary, deputy chief victor wyrsch from his report on operations. >> clerk: report of operations from deputy wyrsch. >> president nakajo: thank you very much madam secretary. deputy chief, before you start, i just wanted to say that it's

so good to see everybody here. good morning, deputy wyrsch. >> good morning, everybody. deputy chief victor wyrsch. this is my operations for november and december. there were five greater alarms during this reporting period. um -- first, we had a second alarm at 570 to 572 27 avenue, across aguirre. there were no injuries. this was led by assistant chief robert postel, who was here. did a fantastic job. it presented as a two-story type five single-family residence, but in fact was three stories. the fire began in the sublevel

rear, extended to the ground level and the second floor as well as exposure b. two occupants were exposed. all crews performed exceptionally. the below grade was identified early in the incident. extinguishment and no injuries to firefighters in the blaze. sorry for the delay as he's going to the next slide. thank you. the second was the second alarm on november 4 at 0500 hours at

5451 geary, across the 17 and 18. the cause of this fire was accidental. this was assistant chief lori gaylos. it was commercial with residential above. arson concurred that it was accidental, caused by old wiring. all units worked efficiently, and the fire was contained quickly. next, we had a second alarm on 11-13 at 1308 hours at 1985 san jose. this was assistant chief nicolle dryvex fire. the fire was in the rear of the building. second alarm was struck for possible deexposure section.

they're both three-story type five residential occupies. an aggressive attack by the first alarm companies happened with assistance from the second alarm companies. all companies performed well and with a coordinated attack. next, we had the fourth alarm. this was on november 16, as you remember, at 0423 hours at 454 to 463 castle, and it's still under investigation. the initial dispatch to the fire was a fire with reports of a person trapped on the second floor. the incident quickly developed into a fast-moving fire heavily involving two three-story buildings ultimately requiring four alarms to control. initially, the smoke was

invisible due to heavy fog and darkness. companies encountered furniture, obstacles in deep hallways with zero visibility and on the second floor, they reported heavy heat with obstructions above and below them. division three then struck the second alarm. the fire extended to the upper floors of the bravo exposure building, and the roof and reported heavy fire in the attic of the fire building. companies on the second alarm were ordered into the bravo and delta exposure and reported fire on the second and third floors of the bravo exposure, and division three subsequently struck third alarm. then struck a fourth alarm to address possible fire exposure to bravo and delta buildings. this was a tough fire and

overall operation went very well with members performing d admirably. it was instrumental with presentation of rapid extension of the fire into the bravo and delta extension buildings. ultimately, every extension on outlet 21 was utilized, and no delays in water supply were reported for the incident. all crews performed exceptional. next one, this fire is still under investigation. it was a three-story type five residential with heavy smoke and fire coming from the bravo side, second-floor unit.

upon entering and learning to the seat of the fire, members were affecting primary search, and they located and ex-tremendo a victim from the unit. the fire extended into the unit above. that was quickly extinguished. again, everyone did extremely well. in november-december, we had 29 first alarms, four second alarm, and one fourth alarm. we also had two hazmats. the p.i.o. arranged a series of responses with sonoma county to enhance our career operations. we had a total of six water rescues between beach, bay, or

boat rescues. we had five cliff rescues. next is our emergency medical services report from deputy chief sandra tong. we had a bump in the academy on 14, that's e.m.t. to paramedic. we had 16 newly pinned paramedics. they continue to meet with members of the e.m.s. leadership committee and the creation of various e.m.t. subcommittees. research committees are currently being formed. i have several pages of data. we can answer questions if you have to the e.m.s. 6 report. e.m.s. 6 report for november, there was a total number of unique individuals engaged was 82. in december, it was 109.

