Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20180220

Which i know everybody does, but well take care of you and make sure youre in peek performance to serve the people of the city, which ultimately is the only reason were sitting up here as commissioners. We serve the people, the county and city of San Francisco through the Fire Department. Thats our job. That being said, thank you mr. Corso. I appreciate your time and god bless you what you do, its a difficult job to say the least. President cleaveland thank you commissioner for your in depth analysis and comments. Commissioner covington. Commissioner covington thank you mr. President. I would also like to thank my fellow commissioner veronese for amplifying what i have been saying for years concerning the grant writer. I dont think that it is sufficient for this to be part of someones job. I think we need a person who is dedicated to grant writing. We have been successful in the past in grant writing as people were doing this as part of their jobs. We need to really, really understand and take to heart that we cannot depend on general fund money to support our needs. It hasnt happened in many years. I think its shortsighted to not have dedicated grant writers and i have discussed this with the chief of the department. So to have this 1823 Job Description include Grant Administration and contracting and then maybe if there is sufficient time to do some grant writing is not optimum. I dont know what the Job Description is that you have now, but that has to be at least 50 grant writing position for me. With someone not just asked if they have experience in grant writing but get the details in what the grant writing is. Theres a lot of money to be had from people whose missions organizations whose missions are aligned with the Fire Department. Not just federal funds. Weve been doing a great job particularly when it comes to Homeland Security of getting funds, but we have other funding needs that are not going to be met by general fund monies. I also want to point out the 960 positions that some other departments have. So mr. Corso, just so we can have a robust discussion about this, could you tell us about what that 960 position is, what is that designation . So that designation is in general its used by departments mainly i think more frequently used in civilian departments, it would allow for individuals who have retired from the city to come back in a parttime capacity not to exceed the number of hours in a year to bring for people who have expertise in certain areas, subject Matter Experts to do additional work in a temporary capacity for a Respective Department in lieu of hiring a full time position. So if someone was specialized in a certain area, after they retire they could come back to the city and work parttime. Commissioner covington as we all know, each job, each career has its own way of doing things, its own way of communicating successes and challenges. To get someone previously in the department, knows the department well and knows the players and chiefs by first name, middle name and nickname, to come in and already be up to speed with what it is that the department does and how it does it will save a lot of time. Theyre well along on the learning curve. Not having at least one 960 person who, i mean, i understand that in years gone past, there were a number of people in the department who were excellent grant writers in addition to the other jobs they had, the titles they had. It is incumbent upon us to tap into that great reservoir of information and creativity out there. I insist that this be part of the plan, that this be part of the budget. Also, i wanted to point out ill come back to my favorite topic, the grant writer, but the Homeless Services supplied by the San Francisco Fire Department, have we ever put together a figure of what that is . Because were supplying Homeless Services or services to the Homeless Population in the city, but we also now have a department of homelessness and we have a department of health. For commissioner veronese to highlight the amount of money over a 10year period amounts to a billion dollars, is very key. I think its important for the mayor, the mayors budget analyst and the citizens of San Francisco to understand that these dollars are not reimbursed to us, they have not been reimbursed to us and will not be in the future reimbursed to us because the Homeless Population is not going down. It takes time for these units that are on the drawing boards to actually go online and be built so people can live in them. So in the past, i dont think we did it last year, but two years ago we wrote a letter to the Mayors Office and all the commissioners signed a letter, i think this should be at least the second paragraph in the letter pointing out how much money were spending on Homeless Services. If we cant get more money from the general fund, maybe funds from the other two departments can be given to us. Because were a big part of that picture. We are a big part of that and not getting the recognition for that. Im looking at the time, there are a number of other things i want to say and among them are thank you very much for the report. Im not beating up on you. Not at all. Commissioner covington just very passionate about us getting what we need to do the job we do. I think we understand a lot of your points and concerns. President cleaveland commissioner hardeman. Commissioner hardeman thank you for the updated memos this morning and the other day and 100 pages of information detailing everything. It was nice to see you followed up with some of the questions we had about grant writing and that theres no category in San Francisco. Being on a number of commissions i never knew one even though i heard everybody was supposed to have them. Now i have the answer and i appreciate that. I also appreciate you and the chief putting