>> this meeting is being held in person the city hall in room 4 huh human as authorized by california gentleman code, section 54953e and mayor 45th supplement to her february 25, 2020 emergency proclamation. possible that some members of the fire commission may attend remote. those members the participate and vote by video. members of the public may attends the meeting to bench and provide public comment at the meeting location mentioned abovement or upon line at the meeting link, which is on the posted agenda on the commission website. you may also watch live at www.sfgovtv to participate by

phone call 1-415-665-0001. code 24884791320. you can participate during comment the public is asked to wait for the agenda item before making an extent on that item. comments will be addressed in the order received. when the moderator announces the commission is taking public comment. members of the public can raise their hand pressing star 3 and you will be queued. callers hear sill upon 11s when waiting to speak. operator will unmute you. when prompted callers have the standard 3 minutes to provide comment. ensure you are in a quiet location. speak clearly and turn off tv's or radios around you. item one. roll call. >> president feinstein has been

excused. vice president nakajo? >> present. >> commissioner covington. >> present. >> commissioner morgan, >> present. >> chief of department nicholson. >> present. >> item 2. the ramaytush ohlone land acknowledgment will be read by vice president nakajo. >> thank you very much, madam secretary. good morning, commissioner covington and morgan. chief of department, command staff and the members and general public. the commission acknowledges we home land of the ramaytush ohlone original to the san francisco peninsula. and stewards of this land in

accordance with their tradition, the ramaytush ohlone have never lost nor forgotten their responsibility as care takers of this place as well as for all people who resign in their traditional territory. as guests we recognize we benefit from living and working on their traditional home land. we wish to pay respects acknowledging the irrelevant tifs of the ramaytush ohlone community. and by affirming their realties as first people. madam secretary. >> thank you. >> item 3. resolution 2022-09. adoption of resolution setting forth findings to allow teleconferenced meetings under california code section 54953e. >> thank you very much. we will need a motion dp a second on this. is there public comment on this

matter. >> thank you. is there public comment on this matter, item 3. >> there is no public comment on this matter. >> thank you, madam secretary. commissioners. why public comment is closed. >> commissioner. >> thank you. >> i'd like to move this item. >> them. why commissioner covington. >> we have a second? >> i second that. and vice president nakajo? i vote yes. >> motion passes unanimously. item 4. general publicing comment. members of the public may address the commission up to 3 machineos i matter within the commission jurisdiction that does in the appear on the agenda. speakers shall address to the commission as a whole and not to individual commissioners or department personnel. commissioners are not to enter in discussion with the speaker. the lack of a response by the

commissioners or department personnel does not necessary low institute agreement with or support of statement made during comment. >> all right. is there general public comment. >> yes. there is. proceed, please. hello. nice to see you this morning. i'm bryce peoples a resident of san francisco. and also currently the department of diversity inclusion officer the first one as arc cystant defendant chief. i'm calling i need assistance. it is a transparency issue. ure know the law started regarding the racial equity action plan and how the department and all the city agencies are supposed to interact with this law. i like to ask of the chief and of the administration 2 things.

2 things, please. number one, this document you have not seen is part of the action plan. it is the budget and the positions on how the plan will be implemented. it has been suppressed. sat on the chief's desk now for 6 months. i asked it to be given to you to have thoughtful consideration as we go in the budge cycle and not allowed to be published. it is part of the law. that document should see the light of day. for transparency. s you know, if the budget does in the go if discussion the racial equity actions plan does not exist. it is dead on arrival they are in conflict with the law. second question is here is a progress report. how we have been doing ournld the racial equity plan. it was supposed to have been

submitted tried to submit on may second. it has not been done. the leaders have been told not to do this i don't know what the plan is, may be you can ask the chief that is the plan. >> i would appreciate that. secondly or the lastly, police participate in an experiment with me this administration the last 2 years has been the subject of 4 discrimination lawsuits. and that is not the -- horrible aspect. not guilty lawsuits alleged that the individuals have been retaliated against when than i have spoken up about transparency and social justice in the department. >> the experiment i'm requesting mou is i have spoken up see what they try to do to me. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. madam secretary, members of the public. >> i don't see members of the public well is nobody on the

call in line. >> thank you very much. public comment is closed. madam secretary? >> item 5. approval of the minutes discussion and possible action to approve the meeting minuteses from the regular meeting on april 27th, 2022. >> thank you. an action item needs approval a motion and second. commissioners? >> i like to make a motion to approve. >> second. >> thank you very much. for moving commissioner morgan and commissioner covington. >> president. >> vice president nakajo, how do you vote. >> aye. >> the motion passed unanimously and there is no public comment. all right. public comment is closed on this item. >> madam secretary.