then on page 26, the november top 20 call percent change was - 45%. in november, the top 20 call percent change was - 14%. plans are underway to conduct a six-week paramedic training course starting january 27. this will be for members selected to the e.m.s. 6 list. we're predicting ten people. to the nature crcan administra we went from 230 to 188. by the time a slight decrease from 147 to 122 with nonidentifiable home addresses,

and then from 83 down to 66 in identifiable home addresses. in december, we saw a slight decrease from 188 to 186, and identifiable, we went from 66 to 72. next, fire prevention investigation, update, this is an extensive and detailed report, so i won't go over everything with you. if you have any questions, he's here to answer. but we have a total annual inspections permit of 3,699. the total number of complaints that were closed were 308. they did a total of 21 community outreach presentations during november and december.

they continue to do a lot of internal and external training classes that are listed, and then, we will go to -- i also have an addendum on your request for december, so some additional information for december that i will give you that wasn't included in this report. to the airport division, this division update, this includes all of the recent activities and training for november and december, the drills, and the types of calls. in november, on page 49, you'll see we had 486 calls with a total of the bike medic calls of 242. and then, in december, we went up to a total of 548 calls with a bike medic total of 301. on 12-6, we had a hazmat at the

airport. we had a dispatch with evacuations. it was 918 clearwater drive. it was a hydro-chloric cloud. the hazmat team from department 2 assisted. projects that we're working on of notable is radiological and emergency operations drill. they discussed stolen radiological equipment and terrorist incidents and the agencies that would handle. next is the k9. the national disaster search dog foundation those two applicants as handlers. they'll be assigned to usar task force 3, and they'll be available for city disasters and deployment.

we now have three dogs. mobile command is back in service. mobile command is used to support large incidents that occur in the city to provide command communications along with interability with other agencies. they came back to the agency and trained with us for three days. next, i want to thank all the a.d.c.s, homeland security and the fire marshal for their extensive planning for this. i'll have more information on my january report as most of the information came in after. ham radios, we're trying to get all of our incident support specialists trained so they can help us when we go into batallion control, and all of those ham radios are located in

batallion houses. a shoutout to jonathan baxter. he was able to secure 300 smoke detectors and 900 carbon monoxide detectors from kidde, and we're going to distribute them throughout the city. i will open it up to any questions. >> president nakajo: thank you very much, chief wyrsch. at this time, any member of the public wishes to give public comment, please approach the podium. seeing that there is no public comment at this point, public government is closed. commissioners? commissioner cleaveland. >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you, mr. president, and thank you, chief wyrsch, for your report. it's always distressing to have fires in our city, and

hopefully, from each of these fires, we'll learn from lessons, and i'm wondering if we learned any lessons, and what were they, from the 457 castro street fair and the noriega street fair? do you have any lessons learned that we could impart to the public? >> well, both fires were obviously extremely tough fires. as far as the fourth alarm castro street fire, again, it didn't appear large at the beginning because it was so dark and you couldn't see the smoke and the fog was so thick, but it escalated quickly. the only issues was communications are tough. we always struggle with communications when you're wearing a scott air mask, trying to protect yourself from cancer. in the old days, we'd just lift our mask off and old. now we keep our mask on and talk, so it's difficult to

communicate through our mask. that will get better with training, but that was something we looked into. that was the main take away from that fire. >> commissioner cleaveland: so the communication is difficult under normal circumstances with the mask on. >> absolutely. when you have heavy smoke conditions, and you have to communicate into the mic, there's a lot of feedback around you. >> commissioner cleaveland: both of these fires were accidental, correct? >> they're under investigation. >> commissioner cleaveland: under investigation, but you assume that they're accidental, right? >> probably, correct. and as far as the other fire -- >> commissioner cleaveland: the one on noriega, was the death caused to smoke inhalation? >> so that is under investigation. i'm not allowed to speak with that.

there was a door that was barricaded. that's as much as i can talk about, that was known. but we always find a way to get around it. if we can't find a door, we'll find a second means of egress and attack it that way. >> commissioner cleaveland: these pieces of information are important to the public because if doors are barricaded, people can't get out, firefighters can't get in. >> yeah. i think in my career, one of the biggest problems in my career, especially in downtown, is hoarding problems. sometimes you're stepping up on two to 3 feet of newspapers. it's hard to make a path, it's easy to get disoriented. every fire we go to is a learning experience. >> president nakajo: thank you, commissioner cleaveland. commissioner hardeman? >> commissioner hardeman: thank you, president nakajo.