together this list, especially we were so successful with fema for a number of years in a row. That was spectacular getting those millions of dollars worth of grants and then the hiring that the couple of classes, wonderful. We have done pretty well without having a dedicated grant writer but i concur that we need someone pushing harder because its getting more difficult because well have more fire requests soon due to whats happening in the state. All the areas that have been burnt to a crisp and the follow up problems theyre having especially down south with the rain. Appreciate your skills and what you have done. Appreciate president and Vice President for assisting you and putting together a budget. I also appreciate this enhancement request that you gave out to us detailing out highlights of some of the wish list that we know were not its not realistic because were not going to get 27 million worth of the items. But picking out the most important ones, you and the chief and president cleaveland can decide on is very important. And the other thing is on the drones, we discussed that in the budget, too, so theres five departments that have been authorized and were one of the departments, our only thing, without the Homeland Security person, we havent really detailed out the amount we would dedicate and how it would operate but i too am interested in the drones simply because it could save a firefighters life and possibly a citizens life and could be in the long run one of the best things to happen. I look forward to that in the future in spending the budgeted at least the budgeted dollars we have on drones. Thank you and youre doing a great job and chief you have to take the brunt of our complaints. The mayor doesnt look at the commission if its jumping up and down. The supervisors look at you and say get your commissioners under control. They cant have everything they want. Anyway, thank you chief. I know you stand up for us the best you can. Thanks. President cleaveland i see our Department Doctor here, dr. Would you like to come down and have a seat please . Chief, you had a comment . Chief hayeswhite a couple of things. Commissioner covington im a huge proponent of the 960 program. There are layers of complexity i dont think have been brought to your attention on a few things. One thing is we have attempted in the past to endeavor a 960 program capitalizing on the great expertise of members who have retired. It is something subject to at least meet and confer with local 798 and in the past there have been roadblocks and im happy to discuss that with you further. Commissioner veronese, i did want to comment, i think what you had to say was very helpful. I dont think since you are the newest commissioner you have had the opportunity to sit down with the mayors Budget Office. I know president cleaveland, Vice President nakajo and im not sure about commissioner covington or hardeman have had the opportunity in the past and i know given quorum and meeting regulations, only two commissioners can be part of that, but i would encourage you to attend the meeting. Well let you know in early march as director corso let you know the Budget Committee will be meeting with the mayors budget director just to have that conversation, i think your passion and your, you know, your candor is very helpful but i also hope that youll understand sort of the constraints we work under. But would appreciate that if you were able to attend the meeting. I think it will be a winwin. Commissioner veronese i wouldnt expect that to moderate my passion for the issue. Chief hayeswhite i think you would be hugely helpful. Something for you to consider. Well keep you in the loop on that. And then i think probably a larger discussion and i know were running tight because we have to be out by noon, the reimbursement and how it works, i want you to know this is not a San Francisco Fire Department issue only. For any urban jurisdiction with fire based ems, those are the returns on the care we provide. I would say in the 20th to 30th percentile. Its a National Issue and it has to do with federal reimbursement and standard rate for an ambulance bill. It warrants a further discussion. Im not the expert on it but i think its important to point out. And then just a couple more to point out because i know, again, we could always improve. As you know with the support of the commission, we were able to get fully funded through work orders of d. B. I. , two full time people in prevention and community for Fire Prevention and i know president cleaveland you were very passionate about. And were completing and waiting for the ink to dry on the work orders coming from mta for a full time person to oversee a lot of the work we have done. Mta will fully fund a position for that and another through work order arrangement of Economic Development to have someone specifically look at and work with the moed on new developments. Those are all things we didnt have that we will have. Thats my comment. President cleaveland very helpful. Vice president nakajo, you had an additional comment. Vice president nakajo thank you mr. President. I wanted to make a few comments because i did open this up and my intention was to move this item and that is my intention. I just wanted to make sure that in terms of whats been discussed, this discussion on ambulance reimbursement and the fee and the charges, i appreciate the evaluation or analysis of a 10year figure or in terms of the dollar figure of unrecoupable dollars on that. I know the discussion takes us to the homeless but theres more than the homeless that takes advantage of our ambulance services. Being director founder of Senior Center in japantown for 45 years, many of the folks who take advantage of the services are privates or seniors. If theyre seniors, depending on their ability of economic status, many of them have a hardship with