>> item 6. chief of department's property. >> nicholson on current issues, activities and events within the department since the meeting on april 27th, 2022 including budget, academies, special events. upon communication and out reach to government agents and the public and report from operations, department chief postel on field operations including greater alarm fires. emergency medical service. bureau of fire investigation and training within the upon department, the airport division. thank you very much, good morning chief of the department nicholson. >> greetings and salutations vice president nakajo and commissioner covington and morgan and command staff. this is my report since our last commission meeting and just to let you know i am beam nothing

from golden gate park i have the mayor's department head meeting at 9:30. i will have to step away shortly after i finish. >> it is a beautiful day here, i have to say. chief will be sitting in. so, next week we will celebrate ems week this year's theme is rising to will challenge. >> my command staff and i will attend several evens and several of our employees will be honored by the board of supervisors with antifollowing at the auditorium. i will give you the list of those people that are burglar to be honored. jennifer [inaudible]. matthew ferris. larry paraand fred salem.

they will be honored for with a 4 different awards. and i think we agree that our ems employees rise to the challenge every day. and you know, as you are firefighters and the past 2 plus years have tested all of us. thank you to everyone for their hard work and dedication. this month is asian-american and pacific island are month. mou was honored last tuesday. by supervisor chan. i also attended the celebration of heritage month at [inaudible] last week. and spoke with quite a few

people including phil ting who is heading our legislation up at the state for the piece of court property. so -- i thanked him for that. let's see our focus update we have sick members out with covid. 8 members out on longer term covid and we have -- so that's 14 people and 14 people in quarantine they don't have covid du rather are in quarantine. last week, i welcomed an h3 level 1 and 2 hybrid class. clasdz of emt's and paramedics new to san francisco fire department. and i want to say that 2 of the 4 city emt, 2 of our city emt people.

99 are in this class. that pipeline is opening and i'm pleased to see 2 women are in this class. >> this tndz eversunday is the data breakers race. we will staff up a bit for this event. so -- i ask torn take care and be safe and arc void the areas if you don't want to get caught. on may 24th at 9 a.m. there will be a walk with citybeat event at land's end trail at 9 a.m. saddie is our therapy dogs we have brought on board this past year. all are welcomed to participate in that. land's end on the 24th. >> i had meetings with supervisors regarding budget and -- other items. discussions have been

productive. and final low we continued to work with the mayor's budget office. to advocate for our needs. in advance of the mayor's submission of the budget on june first. once habudget is introduced of course, we'll come back to you and to the budget and finance committee members. with more specifics regarding the budget. and -- i know you will hear from the chief but i'm pleased with our field operations of late. our -- suppression and ems. folks have been doing a great job out there. that completes my report and happy to take questions. thank you very much. chief nicholson. we general low take public comment. i don't know if you want to do this.

the chief's report. or do we wait? the report from operation from the chief for public comment. why there is nobody on the line for the chief's report. and i don't see anybody standing here in the room. so there is no public comment on the chief's report. >> all right. public comment is closed and we will proceed in terms of the report of deputy chief postel. >> i know that you have to go to your staff meeting with the mayor, chief nicholson. we will have chief postel represented here at the meeting time. >> thank you. >> chief nicholson has a question. >> no, i don't. >> if my hand is raise today should not be. >> thank you. chief postel. >> good morning vice president

nakajo. commissioner covington, commissioner morgan, chief nicholson. deputy chief of operation this is is my report for the month of april 2022. during the month of april we had an active month. we had 12, 700 calls for service. . 22 working fires. 3 greater arc larch and one mutual aid deploy am. i will put photos on the screen i can discuss with you, bear with me.deploy am. i will put photos on the screen i can discuss with you, bear with me.aid deploy am. i will put photos on the screen i can discuss with you, bear with me. is that showing up?

here we go. >> what you are looking at is a second alarm fire that happened on april fourth of 2022. happened 8:30. 400 upper terrace on top of the hill. crews arriveed finds heavy fire and smoke on the fourth floor of an apartment building this was a winds driven fire extended quickly through the hall and the attic the crews were upon driven off the roof by the flames. multiple hose lines working were required to advance down the hall and put out the fire. required excellent coordination. we have significant challenges with access for personnel due to location on the hill and narrow street. this was an excellent job by the first 2 companies station 612 and 21 who knew that district and knew this building well.