chief wyrsch, good report, put together, as well. going to that 58 cabrillo fire, that was very sad. i saw that come up, and i was able to go to the scene. got there pretty quick, and discovered that -- from lieutenant baxter, who briefed me on the -- what was going on, about the person that was deceased, what happened. that's very upsetting to firefighters, and nothing they could have done to change the situation, which was very sad. but any way, i always avoid -- you never see me quoted in the paper at a fire because i avoid the cameras and the press because i have no idea where

it's going. i could stand there and be briefed -- >> we saw you there. >> commissioner hardeman: you came over and briefed me, and i appreciate that. the public, they're amazed with what they learn about the fire department and, well, they just love when they get to talk to a commissioner. oh, geez, and over and over, they ask what you're supposed to do. >> we have a c.i.a.-k.g.b. secretive, very important person who does our homeland security, chief cochran, and he has a reputation of mixing it up, so it's sort of surprising to see him come overall sweaty in his turnouts. it was a crisp night, and just

wondering how you can get so hot and sweaty in the turnouts that they are -- the design, i harp on that all the time. one of the things that i'd like to see is a turnout that can somehow keep you a little cooler. but it was sort of fun to see -- he didn't have to be there. he was doing what he thought or he perceives his job to be, and he was there like a firefighter, working at that fire. he could be back in his office, the big shot that he is. it was sort of fun. i sort of enjoyed seeing them. >> chief cochran is one of our safety officers, so he goes in the building, making sure that everyone is safe. >> commissioner hardeman: yeah. he explained that to me, that was his job, which i didn't realize that. thanks for your great report. >> president nakajo: thanks very much, commissioner hardeman.

commissioner veronese? >> commissioner veronese: thanks very much for your report. it's a great shot of you and chief cochran walking down the street in your turnouts. it's a great shot. i don't know about this whole safety officer thing, but it sounds like something that chief docochran created so he could go out to every single fire because i know he's a huge supporter of the department and will go out there to back you up every time he can. i wanted to give you a special thanks to you and all the members of the department that works on christmas and new year's and new year's eve. i wanted to end the meeting in honor of all those people who worked those days, mr. president. in regards to the narcan, can somebody in the department who knows about this, maybe somebody in the e.m.s., give us

an idea of why -- so now that we have those numbers, it looks like there's been an increase from september to october and then slight decreases from november to december. so it went 230 to 188 to 184. if we can get why that's happening, it would be great to see that trend continue to go down. i believe supervisor haney reported that we had 234 overdose deaths happen in san francisco. so is this because people are dying -- people using fentanyl are actually dying or is this for some other reason? the department of health is affecting this number in some way?

i just want to gueet analysis this number. i know that supervisor haney said yesterday that he was working off of 2018 numbers, but these are 2019 numbers, and we can present those numbers as long as some professional analysis why those numbers are going down, i'd like to see that, as well. i'd like to see that continue, but not because people have died, if that's the case. >> i'll look into that, for sure. but we see a strain of fentanyl, it comes in in batches. in my career, you see a huge increase because of a new patch, and everybody's not used to it, so they'll overdose and pass away. we'll do some research. >> commissioner veronese: that would be great if you could report back to us on that. and then, these comps and

radios that you guys wear, there's got to be technology out there to solve there problem. i know you're rolling your money fingers there, but money should not be an obstacle when you're talking about the safety of people that are in fires. so if you could maybe report back to us as to what technology exists out there so that we can solve this problem in the next budget because it's unacceptable. thank you, chief. >> thank you. >> president nakajo: thank you, commissioner alioto veronese. vice president covington, any remarks at this point? >> commissioner covington: no, sir. >> president nakajo: commissioner hardeman, any -- okay. chief wyrsch, thank you very much for your report. it looks good. it has separation, as well, identification.

