Transcripts For SFGTV Fire Commission 20240712

Executive orders and the mayors proclamation declaring the existence of a local emergency. During the coronavirus disease emergency the Fire Commission regular meeting room at city hall is closed and meetings of the Fire Commission. You may watch this meeting live at www. Sfgovtv. Org. Participate during Public Comment by phone and please dial 415 6550001 and use access code 146 122 0408. Members of the public will have opportunities to participate during Public Comment. The public is asked to wait for the particular agenda item and before make a comment on that item. Comments will be addressed in the order they are received. When the moderate era nounses that the commission is taking Public Comment, members of the public can raise their hand by pressing star 3 and you will be queued. Callers will hear silence when waiting for your turn to speak. Operator will unmute you when prompted, callers will have three minutes to provide comment. Ensure you are in a quiet location, speak clearly and turn off any tv. Item 1, roll call. President covington, [roll call] [roll call] im wondering who james smith is . James smith is the i. T. From sfgovtv. Got it, thank you. Ok. Item 2, general Public Comment. Members of the public may address the commission for up to three minutes on any matter within the commissions jurisdiction that does not appear on the agenda. Speakers shall address the remarks to the commission as a whole and not to individuals commissioners or Department Personnel. Commissioners are not to enter into debate or discussion with the speakers. The lack of a response by the commissioners or Department Personnel does not necessarily constitute agreement with or supports statements made during Public Comment. And i will check to see there is no one in the Public Comment line. Lets close Public Comment. Ok. Item 3. Approval of the minutes. Discussion and possible action to approve the regular Meeting Minutes on september 9th, 2020. There is nobody in the Public Comment section. Public comment is closed. Commissioners i move we approve, medicine am president. Thank you. Ill second. Thank you. All vote. [roll call] yes. And commissioner nakajo. Yes. The motion is unanimous. Thank you. Clerk item 4. Chief of departments report. Jeannine nickolson on current issues, activities and the Department Since the Fire Commission meeting on september 9th, 2020 including Budget Academy and special events and communications and outreach to other Government Agencies and the public. And report from administration, deputy chief, joe a velo on administrative division, fleet and facility status and updates, finance, support services, and training within the department. Thank you very much, president covington, commissioners, mr. Marine, command staff, chief nickolson. This is my report, weve had 28 covid positives in all, we still have people off work in quarantine and we had an issue with our wild land firefighters a couple of weeks ago and quite a few of them came back with covid and so we have adjusted our policies and we now have the latest group that came back, we didnt have any covid positive so i believe weve addressed that really well. Some really good news, a grant, we are working with fema. Theyve awarded us a grant and were working with them, mark corso is and hopefully well be able to receive the funding some time later this year. It is a 13. 7 million grant that will fund an Academy Class of 36 people and pay for their salaries for three years. So there will be no impact on the general fund. This is really great news. Because we didnt think we were going to be able to hire anybody for several years. This will save us quite a bit in overtime money. We are also receiving a grant for over 600,000 for three new mini pumpers. The mini pumpers are the small vehicles we drive into mclaren parks and other parks to put out grass fires. And we are definitely aged and this will be wonderful to have them replaced. It will take a while before we get them replaced. But those are the grants that mark korso is working on and i want to thank them for following. We have to meet with the mayors Budget Office to get final approval but its free money. Were hoping for the best. Apologies, there goes my phone. The chief has been working really hard on shared space platforms outside dining and park lets. I know he has been involved in extensive meetings this week with this growing program. We want to do our best to support all businesses that are reopening and we have to also ensure that they follow the fire code and that we have access both for fires and for patients to all these buildings. Fire marshal, do you want to say anything further about that . Yes, chief. Good evening. We have our inspectors. Theyve been inspecting and surveying the districts and all the commercial areas and the platform construction and identifying any Fire Department access issues and we put a Team Together with dpw and we have prioritized those that are most urgent and while working with the Business Owners and we have just began that. Actually today. So, were focused on it and it will be an ongoing review and i think were in good shape. Thank you, very much fire marshal. Yes, we absolutely want to support the citys reopening and we want to do it in the safest, most reasonable way possible. I want to call them out again. Theyre doing some pretty incredible work in terms of getting people into the treatment programs that they need. They will also be well be ramping up a Critical Response team so you may want to have either chief tom or simon pang give an update on that in the next month or so. Theyre just out there doing a lot of great work and really the Mayors Office is happy with them and azzam i. And the want to note the chief is off this week so chief tang is in the house and he will happily answer them and i also want to introduce our newest member of the command staff. This is going to be assistant deputy chief of Homeland Security. And she has worked with nurture she has run nert single handlely for years and years and id just like her to say hello and say a few words. Im happy to have you here so thank you for saying yes. And just one last little note. Lets all give a shout out to chief cochran who had a little knee reconstruction today. So, just think a good thought for him. And that concludes my report. Thank you, chief. Madam secretary, are there any members of the public with comments or questions. Public comment is closed and i will go to my fellow