this particular fee. The fees for the ambulance have risen over the years to a point now mr. Corso, do you have off the top of your head what we charge normally. About 2,000. Vice president nakajo when you get hurt and you need help and want that paramedic or ambulance person to come to you, you want to be taken care of and part of that, theres a whole system of not only care but the evaluation of asking that person, do you want to go to the hospital most of us jump into the ambulance. I dont know if you have insurance or not, but i dont know if youre calculating that i dont want to pay 2,000 to ride in the ambulance but im going to tell you, many of my seniors after i educated them and they received the bill and most of the seniors i work with, they want to pay their obligation. Theyll do their damnest to pay that fee and the alternative to that is many of them say i dont need to go. And make your judgments in terms of whether that is. But commissioners, its not just the homeless out there. There are seniors out there, but theres a category of citizens in San Francisco that have economic difficulty. We as a Fire Department, what are we going to do, make a judgment out there while were out there, can you pay, can you not pay, are you homeless, are you not. Were the Fire Department. Our obligation is to go out there and take care of it. When i came on to the commission 23 years ago mr. Veronese i asked this question from the getgo. What about the reimbursement, but then it got to the nature of these are some of the hardships one has to assume within this service. Not saying that isnt the argument to the Mayors Office or anybody else in terms of expenditure of what we do. But even in terms of the homeless issue over the past 10, 5 years, its grown tremendously. And even though the Navigation Center and department of homeless, in reference to the Police Department or health department, being a City Department its up to us to coordinate our resources and figure out best how to deal with that. So thats one issue. I dont have any problem with trying to achieve a state of the arts Fire Department. Not at all commissioners. And i totally appreciate your comments on every aspect from grantsmanship to drone to services, to marine units. I dont have a problem with that. But over the 24 years, its taken a long time to get to the point we are now. And i agree with you, theres limbingations in terms of general funds or the process by which our responsibility is to submit the budget every year. And im not arguing the fact that a grantsmanship person could help us in those areas. I think we have done well, not tremendously well. Im not going to use that word, we have done well with the given situation we have. This position 1823 is an opportunity. An opportunity for us within this constraints of no new hires to fill the position as a direct or a supervisor, im sensitive to what my crew or collaboration in terms of my work force can do under my supervision and direction. I have confidence this position will be under the guidance and supervision of director corso but i make no elusions theres not a job right now in terms of what were inspiring to be and theres no argument at what we want to get. Im looking at an opportunity to fill the position and you have heard the commission and the priorities of where this person or persons can be, in terms of the work that we need, to me is the beginning and realistic request to try to make it. And finally within this, and im going to move that we adopt this budget presentation in termings of this budget because its listed as such, respectfully commissioner, theres no rubber stamp here. I dont know anybody who has a rubber stamp up here. As long as i have been on this commission, rubber stamp means to me, i dont even open the packet. Engagement, participation, this process is part of the process. So with that in mind, and with respect to the colleagues and what we have to do as far as our responsibility, im not knocking or criticizing any kind of definition as to what we feel our responsibility is, theres no argument on that. And im willing to build toward the future and state of the arts but i need to be able to work within time. If thats laying back, perhaps, but i am concerned with the movement in the Mayors Office and what we can achieve within this period of time between now and june, the aftermath of now and june to the new mayor. Its going to be a challenge for all of us in San Francisco to go through this process. The last thing i want to see is that this department, this commission do not take responsibility for the duties and responsibilities that were addressed with. Therefore commissioner, mr. President , commissioners, i would like to submit a motion to adopt this budget. Thank you. President cleaveland thank you mr. Vice president. Do i have a second . Commissioner covington. Commissioner covington thank you mr. President and thank you for sharing your thoughts on this Vice President nakajo. I hope you will accept a friendly amendment to your motion and that is the new position, the 1823, analyst position, mr. Corso had said part of is Grant Administration and contracting, i would like that position to be grant writing. If you accept my friendly amendment, then i would second the motion. Vice president nakajo i appreciate your friendly amendment but may i ask for comment from the director . Mr. Director. Yes, i think i would say for that position given we havent interviewed or had any exposure to the candidates to that position, i think the commitment from the department is to focus large majority of that positions work on grants in general, both writing and administration. I do think given the limited amount of resources we have from a civilian perspective on the administration side, there is currently the need for additional areas where that position can help. And kind of highlighted the contract