assistant chief is here today. what you are looking the at is heavy fire and smoke conscience they saw on arrival this is hatheir concerns were when they got there. and it is dints evolved, you see that the wind picked up. and that's the winds started to push the fire in the building the smoke was not able to vent. you will see admit next series of pictures the development of the fire. as the wind takes place you see how all that fire and motor vehicle is pushed in that apartment building and down the hall. if you look close low you see the roof justifies where the fire is involved in the attic space. we had crews on the roof that had to retreat because of the advancement of the fire that was excellerated by the winds that night. the final photos shoes the extent of the fire how it

traveled across the roof. we pulled the crews off the roof. we were able to get line in interior and above. and really they did i r okay job of containing this fire to the original apartment and the hallway and this easily account have turned a 4 or fifth alarm fire. i cannot praise them enough. that was the first incident. second i wanted to highlight is the third alarm 2 days later. came in at 5 in the morning on 147 noe. and i will get a picture of that. fire. so -- this was a fire that storied between 2 old wooden frame buildings. the fire quickly spread to the walls and the attic space of both buildings. laddering was difficult for the truck crews due to wires and obstructions in the street. that prevented us from getting in a ladder.

there was significant damage to both buildings the crews contained the fire to the 2 originally involved buildings. the assistant chief was the commander here. what you are looking at this photo is these crews have to go to the roof and vent this fire so that the engine crew inside can advance with the hose lines. if they don't vent the roof the heat special smokure too intense and they cannot ectinguish the fire you see the firefighter on the ladder. they have the ladder to make their way on the roof. what happened of course wops they got up and cut the holes, this fire rapidly grew and -- you see the intense fire in the

front of the corner building the crew his on retreat and bring an arial ladder and make a risky 3 with the ladder to get the crews off the roof safely before this fire consumed the roof and put them in a position. this is the fire growing. and then the final photo here is this is where they through the arial between the wieshs and were able to get the crews after the roof. great coordination. really -- outstanding work by the firefighters and the ic and everybody there with really challenging circumstances. so. again they did a great job on that. >> will next fire is april 18th. 301 westportal. a fire that -- started on the officer by roofers in a single story building with businesses on the ground floor.

fire consumd the roof and pred to the large attic. the businesses it very high ceilings, 18 feet tall and a large common attic space. we had tremendous difficulty getting in the attic. we brought in extension laders to get up in the attic space to pull the ceilings, a lot of coordination and a lot of difficulty to get to this fire. the roof burned away in areas leaving the exposed ceiling joints. on the exterior of the building. the fire spread to the attic of the xhoes exposure building an elevated lost and presented access issues to extinguish the fire. a third alarm in the event the next exposure to the right d2 was involved in fire a 4 story apartment building. if we had got fire in that

building we would had a tremendous problem. that was precautionary. assistant chief was the ic at this incident and did an excellent job and would be here but at another fire this monk on fifth street. that's the 3 fires. the last thing i want to talk about is the deploy am. i have a video and i will talk about it while it is playing. on april ninth we received a request from the city of beneatia for the fire boat it assist with a pier fire. immediately we approve third degree request. knowing we have the only fire boat with cape at we have on the bay. and after a 3 hour response time the fire boat st. francis provide the needed support to

contain this stubborn fire. our boat and the pumping capacity is equipped with under pier monitor nozzles nobody else has. they were able to get in close to the burning pier you see here and get the nozzles working under where the asphalt deck and get to where the fire was and contain temperature this was a regional benefit to everybody they used this pier to off load goods but use it part of the refinery and if this refinery was to go off line because they could not use the pier for materials, then that again would have an impact on the price of fuel in the bay area which is already definitely to handle now. a great job by our crew you see the magnitude of the fire and how far it extended. the fire boat was there for 26 hours and on scene filling water for 18 hours.

we did make a crew switch at midnight with the fire boat and engineer. they were at the controls for you >> 12 hours plus when we made that switch. you can see that video there will shoes the nozzles working. and an outstanding job by resource and proud of the yen they were able to accomplish with that as well. i think you get the idea. i will stop this video. >> all right. . i'm not well versed in technology i hope that was beneficial. from the ems division. last know mob we had 350 calls per day. medics follow calls were reduced on most days due to the staffing from the h3 level 1 and 2 bump

up academies. april 15th graduateded 13 level 2 paramedics the first level 2 academy since 2010. they are welcomed addition to station 49 and the fire department. on april 18. 183 level 2s and 6h33 paramedic captains entered the sick week program. this would not have been possible to put the people in the program if we were not previously hire and trained the h3 level 2 and 1 that were able to back fill for them to keep ambulances on the street. >> on april 16th work on the upon ambulance. the ems members weekend the new students and look forward to helping them gain the experience necessary to pursue career in ema and the chief mentioned 2 have been hired. a great program and successful.

finally an h3 level 2 academy class start on march 28 that the is 8 weeks they should be on the street very soon >> the supervision of section chief simon tang. they move in the their new home at 1415 even street they will finalize the mou's 5150's and training is schedule for those members from may 25 and june first. witness that is final the rescue captains will issue 5150 holds the training on april 18th will conclude on may 27th. 2 members will work immediately in a 7th street crisis team on mi28. and then on june 25th a second response team will be added and 4 more street wellness response teams will be added.