i enjoyed it because it shows consciousness and improvement. i wanted to acknowledge the report not only in terms of your verbalization, but those photos help a lot, as well as i notice there was a video attached this morning, as well, to give us the effect of that. thank you very much for the e.m.s. division report, chief tong. again, it's comprehensive, there's lots of material. i also appreciate you calling out those things that we're interested in when it comes to the report. again, thank you very much. it gives us a knowledge and base in terms of what your department is doing, your division, in terms of the work. chief avi with the airport division, chief cochran with

homeland security, and with the descriptions that we have in terms of first unit reports as well as a.l.s. reports as well as amis reports in terms of the resource report. and finally, at the back end, when we have the news release reports in terms of who was there, who was in charge, how many department mechanisms were there, it totally helps us as well. chief postel, chief brooks, thank you for that, as well. i know that several chiefs are not here, but those kinds of extensive reports. thank you very much. madam secretary, did i call public comment on this report? [please stand by]

i'm going to need -- well let me ask for public comment first on the item. public comment in terms of item 8, fire commission annual statement of purpose. seeing none, in terms of the public comment, public comment is closed. >> vice president covington: i would like to move this item. >> vice president? thank you, commissioner

cleaveland, moved by commissioner covington. >> item 9, fire commission's process of selecting department physician to fill vacancy. >> as point of information to the general public and the members of the public, this position has been posted by our department of human resources. the strategy and the plan at this particular point is we're working with the chief's office at the last commission meeting. i, as the president, appointed commissioner cleaveland to be our representative point person. the process is going to be that commissioner cleaveland will work with the chief's office in terms of a panel that will be formalized. that panel will review the resumes and in terms of the

final process of interviewing the candidates, that process will be brought in front of the full commission. the full commission is responsible for the physician's office. so as part of that process of having this new physician, whoever he or she is, it's going to be very important that the full commission be part of that. so that is the process in terms of what we're going to be trying to do with the physician's office. vice president covington? >> vice president covington: yes, sir, i want to thank commissioner cleaveland for stepping forward and being a point person on this process. >> this is an action item and i'm going to ask for public comment on the item, number 9, asking members of the public to give public comment. seeing none, public comment is closed. it is action item. again, commissioners, once we

get into the interview process, through the commission secretary, we'll have to organize a scheduled date for us to do a special meeting in terms of the interview process. without any further comments or questions, i'll call for the question on item 9. all in favor, please gave indication say aye. any opposed? none. thank you very much, commissioners. madame secretary. >> item 10, agenda for next and future fire commission meetings. >> president nakajo: can you give us a review of what is on the docket for january 22nd. >> we have the election of officers, a budget item. and sf vice is supposed to get back to me if they're available, either that meeting or the first meeting in february. and lieutenant baxter has asked to present -- do a presentation on his outreach efforts.

>> president nakajo: okay. which we need to coordinate. thank you very much. i'm going to ask for public comment on the item? item 10, agenda for next and future fire commission meetings. any members of the public? seeing none, public comment is closed. madame secretary. item 11 public comment on item 12. public comment on all matters pertaining to items 12b including public comment on whether to hold item 12b in closed session. >> president nakajo: on item 11, is there any public comment on item 11? seeing none, public comment is closed. madame secretary. >> possible closed session regarding personnel matters and existing litigation. vote on whether to conduct item 12b in closed session. >> president nakajo: colleagues, we have a closed session scheduled. i'm going to need a motion for us to go into closed section.