commissioners. Commissioners,. I cant see everyone. Thank you, very much, madam president. Just awe couple of comments. I want to congratulate captain on her appointment as a chief of Homeland Security. Im very excited of that selection. And im very much am gratified. I wanted to congratulate director and the team chief inaudible for a fire academy. I think its a major, major, major announcement. Particularly since we werent scheduled for any classes this year. I just cant think of anything better than that as a boost in the arm. Congratulations for the result. Thats all i have at this point madam president , thank you. Commissioner rodriguez. So, i. Confused here but its nothing new. So, i wanted to make two points and i think its regarding a grant but i dont know if it was mentioned regarding surgical masks and receipt pir eightor rs whoever is doing the grant writing. I have two daughters that are nurses, and the moral sometimes varies because of the availability of surgical mask and eye protection and stuff they need and when theres a shortage of that the moral is pretty bad. And then, not another note, my wife is a director of a preschool and theyve never been able to have someone that goes after grants and theyre upset when they hear of other people applying for grants and getting them so you do have that person that does it. I wanted to say i think its really important, like chief nickolson said, its free money and its out there and you just have to have the way to get it and im willing to add that president covington was telling me earlier that they fought for this and now you are seeing the reward. I just wanted to give a congratulations for the work that you are doing. Thank you very much. Commissioner cleaveland. I want to add this foresee curing these grants and i think theyre fantastic. 13. 7 fema grant is really huge and to fund an Academy Class of 36 individuals for three years is an amazing accomplishment and im just delighted to hear this and theres through fema as well and we have a couple other applications pending but that was the most recent award with the firefighters Grant Program. Keep up the good work, mark, your team are doing fantastic stuff. These times of budgetary constraints and almost every other department at the city were so fortunate to get these grants. I also wanted to congratulate captain erika on her new deputy chief status and Homeland Security and she will do a fantastic job so congratulations. I have a couple of questions for the chief. You mentioned chief, that the policies were changed inaudible because we had former firefighterses coming back who had covid. What changes policies did we change that needed a difference in so our guys and gals coming back inaudible are not catching covid now . Whats different . Commissioner, cleaveland, im going to turn this over to the chief who oversees the mutual aid. Ok. Good afternoon, mr. President , Vice President inaudible . So, after that incident, were at threefold. Prior deployment, during deployment and after deployment. inaudible temperatures and questionnaires and make sure everyone had the proper p. P. E. While running the apparatus and during the deployment we make sure we are here to the cal fire or Forest Service policies we have our own policies to make sure everyone adheres to those too and everyone that gets back from a deployment gets tested regardless of the exposure or if they werent sick but if members are supposed to member that is a sick or less members, or they get direct contact exposure then they get quarantined for five days and we require two negative tests prior to going to work. While the concerns we have is that not only they came to work as sick from deployment also bringing back to the fire house. They are deployment. We cover them. We believe that this is making a difference so far and i think were doing a good job with that. Thank you, chief. Chief, one other question and that deals with the difference between our em6 program and the Critical Response teams. Whats the difference between the em6 and the Critical Response teams . Whats the difference between those two . They are both Community Para medicine. Ems6 is a small slice of the pie that deals with our frequent users of 911 and we work oneonone with them to get them into services, connect them into services and get them the help and the stability that they need. Some of these folks are homeless and some most of them are homeless and unhoused, and some of them do have a place to live. The crt, the Critical Response team, what that will be is and again, ems6 goes out just with one paramedic captain. Although we have partnered with publichealth a couple of times. The Critical Response team will be a partnership with the department of publichealth and an advanced Healthcare Practitioner and a peer support person. Someone who has gone through homelessness or addiction or the like. We will respond to the calls that people were sent to and where its not a Law Enforcement issue. And that it is, you know, social work or medical that is required. The department of Emergency Management, the Police Department, Fire Department, 311 there are different entities working together to figure out how to get those calls and how to triage those calls differently instead of sending everything to the Police Department and there are 21,000 calls i believe last year for the Police Department that they want to sort of shift to a different type of response. Are we going to have the capacity to deal with that . I mean, how many of these Critical Response teams are we going to have i mean to deal with 21,000 calls over a year and it sounds like well need more than one. Were going to need a lot of them. Yes, we were budgeted somewhere over 2 million for this so we can higher new folks, how much ex will he were we putted for the Critical Response team. G. Yes. In our budget allo case there was a 2 million line item for this program, however, its the intent that in conjunction with the work of dph this program and the related expansion of it will be funded by some of the prop c revenues that were recently just approved to be used from that revenues from a couple ballot measures ago and some of that revenue is anticipated to spur this program where the 2 milliondollar allocation we received in our budget is money to get started. We are hiring in earl and late winter so we will have the capacity to grow this program. How many Critical Response teams do you anticipate needing over the course of the next year . Meals are marked, do you know how many we are