>> em circumstance conditions to connect the 911 system with services and assistance. and in the report it details a case last month. which is actually result in the zero 911 call this is mont after placed in a program which ems6 and her family worked on. what was a problem at the end of the last of march has been resolved in april. great success story there. street crisis response team. you gotta dig in the data to understand what they are doing and how much good they do there. they have 758 calls for service in april. the report details the disposition ranging from ambulance, emergency room. nonambulance transports and those who walked away. it is important to note in the statistics are the real impact numbers. currently 1 out of 4 encounters

results in a nonambulance transport to a resource or transport to emergency department. given it isville terto participate for the people to participate with our members and engage, this success rate is encouraging. near low 25% of the ambulance transports were for 5150 patients. the street over doze response team responded to 54 over dozes there is a pilot that allows paramedics to give a treatment for opioid dependence they have to be begin by a doctor we are allowed do it in the pilot program. last mont 3 people were start immediate this program. >> street wellness response team usa, dwo 94 encounters for april. 237 of those were on the by the

team. [inaudible] the fact they are self starters, 237 of those encounters on [inaudible] the team and shoes what the productive program them and will highlights the ability to recognize those on the streets or in need of service. >> 16% resulted in transport to a nonemergency resource. >> somewhere street crisis. street wellness having within and 4 transport rate to shelter being medical care or other care destinations. outstanding program there as well. there are fire prevention investigation. . they are conditioning efforts to process plans for the plan check division. upon 706 were in april. 637 plans were approved. they meet with the mta and the

transportation safety committee to review street scape changes which impact our fire response and access. weekly meeting miss take place with the design to rerue and provide comments on street scape plans for upcoming buildings and development projects. fire investigation responded 67 fires during april. all schedule inspections continue and finished end of fiscal year. in april fire prevention completed 1, 600 inspections and an inspector test this summer. at the airport they responded 438 calls for service. medics responded to 225 of them as well. and i like to notify chief brown tinlds to retire the end of june we issued an order for his

replacement and like to thank him for his job at the airport. division of training. 129th academy graduates june third they completed their department testing and completing now some of the live fire training and state required training that has to be done for the firefighter 1 and 2 certificate. the 6h3 level 2 academy graduated april 15th. 13 members. h3 level one number 20 will graduate on may 20, that is 25. h3 level ones in total. the captain from truck 5 selected fur the new in service training captain and in conducted the disaster drill on april 16th. 80 volunteers and we had a battalion exercise with our members the battalion chiefs and division chiefs to practice when

we do in an event of a disaster such as an earthquake. there are several pictures in the report. that show the type of activities taking place during those drills. our in service training conditions to offer instruction at the training approximate sillity approximate off sight when available. there are you photos showing an off sight location on powell where new firefighters shown in a real building how to open walls and ceilings and look for hidden fire in the buildings. that concludes my not brief report for april. >> [laughter]. >> thank you very much. at this point madam secretary any general public comment on chief postel's report? >> there is no public comment. >> opinion comment is closed. commissioners questions or comments for the chief? commissioner covington. >> i will be brief.

yea. and then commissioner morgan. >> great report, chief, postel. i like the videos with the fire boat. that is interesting. >> impressive to see what it can do. >> that was the beneatia fire. >> yea. >> all right. i have i dumb question, don't laugh at me. [laughter] >> tell me what this expression means when does that mean the full box of struck at the noe fire. what does that -- mean? so, the city is divide in the box essential low response box. and when there is a report of smoke or fire in a building, they will strike and guess back to the original dispatch days with the bell and they will dispatch a pull box assignment. everyone due if that your is dispatched to that incident the

report of fires and smoke we called it a full box. >> gotcha. that explains it. yea. >> and subsequential second and third alarms the next box assignment due at that box. >> interesting. >> you had a busy month. >> [laughter]. >> they were busy. worked hard and did a great job. we appreciate your service and bravery. don't get enough credit for that. >> thank you. >> appreciate you guys. so that's all i got. when i therein is another engage am on the books soon. that is all i got. i will let the commissioner covington take over. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, commissioner morgan and my arc pol gees. through the chair. i'm working up a video and can't see if you raised your hand in terms of that. commissioner covington at this point questions or comments for the chief in >> thank you, mr. president.