>> i move that we conduct. >> i hear vice president with the covington with the motion. all in favor, say aye. thank you very much. it passes. me we're back in open session. item 14. item 13, report on action taken in closed session. >> president nakajo: all right, we have a motion from commissioner hardeman, second by commissioner cleaveland. i see item 13, is there an item i missed? >> item 14, vote to elect whether to disclose any or all discussions held in closed session. we're not taking reporting on any action. >> president nakajo: thank you

for the clarity. we have a motion and second. all in favor say aye. >> aye. >> thank you very much. that motion passes. in closing we wanted to thank the dedication of the members of our department for all the hard work during the holidays on christmas and new year's eve and new year's and for every day of this year. thank you very much, colleagues.

today we are going to talk about fire safety. we are here at the urban center on mission street in san francisco. it's a wonderful display. a little house in the urban center exhibition center that shows what it's like in a home in san francisco after an earthquake. one of the major issues that we are going to face after earthquakes are fire hazard. we are happy to have the fire marshall join us today. >> thank you. my pleasure.

>> we talk about the san francisco earthquake that was a fire that mostly devastated the city. how do we avoid that kind of problem. how can we reduce fire hazard? >> the construction was a lot different. we don't expect what we had then. we want to make sure with the gas heaters that the gas is shut off. >> if you shut it off you are going to have no hot water or heat. be careful not to shut it off unless you smell gas. >> absolutely because once you do shut it off you should have the utility company come in and turn it back on. here is a mock up of a gas hear the on a house. where would we find the gas meter?

>> it should be in your garage. everyone should be familiar with where the gas meter is. >> one of the tools is a wrench, a crescent wrench. >> yes. the crescent wrench is good and this is a perfect example of how to have it so you can loosen it up and use it when you need it. >> okay. let's go inside to talk about fire safety. many of the issues here relate to fire, for example, we have a little smoke detector and i see you brought one here, a carbon monoxide smoke detector. >> this is a combination of smoke and carbon monoxide detector. they are required in

single homes now and in apartment buildings. if gas appliance is not burning properly this will alert you before the fumes buildup and will affect you negatively. >> this is a battery powered? >> this is a battery powered and it has a 10 year battery life. a lot of times you may have one or the other. if you put in just a carbon monoxide detector, it's important to have one of these too. every house should have a fire extinguisher, yes. >> one thing people expect to do when the power goes out after an earthquake about using candles. what would you recommend? >> if you have a battery

operated candle would be better to use. this kind of a candle, you wouldn't want it in an area where it can cause a fire or aftershock that it doesn't rollover. you definitely want to have this in a non-combustible surface. >> now, here we have our stove. after a significant earthquake we expect that we may have gas disrupted and so without gas in your home, how are you going to cook? >> well, i wouldn't recommend cooking inside of the house. you have to go outside and use a portable stove or something else.

>> so it wouldn't be safe to use your fireplace to cook? >> not at first. you should check it by a professional first. >> outside should be a safe place to cook as long as you stay away from buildings and doors and windows. >> yes. that will be fine. >> here we have some alternative cooking areas. >> you can barbecue and if you have a regular propane bark could barbecue. >> thank you for joining us. and thanks for this terrific space that you have in this exhibition space and thanks for helping san francisco stay

>> he is a real leader that listens and knows how to bring people together. brought this department together like never before. i am so excited to be swearing in the next chief of the san francisco fire department, ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome, jeanine nicholson. (applause). >> i grew up total tomboy, athlete. i loved a good crisis, a good challenge. i grew up across the street from the fire station. my dad used to take me there to vote. i never saw any female firefighters because there weren't any in the 1970s. i didn't know i could be a fire

fighter. when i moved to san francisco in 1990, some things opened up. i saw women doing things they hadn't been doing when i was growing up. one thing was firefighting. a woman recruited me at the gay-pride parade in 1991. it was a perfect fit. i liked using my brain, body, working as a team, figuring things out, troubleshooting and coming up with different ways to solve a problem. in terms of coming in after another female chief, i don't think anybody says that about men. you are coming in after another man, chief, what is that like. i understand why it is asked. it is unusual to have a woman in this position. i think san francisco is a trailblazer in that way in terms of showing the world what can