shooting for . Were going to start with one team as a pilot that will test some of the procedures were going to use. Were developing a lot of Community Paramedic procedures along with publichealth, how were going to approach these calls and were working on some of the dispatch product kohls and in march the first thing was december to march is our ramp up phase. During that phase, and the initial that initial team will be captains reassigned from other ems6 roles and it will be a good chance to have them sort of beating back since theyre already Community Paramedics and during that time well also be having our next Community Paramedic class where we anticipate training and additional 20 Community Paramedics. With 12 of them being slated to help us ramp up to have six units available. Thank you very much, this is a Important Program which is why im asking these questions and why im asking how fast we can ram up and theres a lot of need out there. How quickly can we address that and do we have the funding to do so . I appreciate those time tables. Thank you. Thats all my questions. Thank you, chief. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you, commissioner cleaveland. I did see the voice president is there. Do you have questions . I have a couple and i a apologize for being late and i dont like webex and it does not like me. Which is i thank marine for her des pat attempts because they were successful in connecting me to the meeting. Thank you maureen. Another comment is i wanted to also welcome chief barteseros. I heart great things about you and i know you have big shoes to step into and everything tells me you will do a phenomenal job. I look forward to meeting you one day in person but your work is so important. The more i learn the more i realize that. So, thank you for being willing to step up and fill in. And in terms of questions i have, oh, and i did want to also just commend mr. Corso and his team for the money. Boy, that is really something. I mean, we can call them grants, we can call them whatever we want, its money. Important money. You guys couldnt have done a better job so thank you. Really, thank you. Ok, chief, two questions for you. Ready . Yes, maam. Ok. Question number one. These park lets that i saw today walking there are two more going in. Are we going to have now all parklets all over . Is that a plan . Are we going to limit the parklets . Theyre made of two by fours, i was watching the construction of them and i would imagine they could pose a problem. Based on how theyre place and where theyre placed, should there be a structure fire, should there be, you know, i saw one that was all set up and theyre putting all these candles along the cubicals and theyre multiplying at a rapid rate. I dont know the plan and i dont know if you know the plan. I dont know if you heard did you hear fire marshal speaking earlier . I did not. Fire marshal, can you address the Vice President , please. Absolutely. Hell oh commissioner. Yes, so we have a team in place. So, were looking at Fire Department access. Access to the site and its our fire lane, fire access and staging at the site. We look at staging at the site is how do we access the building. Thats why we have requirements for every 20 feet. Were supposed to have a three foot break. We will limit the overhead wires and those are the things were looking at. The lead agency and the permitting agency for the public is department of public works not the Fire Department. We are there snow squalls a referral for fire clearance and Fire Department ak said operations and and up until the now, the some of the platforms construction got a little bit of ahead of us. Anything with open flame, candles or propane or heaters is a regulated activity in the fire code. If businesses are using those, they are required to get a permit from the Fire Department. There may be businesses out there with someone has gone ahead without that but that is why we are surveying these sites and hopefully catching all of those and communicating with the Business Owners and informing them what those requirements are. Thank you. I think its really important. Theyre springing up all over. I can see the problem that they might present. If i may Vice President , this is new to all agencies, i want to thank the fire marshal for awful his work on this and its super important and he is the man. So, ive been down this road before in terms of dealing with folks on the street who need add cystance back in the 90s, this is not a new issue. And the involvement of the Police Department for lack thereof, or exclusion thereof, it is not a new issue. My concern is i dont understand how whoever gets called if its 911 or whomever will be able to sort through what information is getting and it tends not to be very much to know whether its facing danger and it concerns me that you have people who are social workers, community workers, medics, and they may find themselves in a very bad situation and and i dont how the quick screening is going to be protect them so we ensure their safety. I know that is a concern as well of everyone and there have been times, to your point, where weve showed up to a call and oh, this person just got shot. Where are the police . What are we doing here . Things sometimes fall through the tacks and im going to let the chief speak on this but its a concern of everyone going in and thank you. Thank you, chief. Thank you commissioners. Yeah, i was really just, before this on a meeting with chief pang and the folks at dem and folks from dph discussing during, wore going to take several approaches to this during the ramp up phase and were looking at having the crisis Response Teams still co responding with police. Of the 20,000 calls how many of them can we safely say we dont need a police response. We know theres a significant amount where our crews will not face any danger and having done this crisis intervention work on the street as well, it also as we teach them well have focus on deescalation techniques and doing threat assessments. Thank you. Well, ive been so excited about these grants. Its just amazing. I dont know if our new commissioners are aware but we have, from time to time, been using a lot of people because we had mandatory overtime. We didnt have enough people and we had mandatory overtime and that i is a very expensive endeavor. To have a class we know will be paid for vicima for throw years, that is just so extent because thats money that does not have to come from our general fund and hopefully we can have money