i had signaled my fellow commissioner he should go first. that's why he jump in the. thank you for your report chief postel. when you have so much to report -- it goes out the window it is a good and comprehensive report. before i get in asking you the few questions i have, do you want to assistant chief to say something she is in the room you did not see her come in. >> anything to add about your westportal fire or upper terrace. good morning any chance i with brag by my division i will be happy to. brevity is solo i will keep this short. so i'm delighted to report there was a third alarm at westportal

one of our favorite districts we like to shop there. and i can safely say that because of the men and welch san francisco fire department, westportal is safe and sound. there were a number of commercial units in this building the fire started from the roof am due to roofing work being performed. and unfortunately fires extended to the attic pace and as the chief stated about these boxes we have in the san francisco fire department. these box alarms go back over 155 years. fighting a fire is like keeping it to that box. a room in content is a box. once that fire extends and we know commissioner covington you were in my fire class in 2015, can you appreciate this. that our strategies to keep that fire in that box. whether the apartment, once it extended to the adjoining building that box grows big and

we flank it like a military strategy and tactics. we do that well in the san francisco fire department. and true to form, the men and women of the san francisco fire department employed aggressive, offensive attack, which is what we do well. . and have been doing it over 150 years. we are able to keep typeset to 2 upon buildings. it was a third alarm. consisting of 100 firefighters and we can't say enough about the work they did. so -- kudos to all and westportal is back in business. i will say another thing. as we went back to the build to review analysis and take aways, there were a lot of members of the community including retired assistant chief jim barry. and he was appreciative because who are the folks running these commercial units they are hard working people of san francisco who are operating the nail shon,

dry cleaners, sushi restaurant, the loved united states post office. some of us in our generation still use. the people in the community appreciated it and i can't thank the members enough. thank you. >> thank you. >> they will be open in a know month. you will be okay maureen. we have chief story the commander can give you a brief description, too. >> good morning. thank you, chief. i think chief postel summed it up limp the thing i would like to add is the 3 battalion chiefs there oshg conel, gearing did an excellent job keeping firefighters safe. and keeping it to a second alarm. >> thank you. >> thank you, both for that.

thank you very much. it'ds flesh to the bone for fellow citizens who are tuning in. to get a blinds the scenes report as to hagoos. because regular citizens are at street level looking up [laughter] and we see the things are happening but not sure. and as the chief mentioned i did take the semester long course in the introduction to fire science. i forgot how long the semester was. after thanksgiving there were classes. so -- [laughter] i learned a tremendous amount. thank you for that report. a very thorough and just as my

fellow commissioners have mentioned i love the videos and the level of detail -- it says if we were there. and and that's very helpful because we know that people work extremely hard and do do an excellent job. but it is nice to get the nuts and bolts of how the job was done. so, i appreciate that. and i wanted to ask you oh . when is the house warming for the evans street facility, has that happened yet? >> i'm not sure. you have a house warming scheduled? >> we are working and not planning activities. >> no festivities are planned. thigh busy down there.

>> i imagine they are. e approximately had you move house in addition to work that takes 16 hours a day. i wanted to make sure. can you talk about the. can't read my writing the new drug hacan being used previously only available. >> yea. >> the chief explain its better than i can. >> vice president, commissioners, secretary. chief postel and the command staff. your question, commissioner? >> what is that new drug that can be administered by members.

>> it is considered medication assisted treatment. similar to methadone, it it is a way for people who are opioid substance use disorder to substitute this medication for what it it is they are department on. methadone has been around for a long time. but the way it is structured people that are on methadone go to a clinic daily. and have to be benched drinking the methadone and establish a lot of consistency they have take home methadone up to 2 weeks. you see people on methadone it is restrictive. very difficult on take a vacation. you have to have -- several weeks of take home methadone you take with you. this is more convenient.

you can get it filled at a pharmacy and you can it is you know come in a bottle and a pill bottle and take it home with you. it is not clear why there are difference. between meth tonight and this one perhaps it is a journey generation donald trumping this drug binds much more red low to the receptor cites of bodies than upon ment nal or morphine or heroin. if someone take its the next 24 to 48 hours it helps prevent an over dose. and told's the next 24 to 48 hours it helps prevent an over dose. and told that highest risk factor for dying is survived one. we see it arc last. people that are in our ambulances begin it to leave because when you machine is given nar can it precipitates

with drawl symptoms the person is immediately not feeling limp not in a good mental pace and they want to go get high again. they get high and find that the second time sometimes in 12 hours they die. it is very, we want to be able to get it in if the most convenient, efficient and rapid manner. >> all right. i appreciate you were saying essential low it is a new generation drug. i remember methadone clinics for those who were addicted to heroin. and i can just with -- eyeballing as i go downtown and back and forth cross the city that heroin seems to be making a come back of sorts. champion is disstressing.