happen and what other people who may not look like what you think the fire chief should look like how they can be successful. be asked me about being the first lbgq i have an understands because there are little queer kids that see me. i worked my way up. i came in january of 1994. i built relationships over the years, and i spent 24 years in the field, as we call it. working out of firehouses. the fire department is a family. we live together, eat together, sleep in the same dorm together, go to crazy calls together, dangerous calls and we have to look out for one another. when i was burned in a fire years ago and i felt responsible, i felt awful. i didn't want to talk to any of

my civilian friends. they couldn't understand what i was going through. the firefighters knew, they understood. they had been there. it is a different relationship. we have to rely on one another. in terms of me being the chief of the department, i am really trying to maintain an open relationship with all of our members in the field so myself and my deputy chiefs, one of the priorities i had was for each of us to go around to different fire stations to make sure we hit all within the first three or four months to start a conversation. that hasn't been there for a while. part of the reason that i am getting along well with the field now is because i was there. i worked there. people know me and because i know what we need. i know what they need to be successful. >> i have known jeanine

nicholson since we worked together at station 15. i have always held her in the highest regard. since she is the chief she has infused the department with optimism. she is easy to approach and is concerned with the firefighters and paramedics. i appreciate that she is concerned with the issues relevant to the fire department today. >> there is a retired captain who started the cancer prevention foundation 10 years ago because he had cancer and he noticed fellow firefighters were getting cancer. he started looking into it. in 2012 i was diagnosed with breast canner, and some of my fellow firefighters noticed there are a lot of women in the san francisco fire department,

premenopausal in their 40s getting breast cancer. it was a higher rate than the general population. we were working with workers comp to make it flow more easily for our members so they didn't have to worry about the paper work when they go through chemo. the turnout gear was covered with suit. it was a badge to have that all over your coat and face and helmet. the dirtier you were the harder you worked. that is a cancer causeser. it -- casser. it is not -- cancer causer. there islassic everywhere. we had to reduce our exposure. we washed our gear more often, we didn't take gear where we were eating or sleeping.

we started decontaminating ourselves at the fire scene after the fire was out. going back to the fire station and then taking a shower. i have taught, worked on the decontamination policy to be sure that gets through. it is not if or when. it is who is the next person. it is like a cancer sniper out there. who is going to get it next. one of the things i love about the fire department. it is always a team effort. you are my family. i love the city and department and i love being of service. i vow to work hard -- to work hard to carry out the vision of the san francisco fire department and to move us forward in a positive way. if i were to give a little

advice to women and queer kids, find people to support you. keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep trying. you never know what door is going to open next. you really don't. [cheers and >> growing up in san francisco has been way safer than growing up other places we we have that bubble, and it's still that bubble that it's okay to be whatever you want to. you can let your free flag fry he -- fly here. as an adult with autism, i'm here to challenge people's idea of what autism is. my journey is not everyone's

journey because every autistic child is different, but there's hope. my background has heavy roots in the bay area. i was born in san diego and adopted out to san francisco when i was about 17 years old. i bounced around a little bit here in high school, but i've always been here in the bay. we are an inclusive preschool, which means that we cater to emp. we don't turn anyone away. we take every child regardless of race, creed, religious or ability. the most common thing i hear in my adult life is oh, you don't seem like you have autism. you seem so normal. yeah. that's 26 years of really, really, really hard work and i think thises that i still do.

i was one of the first open adoptions for an lgbt couple. they split up when i was about four. one of them is partnered, and one of them is not, and then my biological mother, who is also a lesbian. very queer family. growing up in the 90's with a queer family was odd, i had the bubble to protect me, and here, i felt safe. i was bullied relatively infrequently. but i never really felt isolated or alone. i have known for virtually my entire life i was not suspended, but kindly asked to not ever bring it up again in first grade, my desire to have a sex change. the school that i went to really had no idea how to handle one. one of my parents is a little bit gender nonconforming, so they know what it's about, but