for other pressing needs. So that grant and the 600,000 grant is just fabulous, you know. It has made my week. Im happy for this money. Thats good. Kadokudos for all those that wre the grant. They have to write for approval and i cannot imagine any circumstance that could prevent that approval. This is exciting news. I want to welcome the deputy chief, i know her well from all of the very, very hard work that shea has done on our volunteer arm and she has been getting people out to work at the food banks anbanks and all of that. Its really good to see her move to this position so welcome. Thank you. I appreciate the warm words and i look forward to working more with you. Very good. And i wish that chief cochran, a speedy recovery. With his surgery and we miss you and hopefully you will be back soon. I also wanted to ask the chief about the move and how things are going. Hell oh commissioner. Im still here. The one stop van ness. Its going well and were changing things up. As far as processing the applications, d bye has handled the fireonly applications. Starting on monday to help with if sa tating the transition well process, meaning, call control check on intake and apply an application number and collecting fees for fire only and that should help speed things up and on another note, a positive note, the volume plans were seeing an increase, a steady increase, were not where we used to be but were moving in the right direction and things are looking good. When you say the plans that are being presented, how focusing mostly on additional dwelling units or are you just speaking broadly. We have a separate team that handles adus and thats a team that thank you, fire marshal. I also wanted to welcome chief tagarini. Thank you for being here this evening. I appreciate your efforts. Ems6. What is the roll out for the new configuration of that . So, the roll out for ems6 and the Critical Response team. The Critical Response team. Theyre going to be six new teams, is that correct . Not until next march. Well roll one team out in december and it will be the pilot and well workout a lot of the kinks there and then its going to take us time to train people up to hire some more folks and train some Community Paramedics up. Were hoping for march and dph is up staffing for them and and the first one in december. People need this assistance. Thank you. I already asked for Public Comment. So, i will ask again just to make sure no one is tuned in since i inquired last. No one on the Public Comment line. Thank you, Public Comment is again closed and calling next item, please. We have the report from administration and. Welcome, chiefs, this is my deputy chief administration and this is my report for the months of august and im going to share my presentation which highlights some of the events that happened in the month of lets see you can see it, can you . Can you see it now . We can see it. There you go. Perfect. Thank you. So, again my report for the month of august, im going to start way brief update on a situation right now that we are assisting the state. We have right now 37 members deployed and 36 at the creek fire which is northeast of fresno and south of yo sem tee with eight engines and so we have four leaders and this fire is 32 contained and you see the size of it. One of the 26 fires right now, major fires in the state of california. Good news is the fires that we were dealing with recently, on the area here of santa cruz, its contained and the su on the Alameda County and in the east bay is also contained as well too so theyre doing a good job with that so its been going everywhere else. The crews have been rotating. This weve been here for a month now. We have a twoweek policy we rotate our crews for their safety and people will get more experience too and we Just Launched a single Resource Planning so fourth so this is a perfect way for us. This is some of our crews working on the creek fire and and 10 firefighters from new jersey Forest Service coming to help california and the state of need and they went up north to fight the fires up north so that was interesting. Thank you very much for your support and we are happy to assist oes in this endeavor. They completed six months test and will move to their new provision ari aria signment. Even though chief and his staff thought they would be a quiet on the Training Division it wont be happening so were ramping up for that next class. We have applications and in Service Training cam tin and interviews were conducted and they will be announced in the next couple of days and the captain is returning to the field and and ems training conducted several session of tack kickal medical train ing our partners at sfpd and the ser i haves office and theyre well received and its great to Work Together and we know the players we will know who is working with them and exactly what to do and all the fires and training weve been doing with covid, have been reduced and we continue to do provision ary training and Company Training and so we continue to do that. Here are some of the puck tures on the left hand bottom, you have training happening and the right top and the right top is a building where we can practice opening up in case of a emergency and president covington, you will be happy to know those are props for drone training. Weve had drone and we drop something from the drone and it takes a picture so our drone technicians can get more proficient. I want to welcome our canines to the department. Jax son cassie and their handlers. They graduated from the academy and members of the department as well and working with task force streets. Our alert team, sad to lose our longtime captain and im so happy to see her, after this procession and theyve been doing awards led by her and assistant covid on test sites and food banks, all over the city and this is national nerd week. Not just in emergencies and earthquakes and they were able to set up so were grateful for them. And just in time she got a scratch wevvan. She has a brandn that is able to go to the training and this is a day the keefchief handed the keys too. Our chief of health is enjoying a nice few days off right now on vacation and were working hard with the peer support and the Response Teams that we have created for our team and the next slide what the flow chart would be. This past week was the Suicide Prevention week and we sent information from our members to review and make sure theyre aware of that and they can identify all the members that may have issues and they continue