i'm not aware of the prevalence of heroin or if it is on the rise. i wanted to add you might have heard of another drug. this is the same. it is a different form ligz they have nar can add in the it to -- prevent people from shooting it up. am thank you. i locked at our vice president -- take the floor now and let me look at my notes so i can be brief if i have follow up. great report. >> thank you. commissioner. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. commissioner covington and morgan.

chief postel, thank you very much for your comprehensive report. your graph and narratives and experience again is greatly appreciated. i wanted to acbuilding and videos i'm not there at your conference room commission room. i wanted to acknowledge the chiefs, thank you very much for you coming and commenting and acknowledge the member and it is battalion chiefs. all of your work is great low appreciated. i will ask 2 questions in terms of chief tang andtermsof chief appreciated. i will ask 2 questions in appreciated. i will ask 2 questions in termsof chief tang and training appreciated. i will ask 2 questions in appreciated. i will ask 2 questions in termsof chief tang and training appreciated. i will ask 2 questions in termsof chief tang and training appreciated. i will ask 2 questions in termsof chief tang and training.

i wanted to thank the airport chief david brown in terms of he is leaving our department of the acknowledge his hard work and grateful for his service. i would like to ask chief paning tang a couple questions. i don't know if you have the report that we get from our commission meetings. i'm on page 22. and are you there. >> yes, i am >> look to where it is the middle. paragraph and basically talks about the person to person emergency on the street crisis response and street wellness response teams resulted in [inaudible] trans ported to appropriate care. i wanted to acknowledge that. the question in the following line is, it talks about police

code 800 b. what is 800 b? chief? >> police code 800 a report of an upon mentally disturbed person it may sound #. it is an arcake term that is how the code is defined. b priority mean there is is no report of violence or weapon. >> okay. page 26 to the success component and wanted to acknowledge that these -- report on the success are important. shows how much success we have within our department. and that is what i wanted to comment this morning with the chief. i like to move on to thank you very much. move on to chief in terms of

training. >> thank you. let me know when you are up. good morning vice president. i'm here. >> thank you very much. and referring to page 47. basically it talks about the training dates for various classes. if you note on top, second line. april 25th delivered the an fran leadership class to [inaudible] i need narrative for myself and colleagues. when you say leadership class with you describe that and describe the content of had that is? >> yes , sir. >> first good morning. vice president nakajo and commissioners. chief and command staff. deputy chief director of training. thank you for this question.

vice president, the leadership team building curriculum is over 3 days. in the lieutenant's academy we cut this down to 8 to 12 hours. in this curriculum we talk about the san francisco firefighter's mission and values. how those are aligned with our newer lieutenants in making decisions based on our mission and values. talk about team building. talk about operations. we have many discussions we talk about our mepp process and having the difficult discussions with the folks we work with. 24 hours a day. and we also talk about the deil we talk about i believe the last portion is courageous leadership. it takes 8-12 hours.

we do it in one-two days. >> okay, thank you for that. that helps me explaining things occurs. my question is why i'm asking i assume and don't want to assume in this department. that at the academy or in terms of the course work in terms of our new members who are going through training on the h2 level or lieutenant's level or battalion chief level; we offer in our department [inaudible] with the commission, we make trofrns [inaudible] military structure we have in the fire department. my question is that -- is there ever course work or some reenforce am to the concept of general orders? meaning that if a general order

is issued the members or officers the enforcement or membership meeting to comply with it -- have comment in terms of my question on general orders and that are dealt with? >> vice president nakajo, general orders are sent out in paper form and sent to each individual member. they get it in their we have an hrms, curator computerized in box. they are required review the general orders and acknowledged they reviewed them. every company officer at roll call at 8 in the morning reviews new or per nan general orders issued. everybody is familiar and from time to time when issues arise, we can refer become to the general orders and have them

referenced at roll call again, usually we push it down to the divisionor battalion chiefs. everybody is trained up in the general orders and -- [inaudible] >> thank you very much, chief, for that thank you very much. answers my question. chief, i will refer to page 49 and thank you for the following it was helpful. turn to page 49 the top of the page a picture. with green bags and that there is no description hathis picture is. can you describe know what that picture is? >> yes, vice president i should have looked at the report as we were sitting down and saw that picture and thought -- it looks ominous. what that is, this is during the upon 129th wild man training week. these are fire shelters used in