portion of it. So to have it in a Perfect World we would have someone to allocate 100 to contracts and 100 to grant writing. Due to the realities we have and given the staffing levels, i think that to fully commit to completely just having that person do grant writing, given things that pop up and the needs of the department as we move forward, its we will have other needs that need to be addressed. I would say if the commission so chooses, im happy to amend the budget request to add a request formally in our budget for an additional position to be strictly grant writing outside of the list of enhancements we have. As i mentioned, we adhere to the instructions from the Mayors Office but if its the commissions desire we can include an additional position to be strictly grant writing if thats what the commission so chooses. Commissioner covington through the president to mr. Corso, that would be in addition to the 1823 position being at least half grant writing . Correct. Our intention is a combination of grant writing, administration and grant writing, regardless of what happens with the budget. We recognize those are areas of need in the department. That would not change. Commissioner covington im asking from confirmation that the position would be 50 grant writing . It would probably be over 50 grants, they would have a lot of the Administration Responsibilities but in total, were looking to do training with other civilian employees as well to provide opportunities for grant writing and expand that. I would say there would be over half a position for grant writing, yes. Commissioner covington you just eluded to civilian employees being trained to do grant writing. This is the first time i heard of that. There are a number of classes and opportunities available commissioner covington you mean classifications. No training courses or classes, whoever we hire would anticipate sending them to some training regardless of their background, be it for refreshing or other opportunities, we would anticipate having that training available to other employees as well. Chief hayeswhite we have a current civilian who has grant writing experience. Shes not currently working on it but were considering adding it to her profile if you will. Commissioner covington thank you. Vice president nakajo do i take you sustain the question in percentage of time to satisfy the commissioner well make every effort to commissioner covington and he also mentioned that he would ask for a new position that is totally a grant writing position. If thats the direction of the commission, im happy to include it in the Amendment Proposal and i can add it as an additional position chief hayeswhite if i can make sure were clear, we have 1823 vacancy, we sound we would be willing to allot 50 of time to grant writing. If were hearing, which we can do, were not going to meet target reduction which i think we have discussed and clearly well recommend with president cleavelands approval to cosign a letter like we have done in the past, we would then also be asking for something that weve been told no new ftes. We can do that im just saying the odds of getting that are pretty slim. But if were hearing clearly, we can add it. Vice president nakajo thank you. Commissioner covington, are you amending your amendment . Commissioner covington im expanding my amendment. Vice president nakajo could you articulate your friendly amendment commissioner . Commissioner covington thank you for the opportunity to do so. My friendly amendment is that the 1823 position be designated and add ve advertised as a gran writer half time. In addition to that, the letter that i mentioned previously signed by all of the commissioners asking for additional monies for the department and highlighting our constraints under the current proposed budget and also asking for a designated grant writer 100 of the time. Position. Vice president nakajo okay. Director corso is that acceptable . Is it the direction to include a designated position not just in the letter but in the budget submittal . Commissioner covington yes. Vice president nakajo as i understand in term office amendmented friendly amendment, at this point with that kind of acceptance by yourself mr. Corso, commissioner covington, im open to that amendment. I will still move the motion if i may with the second from one of our colleagues on the commission. Commissioner covington i will second. Vice president nakajo thank you commissioner. President cleaveland commissioner hardeman, you wanted to add something . Commissioner hardeman were being watched by the Mayors Office and board of supervisors and were sitting here telling everybody that yes, we know were not supposed to ask for a new title, now what we want is one and a half positions. I think we have handled this very poorly. I think our discussion makes us look like were more interested in getting our opinion about getting a grant writer than actually getting a grant writer. I was convinced by statements from staff that were going to have a grant writer and the staff has rewriten it to give us that. We say we want a grant writer because we want a grant writer which i find confusing and im sure the Mayors Office and board of supervisors who are the final vote on this probably thinks this is confusing for them to absorb what were saying too. Im going to vote against this motion. President cleaveland thank you commissioner hardeman. Commissioner veronese. Commissioner veronese commissioner hardeman, i appreciate your passion on the issue. And i believe that the Mayors Office and board of supervisors will see that we are passionately advocating for the future of this department and i will bet that in the next 10 years as i look back at approving and voting on this particular measure as we sit here today, hundreds of millions of dollars will flow into this department over the next 15 years because