to work on the update from the prevention policy but the peer support teams if you recall from the presentations we have about 40 members on the peer support and about 20 of those became sirt members and theyve been going through training thanks to the former commissioner and so lets say we have a traumatic event and the officer of the member or the member it goes through the division chief and different avenues. That is the goal for that for support when the event overwhelms the understaffed, we can support with special training and do mass debriefings so that is the goal their this sirt team. It was an injury and also busy working remotely and we have scheduled flu vaccinations not just at her quarters but the stations doing a lot of exams, physicals and have monitored which is a new set shes been producing and lots of information about covid and all the focus of Mental Health as well too and she also did some visits before her accident. So, october 7th, throughout of month of october we are really focusing in case our numbers of the vaccination and we have headquarters for our members clinic so that we can have some flue vaccinations but were going to the station and having different stations for members to come in and our goal is to get 70 or higher and and and busy with random tests and all negative its tracking all the members that are assisting in Covid Response so we can get them back. Our planning and moving into people for the new positions and preparing for the vacancy bid and next step is a the vacancy bid coming up and completed the vacancy for station 49 and we have six new engines with the completion date of october and rotate them and the policy has been that the stations get him and slower stations get other new engines that they have a couple years so we can they dont take and they do the bigger stations one and three and they get a lot of those so we have a plan, the chief operations to approve this plan and to other stations so going through some issues that we find on the first rack and our goal is to make sure all the issues and problems and adjustments are clear from the first track and then the six next once will come on the same way the same issues solved so its no other issues so were working with the vendor and we hopefully get this solved soon. They have been delivered and we close the bid, we had the bids for the host enders. Were get fog so that is good news is theyre now waiting for decals and thats good news because our fleet replaced or this grant really helps us out too. Facility and we talk about the host hours and have been removed and we working the roof that has left the holes and the tower has. Part of the community and even though well take down the rebuild to safe standards and station and the neighborhood and we also work on some underground fuel tanks for stations 8 or 9 and what were doing on station 49 and this is the latest particular tures on the left is the facades and the right you have the field docking station and we can feel the ambulance there and you have the storage and the lockers on station 49. Station 35, working well with that station and you see on our beautiful orange we had a week and a half ago and that were working and interior now we have pictures of the first floor and second floor so progress is o doing well and projections in march of next year thats all i have. A lot of information object my report and im happy to answer questions that you may have and that concludes my presentation. Can you hear me now . Thank you for your report. I did ask the Commission Secretary if there were any numbers of the public. I will check. I would like to speak. Theres no one on the line. Thank you so Public Comment is closed and commissioners, ill go to you to see if you have. Thank you, chief, for your report and and overseeing and i want to thank you for your leadership of them and were moving ahead on Different Levels to address different kinds of problems and i try to redo a bathroom and it takes a year. Hats off to you that we know you have a great team behind you but this is really quite an impressive report and its going to keep our department in the right direction so thank you, commissioner. Thank you, very much, madam president. Thank you very much chief and thank you very much for as a Vice President as row marks i wanted to take advantage of these Conference Calls and if you will and i find myself doing a lot of reading for the reports so i do enjoy it. I have two questions. One question is out of the Airport Division and the chief on the front part of your item 1 is says there were three inaudible drills in august. As a point of information, could you please describe what are red cap drills . Johnson, the major drills this is chief mark johnson. The red cap drills are sent to the battalion drill and essentially they encompass all the different agencies around the airport from the police, f. B. I. , airfield safety, we troy to have a drill that are particular to it and particular agency and it will be facilities or something and they tend to go more and airplane type of incident and its something that the required by the faa that we do it every month as part of the aftermath of aish ian a crash. I think you are muted. Thank you, chief. Are there any question is, off the report of a recruitment, with firefighters keith and well probably refer the questions to one of our colleagues and talks about and in this report, he talks about 45 members with 35 participants. About twothirds of the participants were new and in this report, my name is mentioned commissioner cleaveland participated for a portion of the class and spoke as well and commissioner cleaveland, could you share your response with this august recruitment event so we can get an inside how it went as you participated. Absolutely. I thought the power points were put up were instructive and having gone through the ranks and what new recruits should expect in the department. I was impressed with the scope, if you will, of the presentation, and i want to see a lot more of that so, you did a good job in my opinion. Thats all questions i have, thank you. Thank you, commissioner. I will go back to commissioner cleaveland. There is an opportunity to talk about anything . Oh, you bet. Thank you, very much. Madam chair. Back to those red cap drills, were are they called red cap drills . Chief johnson . Thats a good question. The first person that did it 30 years ago had a red cap on. I dont think it was anything particular. [laughter] ok. I had a question of who is