extreme circumstances. we train to a level so we never get here to this point where we have to deploy a fire shelter. in an attempt to out run the fire or we will experience a burn over. we do training in high winds with the fire shell and getting recruits in the shelters. effectively. we teach them which direction to face. where their feet should be direct. what they do with tools and how to prepare bfrment this deployment and communications during the deployment. you see the relation to the shelters in relation to southern we do that on purpose so that in that situation where there are high stress uncertainty. that those folk in the setters can talk to one another they are

close enough to hear to keep them encourage exclude in their shelters and safe. and to work as a team. in the situation like that, under that type of stress. the data shown that folks are gotten out of the shelters and have perished because of it. so, that's what you see part of the training they went through during that wild land week. >> okay. >> that does help. again the pictures are self self complaining, i thought i would ask you about these pictures are they men shelter bag? >> those are called. fire shelters. those are training fire shelters that's why they are green. on the outside they look like aluminum to reflect that heat away from the fire shelter.

the oranges case you see on the ground and that plastic just to the left of the top green shelter that is the case this it it is kept in. that hard case is slid in that orange pouch, which is carried on their side of the body the left or the right. the plastic up top -- is the encasing of the shelter. imagine the shelter on your right side they pull it out. take it out of the plastic on top. open it up in the winds. step in turn and go to the ground. then while there they start to tuck in in the back and sides to ensure that they have a good seal to protect from the heat under the shelter or ambers under the shelter. >> okay.

chief that is wildfires correct? this realization of the bags are? >> that's correct. this is used in wildfire situations. >> okay. the last question. on page 50 the following page the picture on the bottom with tremendous amount of members, can you describe that picture? what is that supposed to be? >> vice president, that is at 15 where are 0 powell street. we had a unique opportunity to bring the arc cad pee to this building and do training for 3 hours. here they learned building construction. they learned how to investigate. where a pyre s. if you imagine as the chief talked. we have a fire in ail building. once we get water in the fire we open up the walls and ceilings to ensure that fire is not in the spaces and traveling to the

attic and continuing to be a problem, we instruct our academy how to proper low use the tools to open up the walls. get the ceilings open to ensure we don't have fire in those spaces and traveling to unconfined areas. they learned forceable entry. laddering, hose techniques, all the things we use in our operations daily. that is unique opportunity to do those outside of the training facility in a real building that we go do every day. so that's the academy taking pictures out front and you see on 50th at the top that's what was the ends state of opening the walls and ceilings and even look to 49 at the bottom that is

utilizing the hooks. and pulling down that ceiling. all right. thank you very much. chooefr. that explains that. last question page 55 . the report. does that [inaudible] who is in charge of that program for the department? vice president that is lieutenant nancy galvin. >> thank you very much. thank you very much, chief postel and thank you very much are report back to commissioner covington if she has more questions at this time. commissioner covington. >> thank you, mr. vice president. and thank you for going over the photographs included in our packets. chief, i remember the great tragedy that happened may be 7

years ago and was it arizona? where about 14 firefighters were over come by fire was really very tragic. event. the whole squad was wiped out. i will never forget that. so -- thank you for bring up something that is important for people to know about. and thank you for your report. and i did have a couple of additional questions for you. chief postel. i was wondering if you could talk more about the street scape plans. and how those plans are developed and implemented? >> i think fire marshall hawthorn has the best insight in that.

since he sits on the meetings several times a week. >> thank you. >> i'm interested particularly in how these plans are impacting -- call response times. >> thank you for the question commissioner covington and commissioner morgan. vice president nakajo. and we have different members working with that sfmta a task captain who sits on the committee traffic safety committee. we have we interact with mta they come up with ideas and then they ask for our input and we go back to the field and see how tell affect sponse times we have concerns with activities. and we try to work through that with sfmta. based on responses and street width there are factors.

ultimately we run that throughout chain of command through myself based on field input. how we think we can w with it and do the upon chief post and he will up to see if we are ago to object or work further with sfmta. you may have heard we discussed working on a pilot. a project where we analyze how the projects are affecting our response times. it health care long are than expected. we have a third party. mta is paying for the study. hopeful low in the next few weeks one of the third or fourth phase of the project will come out. it is a global look of how some of the changes whether road diets they narrow down the streets and bike lanes and humps, bumps, cushions and the

next phase is a couple neighborhoods to analyze how that is working. so my staff and the fire prevention have different people work withes mta and find out what is affecting and go back to them and work back and forth on it. and plan how it can be approved and in the restrict our time response. who has the final word? >> deputy chief postel and the chief of the department has the final word from the department. we put forth and get through the information we can. and ultimately that is that process. >> all right. >> can and -- you said that mta is paying for the study? >> correct. >> we work together on the scope. through the mayor's office. and