my parents wanted my life to be safe. when i have all the neurological issues to manage, that was just one more to add to it. i was a weird kid. i had my core group of, like, very tight, like, three friends. when we look at autism, we characterize it by, like, lack of eye contact, what i do now is when i'm looking away from the camera, it's for my own comfort. faces are confusing. it's a lack of mirror neurons in your brain working properly to allow you to experience empathy, to realize where somebody is coming from, or to realize that body language means that. at its core, autism is a social disorder, it's a neurological disorder that people are born with, and it's a big, big spectrum. it wasn't until i was a teenager that i heard autism in

relation to myself, and i rejected it. i was very loud, i took up a lot of space, and it was because mostly taking up space let everybody else know where i existed in the world. i didn't like to talk to people really, and then, when i did, i overshared. i was very difficult to be around. but the friends that i have are very close. i click with our atypical kiddos than other people do. in experience, i remember when i was five years old and not wanting people to touch me because it hurt. i remember throwing chairs because i could not regulate my own emotions, and it did not mean that i was a bad kid, it meant that i couldn't cope. i grew up in a family of behavioral psychologists, and i got development cal --

developmental psychology from all sides. i recognize that my experience is just a very small picture of that, and not everybody's in a position to have a family that's as supportive, but there's also a community that's incredible helpful and wonderful and open and there for you in your moments of need. it was like two or three years of conversations before i was like you know what? i'm just going to do this, and i went out and got my prescription for hormones and started transitioning medically, even though i had already been living as a male. i have a two-year-old. the person who i'm now married to is my husband for about two years, and then started gaining weight and wasn't sure, so i we went and talked with the doctor at my clinic, and he said well, testosterone is basically birth control, so there's no way you can be pregnant.

i found out i was pregnant at 6.5 months. my whole mission is to kind of normalize adults like me. i think i've finally found my calling in early intervention, which is here, kind of what we do. i think the access to irrelevant care for parents is intentionally confusing. when i did the procespective search for autism for my own child, it was confusing. we have a place where children can be children, but it's very confusing. i always out myself as an adult with autism. i think it's helpful when you know where can your child go. how i'm choosing to help is to give children that would normally not be allowed to have children in the same respect, kids that have three times as much work to do as their peers or kids who do odd things,

like, beach therapy. how do -- speech therapy. how do you explain that to the rest of their class? i want that to be a normal experience. i was working on a certificate and kind of getting think early childhood credits brefore i started working here, and we did a section on transgender inclusion, inclusion, which is a big issue here in san francisco because we attract lots of queer families, and the teacher approached me and said i don't really feel comfortable or qualified to talk about this from, like, a cisgendered straight person's perspective, would you mind talking a little bit with your own experience, and i'm like absolutely. so i'm now one of the guest speakers in that particular class at city college. i love growing up here. i love what san francisco represents. the idea of leaving has never occurred to me. but it's a place that i need to

fight for to bring it back to what it used to be, to allow all of those little kids that come from really unsafe environments to move somewhere safe. what i've done with my life is work to make all of those situations better, to bring a little bit of light to all those kind of issues that we're still having, hoping to expand into a little bit more of a resource center, and this resource center would be more those new parents who have gotten that diagnosis, and we want to be this one centralized place that allows parents to breathe for a second. i would love to empower from the bottom up, from the kid level, and from the top down, from the teacher level. so many things that i would love to do that are all about changing people's minds about certain chunts, like the transgender community or the autistic community. i would like my daughter to know there's no wrong way to go through life. everybody experiences pain and grief and sadness, and that all of those things are temporary.

>> good morning, everyone. the meeting will come to order. welcome to the december 16th, 2019, meeting of the rules committee. i am supervisor hilary ronen, chair of the committee. seated to my right as vice chair shamann walton and to my left is gordon marr. our clerk is victor young and i would like to thank my canoe -- michael and jim at san francisco government tv for staffing this meeting. are there any announcements? >> silence also phones and electronic devices. completed speaker cards and copies of any documents to be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk i didn't his acted upon today will appear on the january 7th , board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise noted. >> thank you. please call item number one. >> one