going to replace erika now at nirt . As the head of nirt . Do we have candidates or can we announce that yet . We just opened that. Obviously with the announcement of her selection we put a general order out for candidates and it will be interviews and i believe the closest application period and then well go through the interview process and see who would like to be that team. It will be hard shoes to fill obviously. You bet. I guess you have a list of qualifications for that position, correct . Absolutely, yeah. So you will be looking at those. You talked about the canine program and i had a question on that. We have how many dogs do we have work forgeroworking for the dept currently . We have four now. Are they considered members of the department . Are the dogs members of the department . So yes and no. Yes, they are able to be deployed to the departments. Theyre also part of California Task force three. They stay in the fire house and then when California Task force 3 calls them and who is next on the rotation and we call but they never got called. My question row solves around who pays for those canines and the vet costs and pays for the food and the upkeep for the canines . We have an agreement. California task force three and through fema we get reimbursed for the cost. We are handling maintain it so inaudible and they get the row i areimbursement. The firefighters that do have these canines get reimbursed for the cost of the canines . Medical care and you will that d of stuff. It wasnt clear that that was happening. Whats in the inaudible . Its a ems6 will deploy off. So its a suburban or a ford that they can handle the crow going to the response for ems6. Its a little ambulance . A smaller version of our ambulance or what . Its a small s. U. V. Ok, s. U. V. They dont transport. We talk about the flu shot and we will hope to ram up up under the previous doctor less than half of our rankandfile got flu shots and i hope ta will be 100 per if it was not for the department they will get them through their healthcare providers. My question to you, is it mapped tory that you are rankandfile and every pem of the department get flu shots and i understand from cdc and other sources this year will be critical for everyone to get a flue shot due to the covid and the resurgence that is possible to have in the future from covid is mandatory . The answer is no. We are keeping to make sure that they have High Percentage of complete they can chose for our community and theyre hrms system that they have to also comply and say whether theyre taking it or not. And if they refuse, its a privacy and they have to acknowledge that and what are you going to do as much as we can to increase those numbers and they think 50 is not enough and we want 100 but we want 150. Is it not possible we can make it mandatory and is it not allowed . Why think commission. For the Public Safety or their own . I just find it odd we cant require that as a condition of employment. What about getting van scenes for shingles and what not . Is that also required or not required . Commissioner vaughn o recommended if. We require tb testing. Some things that we require is part of the condition employment. We require tb shots but not flu shots. We require tb testing but not flu shots. And we do hearing testing and theyre not mandatory for the general population but we encourage our responders to have that. I conquer, chief. And frankly i think it should be a condition or mapped tory and a condition of employment to have these vaccines for their own welfare as well as the public. You talked about throw fire station main lines being reported out of sir vis and i didnt understand what that meant under the support Services Report and i wonders what they are and what were the mainland out of Service Reports all about and why do they happen and what were they more specifically . So the mainland is our main telephone line and they have the structure for our main lan is obsolete and its needed repairs and we do get them more frequent than before and they need to be prepared. Now we are transitioning to a digital system in the near future and so theres structures and the its already in place and we have to look it up. Telephone lines are aging and they need repairs and that group is within less than 24 hours theyre repaired. We have back up Communication Systems and our line snitch that was my followup question was back up, yeah. You talked about these towers being removed or have been removed, correct . Correct. Was there any discussion prior to removing them . Whats the cost to remove each of these towers . Whats the cost . On the average . I can look at those numbers and i dont have it in front of me. It was earthquake safety. Right. I was wondering why there wasnt a way to wrap them with steel wire or someway to encase them so they would not fall down and crumble in the event of an earthquake. Was there no other decision to remove them and no other discussion of maybe to keep them and to reinforce them and make them not able to fall down. Those are our partners that recommended that we remove the towers for safety purposes. So we follow their guidelines for building construction. When you talk about the production and inspections from the apparatus are still delayed due to the covid19 pandemic, what can be done there . Has that factory already started up again, right and are we going to be back on schedule with these vehicles first in. It started a little bit but what dew is we transported the truck that was pulled there into a riverside facility and from there we transported into the city so the first place is we talked last month was already here. Everything is delayed and we have minimum staff interesting. As today ram ups up and the changes were building from them we hope that things are faster. Hopefully next month you will have an updated delivery for inspections as well. I will. Thank you very much for your report, chief. Thank you. And your questions madam president. Ok, thank you. Id like to go to commissioner rodriguez. So, you are one of the last and everything you were going to ask are covered. I would like to thank you for your report. Also, Vice President feinstine said im amazed at all the different hats you wear and that you have to deal with. Its a learning process and i just want to give you my thanks for being this professional and as confident as you are. The last thing, not so much for the chief, for ive gle neglecto congratulate for accepting the position you did and stepping forward and i hope