of this one vote. And so if the Mayors Office is a little bit confused, he he shouldnt be confused or he or she or whoever it is there should not be confused. Were a commission sitting here to make important decisions on the future of this department and this is one of the most important decisions well make this year. President cleaveland all in favor of improving the budget with the additional amendment from commissioner covington. Can we separate the two items . I would vote for the budget. But i dont want to vote for the amendment. Commissioner covington theres a motion on the floor. Theres no reason they have to be combined. President cleaveland do we want to separate the motions . Commissioner covington theres a motion on the floor, if theres a motion on the floor you have to vote on the motion. President cleaveland all in favor of approving both the budget and the additional aye. Opposed. President cleaveland four aye one nay. Thank you very much commissioners. That was a robust discussion on the budget and it is i guess the most important document and process we go through annually. Mr. Corso, would you just briefly reiterate the three Top Priorities in the budget for this department this year. I think were still having those discussions at the Budget Committee level. But overall i think theyve been as they have been, equipment, staffing on a higher level, equipment, staffing and Educational Outreach and continuation of those efforts going forward. President cleaveland thank you and thank you to the commission for your continued support. Madam secretary, please call the next item. Item seven report from chief of department joanne hayeswhite report on Current Issues and activities and events since the Fire Commission meeting on january 24, 2018, including budget, academy, special events and outreach to other agencies in the public and report from operations Mark Gonzalez on overall field issues, bureau of Fire Prevention and airport president cleaveland chief in light of the time, please keep the report as brief as possible. Chief hayeswhite thats easy for me. Were going to have to strong arm but im ready to roll. My report since the last meeting january 24th, i can skip budget since we had a robust discussion. It goes without saying how much of a valued member mark corso is to our team. I appreciate his expertise, patience and professionalism 24 7. Its not an easy job. I have good news, i know commissioner hardeman was talking about the drones and commissioner veronese. We have a new assistant to the team, i would like to ask him to rise and briefly ill tell you about our selection in former capital Michael Cochrane and now assistant deputy chief. H please step up and say a few words. Thank you. President cleaveland commissioners, chief joanne hayeswhite, assistant deputy chief, i want to say what an honor it is to be here. I look forward to serving, continuing to make sure that were prepared, ready to respond and recover from any incident we might have. Chief hayeswhite thank you. President cleaveland anything youd like to say personally about your background and looking forward to doing. Im Third Generation San Francisco firefighter, my family has 90 years of Proud Service for the Fire Department. Prior to that, responded to 9 11, that got me to ground zero and Homeland Security. And a lot of major incidents and im ready to go. President cleaveland welcome aboard. Congratulations. Thank you sir. Chief hayeswhite we bid farewell and congratulations to the chief retiring at the end of next week after a very well revered career. Did a great job in the field and in Service Training captain for two years and served as director of training. Jeff, congratulations to you. Do you want to step up briefly . laughter good afternoon commissioners, chief. I want to thank you all for the support you have given me while in this position. Its been an honor chief. The support ive got from every uniformed person behind me to allow me to do a good job. Im happy with where our decision is at right now. For those sitting behind them, good luck. Be prepared, we since i have been at the division, we put out close to 250 new recruits and its been a great ride. Im looking forward to retirement. Thank you all very much. President cleaveland chief, i would like to give you a standing ovation for your service. Thank you. applause president cleaveland commissioner hardeman would like to add to that. Commissioner hardeman chief, so many compliments when people heard you were retiring. The interesting point, you cant compare the Police Department to a Fire Department, i was reading a couple days ago that the oakland Fire Department has less than one third of the students entering the academy graduate. And your Graduation Rate with your predecessors has been great, so keep up keep up the high Graduation Rate and bring in great recruits you have. Thank you for your service. President cleaveland very good point. Thank you. Chief hayeswhite to continue regarding decision of training as you know, last week we graduated 47 recruits into the Fire Department in the initial field assignments. We are on track to hire a class of 54 the end of next month. 