agreed we would work together on the scope of the project. and we go upon biweekly meetings chief postel myself and others and have meetings where we see how things are progress with the study and provide input and sdrekt it will right way. how will this be shared. >> we worked out. we asked for a report so 1 part is how they came up with study or what inputs were put in the study. and they are onliving if you put this and take this out. and get down to the weeds of what may be slowing us down. and you know -- they are verifying our data they are using gps tracking of our

vehicles. we have a regular report we see where we are in response time wise for different vehicles and they are verifying that. hopeful low tell come in a report once we do it they will present that to the commission you will see it. and so will the sfmta commission and hopefully use that to direct where how the changes to the street scapes will occur in the city. >> okay, thank you. i look forward to seeing that report. >> because i'm concerned about the obstructions that the firefighters and the rigs have to get around in the city. noose i didn't asked who has the final say. >> the fire code we have a section this talked about -- traffic calming. so of -- the fire department has

a say in the city if anything affects our response time in regards to traffic calming. so that's why we are involved with this anded why mta come to us when they want to make changes to the street. it affects our responses. it is in a way violation of fire code but we worked together to make it a win for everyone. >> okay. i think that this is an on going topic i will put this that way >> it is. [laughter]. thank you for that information. >> thank you. >> commissioner remarks? >> sorry. >> and i want to make sure that i also congratulate the department chief brown who will leave the airport and retiring. so.

i see my fellow commissioner has questions. i think i posed all of the questions i had. >> commissioner covington and morgan you have questions. >> i was going to make a comment. [inaudible]. i respect the commissioner covington's concern about obstructions in the streets and stuff like that. but there are bright spots like the big project on vaness, that street scape. i don't think it is open but mta designd that should benefit you guys, right. getting down the bus lane. >> therure some changes that are--ing us with response times the dedicated bus and taxi lanes and things allow our routes unobstructed for us. there are some things they do this improve for us.

>> correct. right. designs like that are a great idea. i know you interchange with the mta and fire department can use the lanes. save a lot of lives. >> they are helpful. are that's all i got >> thank you very much. commissioner morgan. madam secretary. next item. >> item 7, adjournment. >> we are at item 7 i need a motion and second for this adjournment. >> so moved. >> thank you. commissioner covington. >> i second that. >> thank you very much. commissioner morgan. >> and vice president nakajo? i vote, yes. >> this meeting is adjourned at 10:12 a.m. >> thank you, appreciate it very much.

there's so much involved with becoming a firefighter. and as a component of being a woman in the field, it takes a lot of perception. it takes belief in yourself.

it takes asking the right questions of people who already have the job so that you have the confidence to build it and it takes someone telling you that this job is a possibility for you. my job has given me 25 years of satisfaction. the primary thing is that i grew up here in san francisco and i'm serving in the city where i grew up. i transitioned to community training and i was able to build disaster resilient padre of volunteers and bringing us all the latest information so that we can be ready for a disaster. pride and loyalty are the heart of a firefighter. it's in the way we do our job from the very smallest thing from our everyday checks we do of our equipment. from the way that we treat each other and the community we come in contact with every day. and loyalty is to our own families is to the pride we have in this department. it's to the other members when we're out in a dangerous situation keeping each other safe. it goes throughout every aspect

of being a firefighter. i'm really proud of the way our department approaches diversity, equity, and inclusion. i was hired in a class that had 45 people and 17 women. it was an accomplishment at the time, but there were many women that came before me that laid the ground work and i had to see it to be it. someone had to recruit me into this job. i didn't know it was a possibility for myself. and so the importance of young women seeing what it takes to be a firefighter, seeing themselves when they look at me. it really brings myself a lot of pride and joy in this work.

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

>> when i open up the paper every day, i'm just amazed at how many different environmental issues keep popping up. when i think about what planet i want to leave for my children and other generations, i think about what kind of contribution i can make on a personal level to the environment. >> it was really easy to sign up for the program. i just went online to cleanpowersf.org, i signed up and then started getting pieces in the mail letting me know i was going switch over and poof it happened. now when i want to pay my bill, i go to pg&e and i don't see any difference in paying now. if you're a family on the budget, if you sign up for the regular green program, it's not going to change your bill at

all. you can sign up online or call. you'll have the peace of mind knowing you're doing your part in your household to help the environment. >> good evening this is the meeting of the san francisco commission on the environment. today is tuesday may 10th. the time is 6:21 p.m. ringing use of cell phones and paging devices are