that i can meet you in the future. And thats almost everything i was going to say anyway. Thank you, very much. Thank you. Thank you for your report chief. You said that 37 members of the department were deployed and eight engines are are you able to tell us what it is that might have led to the high numbers of infection at the very beginning . So, we did some contact traceing and obviously theres some hipa issues here but obviously working in the conditions that the folks work, they came from the same Engine Company in an enclosed cab going from the fire area back to camp so that was a factor too and then they Work Together in short spaces whether theyre building fire lines so space yourself and a fire fire too. This is a question for the chief of the department. Chief nickolson, theres been a lot of press given to the fact there are people who are incarcerated on the frontlines and that the governor has now issued an edict that says people that have done their time that can be considered to work in the various departments and San Francisco and so chief nickolson, i think that theres one person who has left every department in the past few years who actually was a person who was able to turn his life around and became a member of the department. Are there any other people who have become members of the department . Formally incarcerated people . So, president , you are speaking of Assembly Bill 2147, which does allow a formally incarcerated individual who was a firefighters while incarcerated to petition the judge to have their record expunged. Deputy develo vello and i partid in a forum a week or two ago about this very issue with some van jones and a bunch of others of the just to sort of talk about this it hadnt been signed at that point. It has since been signed. And, we also met with formerly incarcerated individuals two men and a woman who were firefighters while they were incarcerated and what theyre doing with their lives now and i would have hired any one of them. They were incredible people. They really they are everything that we look for in firefighters. So, i am looking forward to seeing what we can do in the future. Very good. It might be something that can be included in firefighters inaudible pitch to get the word out that this is something that is new for all those departments within the state and so there are people who might still be able to become firefighters who heretofore would have not even thought that would be a possible profession for them. Thank you. And lets see, im going to go back to the chief. I love the drone props but i dont understand how they work. [laughter] so, the way they work is that you place in those buckets out in the field or the yard and then the drone operator has to navigate the drone to a point where they can see inside the bucket. So the camera focuses. Thats where the angle was. I see. You demonstrate their skill level when able to do all the buckets. So theyre able to be spot on yes. And hold it in the right spot. Yes, yes. Ok. And, we had how many people go through a drone training. Was it six . I believe so. I believe so, yes. I cant remember the number. But theyve all been certified now . I think some have been certified and im wait forgeron two mors reports and thats homd security but yeah. Thats very good to have the drone and the people. Kudos for that. And of the flu vaccines, i heard commissioner cleavelands comments regarding the flu vaccine. I think were going to have a higher rate of inoculations now that you can get the flu shot in the fire house. I think thats a very, very good thing. If you have to go to headquarters and the hours are limited and by the time you get home, all of the drug stores are closed but doing it in the fire house i think our numbers will go up considerably. All right. And, i think thats all that i have for you. Oh, i wan i wanted to say that e arrival of the firefighters from new york that here jet and then the equipment that rolled out of it was amazing. Leave it to new yorkers, right. Im a new yorker by birth. [laughter] so, it was like really. You guys are showing out here. So, thank you for showing that to us. Thank you. Madam secretary next item, please. Clerk item 5 resolution 202001, discussion and action proposed resolution 202001 recommending that the board of supervisors authorization a San Francisco Fire Department to retroactively accept and expend a grant in the amount of 883,145. 45 from the federal Emergency Management agency to purchase personal protective equipment related to its covid19 response efforts. Thank you, madam secretary. Mr. Corsos. Yes, good evening, madam president , commissioners, staff, finance and planning to speak on the next item and continue one of the themes from this meeting with regards to grants. This is to have Fire Commissioner approval and recommendation to the board for allocation of recent award of the fiscal year 20 assistance to fire Year Supplemental Grant Program through fema. As part of the cares act legislation a few months ago the federal government outlined a program for fema Grant Programs specifically for Fire Departments to request approval and allocations for p. P. E. , personal protective equipment as it relates to the covid pandemic for the midst of the response that its currently going through as well as planning for the fall and continuation of just having general supplies of p. P. E. For preparedness. The department that requested the close to a Million Dollar allocation for items such as gloves, masks, gowns, et cetera, and main front line p. P. E. Equipment and so, we are the department was happy to be awarded 883 in federal funds an [please stand by] [roll call vote] its unanimous. President covington thank you. Next item please. Item 6. Commission report, report on Commission Activities since last meeting september 9, 2020. President covington commissi oners . Commissioner cleaveland i was part of that zoom meeting on recruitment. Thank you for letting me make those remarks. President covington are there any other commissioners that would like to report out . Vice president feinstein i had my first covid safe field trip since ive been a member of the commission. Escorted quite nicely by chief cochran and captain smith. Firwhich was fire station 5 and. They were quite different. It was very interesting to see how they operated differently. It was as fascinating to see things like the old [indiscernible] just lot of tradition. You can really since it in the station. Also, we paid a visit to the fire folks. It was a beautiful