124 comprised of 42 members off the list and 12 from station 49. We do have an entree level class currently in, they began the 29th of january. Its a six Week Training Program and their graduation for march 9th in the afternoon. Since the last meeting, proud to promote permanently 10 new members and named 14 new acting assignments. Congratulations to those members. Had the opportunity on the 25th, police chief, myself, the sheriff met at the department of Emergency Management on january 25th to provide an eoc policy Group Briefing to mayor mark farrell to let him know what goes on in large scale emergencies and what his role would be. As mr. Corso indicated, weve had Budget Committee meetings, one january 26th and one last friday and we appreciate the Committee Members work. Many of you were there on the 26th, participated at a career day on the 30th of january. Provided an awsf briefing, not only in the last reporting period of supervisor fewer and katy tangs office but also to commissioner peskin. Participated in the metro chief Conference Call february 1st. Attended the chamber of commerce event on february 2nd. There was a budget meeting here at city hall. Thats when we were able to get with the mayors Budget Office and budget director Melissa Whitehouse who has agreed to meet with the Budget Committee, a date on the books for early march. Appearing before the philippine consulate february 6th to provide an overview on Emergency Preparedness and that was well received. The 7th of february, i participated and testified at a government audit and Oversight Committee here at city hall to discuss the expansion and additional redundancies built in the city. I spoke about the 123rd Academy Graduation on the 8th. Budget committee on the 9th and yesterday had the privilege to attend with deputy chief nicholson, the rotary club acknowledged two of our members, lieutenant brice peoples for his career in general but specifically to a dramatic rescue last year april 6th where he single handedly brought a woman in distress down wooden stairs during a working fire. He was acknowledged as was paramedic dan azzereta who does great workmen of mentoring. I wanted to remind the commissioners that we have the Chinese New Year parade year of the dog february 24th convening with the Asian Firefighters Association at approximately 4 30 at second and market. Look forward to seeing you. The next step is to be chief gonzalez. Good morning. Dep chief gonzalez. There are two greater alarms in this reporting period. January 16th, 1529, hours, at taylor. There were a few comments but it was a quick coordinated attack with a goal of keeping fire out of the attic. It could have been a third or fourth alarm. Very steep hills, deep buildings and large buildings. The third alarm january 23rdrd. This was assistant chief, three or four members of the staff responded to the fire. I think commissioner hardeman may have responded as well. Units did a good job. They did a partial roof collapse at the fire. They pulled the units out and Personnel Accountability report, all units were safe and the fire went out. I have to go back commissioner veronese youre correct about the tsunami. Not wanting to cause a public panic, that was the goal. Means of alerting if they were necessary would have been used absolutely. This was a slow moving potential approaching danger. Opposed to the danger of a wildfire coming over the hill or your local earthquake that happens right now. I believe the correct alerts were used and the strategy of Higher Ground and evacuate. Theres also mention of the stress unit. The stress unit is one of the most important units but i will always say the most important are men and women and engines, trucks and rescue squads and the ambulances. They are going into the fires, theyre going down the smokey hallways, ambulance crews are on their own dangerous neighborhoods late in the morning. The stress unit is an important unit. There was a red alert, there was a sea lion attack january 11th. A group of firefighters and paramedics walked the city civic corridor. I have to address on the alert, it all has to be capped and one word. You text that to 777888 and then you will be signed up. It has to be all caps and one word. Ems working on response vehicles, bike medics, possibly a third as a back up. The airport wants to just fund two of them right now. Well do it with their funding at their direction. We feel it should be for maybe next fiscal year, that should be implemented in the next few weeks. Fire prevention, i have the report and applications, permits, violations, complaints, etc cetera. One thing i want to mention about Fire Investigation is that the coast guard did a good job to assist in getting on the backlogs. Whatever needed to be tightened up was tightened up. Its down to 88 from 130. So thank you. Also attached to the report is my report. If you have questions im available. President cleaveland thank you for your report. Im going to request my fellow commissioners if they have questions of you to send them directly via email. Each of us has your comments. If we have follow up, we do it with the chief. Madam secretary, any Public Comment on the chiefs report and chief gonzalezs report . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Madam secretary im going to ask that the next two items, 8 and 9 be tabled. Commission report and agenda for the next meetings. In lieu of the time. And ask that we have Public Comment ongoing into closed session on the two closed session items, review of our Department Doctor and a disciplinary hearing. So, do i have a motion from so moved. Any Public Comment on president cleaveland any Public Comment . Seeing none, thank you. Public comment is closed. So well move on into closed session, so well have to today we are going to talk about fire safety. We are here at the urban center on Mission Street in San Francisco. Its a wonderful display. A little house in the urban Center Exhibition center that shows what its 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 dont 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. Lets 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, its 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 wouldnt want it in an area where it can cause a fire or aftershock that it doesnt rollover. You definitely want to have this in a noncombustible 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 wouldnt recommend cooking inside of the house. You have to go outside and use a portable stove or something else. So it wouldnt 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 safe