day. We got lucky it wasnt smoky and the sun was out. That was really nice. It was really nice to see that again. Then from captain smith got really a great tutorial on the water system and then a tour of the pump room. I have so much more to learn about it. Was enthralling to me, especially not having any kind of science or physics background, just the way the system was designed, what the backup measures are i was just i thought it would be way over my head. It probably is because it was a tutorial for me. I learned so much. It made me realize how complicated and difficult it is to fight a fire in this city and all the things that can go wrong. As the chief says, everything needs to be duplicated, you see the many different ways water comes and goes and where it flows. It was really exciting morning for me. Im going to try to rope someone else into taking me somewhere else for a day. I really would like to see ems6. But not right now. I think i want to wait a little while longer. Got to get out to the airport and see all the cool stuff they have. I have a whole list of fire stations im determined to go to every single one of them as i can. I figure i can just knock on the door and introduce myself. I have to say, im sorry, i got to see a ladder drill at station 5. That is really something worth seeing if anybody hasnt seen it. Better them than me. It was really it was something to be really proud of. It was cleaning day and everything was sparkling and shiny and there was a discipli discipline. The accomplishment of this group and way they Work Together was really impressive to me. I had no idea about ladder is a ladder. Not so. Im learning. Im just very grateful to those people who took their time to help start he learning process. President covington thats fantastic. Were going to have to hopefully well keep up with Vice President feinstein. Commissioner nakajo just a few remarks. As you have remarked, wish the best to chief Michael Cochran in his speedy recovery. Only other thing i wanted to remark is we received a letter of appreciation and thanks from the chief [indiscernible] president covington thank you. Commissioner rodriguez . Commissioner rodriguez ident ify been quarantined ive been quarantined at home. I dont really have much to report. President covington i understand. We all understand. Thank you commissioner rodriguez. We have the Vice President and i, we are reviving our tradition of meeting with the chief of the department before our Large Commission meeting. Thats going on. Whenever people can get out or join any of the various meetings that go on within the department, i think thats very good. Commissioner feinstein was able to probably really understand the tremendous tradition that exist in the Department Without wooden ladders, with the leather helmets. Theres so much tradition in the department and then as you mingle with the members, you get more of an idea of how these traditions originated. We will always be meeting remotely. At least i hope not. Soon well be all be able to get out and about. Any last comments . Madam secretary . Theres nobody on the attendee line. I did get notification from sfgov tv that once the 415 number is not working correctly. I dont know if thats a problem. Vice president feinstein tried to call in using that number. Sfgov tv is working on that problem. I apologize to anybody that tried to call in and was unable to. President covington to anyone who tried to call in and wasnt successful, please just drop a note to the Commission Secretary and someone will answer your questions. Thank you. Next item please. Item 7[indiscernible]. Commissioner nakajo i do the chief being part of our meeting this evening. I thought that when she comes back, perhaps we can get a brief update. President covington thank you. Any other commissioner . Commissioner cleaveland i noted in our package we had a letter complaining about noise from the fire engines or the fire trucks within that neighborhood. My question to you, maybe something the chief can address in the next meeting, what is the protocols for cueing alerts or blasting fire engine horns and what not. I dont know what they are. I know the person that wrote this letter said something about a memo that went out from the previous [indiscernible] regarding use of the horns. In particular fire stations in various residential areas. I thought that might be whats going on here and what are the rules regarding the big horn. I have no idea what kind of horns all these trucks and fire engines have. Apparently its upsetting some of our citizens. President covington thats something i will forward. Commissioner rodriguez, did you have something . Commissioner rodriguez no. President covington it would be a good idea to talk about our granting push and to meet the new branch writer. I know commissioner cleaveland has been eager to meet her, perhaps thats something we can do at the next meeting. That way all the commissioners have an opportunity to meet her. Then Something Else that was mentioned earlier in the meeting that someone said will be good for our next meeting. I cant find it in immediately. It is something that when i find it, i will alert the Commission Secretary to it. We also have rescue and united fire service women. Presenting at the next meeting. President covington i think probably one of them would be good rather than two. We dont know what the rest of the agenda may look like. All of the employee groups have stated a preference for the morning meeting as opposed to our evening meeting. Its going to take us a little while longer to get through to all of them. You and i can decide offline which one for the next meeting, madam secretary. Anything else . Vice president feinstein jus t a question, they were going to reschedule to present. I understand there was a deployment and a captain test. I understand why they werent able to present when scheduled before. It would be nice to have them come in as well, however were going to do this. I dont want to see them left behind. President covington they certainly wont be left behind. Is there any other business . Seeing none. I will entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. President covington thank you. Madam select, roll call. [roll call vote] its unanimous. President covington thank you all very much. [gavel]. President yee good afternoon and welcome to our september 29, 2020 regular meeting of the San Francisco board of supervisors. Madam clerk, would you please call the roll. Clerk thank you, mr. President. [roll call]