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San Francisco Chronicle​

‘Crisis': S.F. fire chief says city's aging fleet could limit capacity to fight major blazes

San Francisco's aging and limited fleet of fire trucks and engines could restrict firefighters' ability to quell the blazes that could rip through the city after a major earthquake, the city's fire chief said. A four-alarm fire that tore through a Nob Hill apartment building in April and injured three people got fire chief Dean Crispen's attention, he said. More than 100 firefighters responded and extinguished the blaze in about two hours, but the event stoked Crispen's lingering fears about worst-case scenarios. 'I would have been concerned that that fire would have continued to burn for several days if it had been subsequent to an earthquake,' Crispen told the Chronicle. If it had, he said, the blaze could easily have spread through Nob Hill to Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf and beyond. That's because more than a third of the San Francisco Fire Department's fleet of fire trucks and fire engines is 20 years old or older, including six front-line trucks and engines that are more than 25 years old, Crispen said. That puts SFFD far out of compliance with the voluntary standards set by the National Fire Protection Association, an industry nonprofit. Those guidelines say that 15-year-old equipment should be moved from front-line service to backup reserves, and 25-year-old equipment should be retired altogether, because outdated equipment lacks the safety upgrades of newer models, said Ken Holland, a senior specialist with the nonprofit. For SFFD to put 25-year-old trucks and engines on the front lines is 'a significant risk,' Holland said. SFFD needs to buy at least 10 fire engines and between seven and 10 fire trucks to meet NFPA standards, Crispen said. In an ideal world, SFFD's 'incredibly busy' fleet would be held to an even more stringent standard, because the city's steep hills and sharp corners mean engines and trucks 'take a fair amount of a beating here,' he said. If and when the Big One strikes, SFFD has a process for recalling as many as 1,000 firefighters into the city. Fires are common in the wake of a major earthquake. Though the 7.9 magnitude quake that roiled San Francisco in 1906 buckled buildings, 80% of property damage came from the fires that followed, sparked by downed power lines and natural gas leaks from broken mains, according to a 1972 federal report. But without enough fire trucks and engines, the reinforcements who respond to those fires could be limited in the help they can give, Crispen said. 'The problem is when they arrive, we currently don't have the apparatus for them to staff to assist in an emergency,' he said. Buying new equipment is challenging because costs have 'skyrocketed' to as high as $2.5 million for a truck and $5 million for an engine, and because supply chain delays that began during COVID have caused production timelines to stretch as long as three years, Crispen said. SFFD ordered three Rosenbauer fire trucks more than a year ago and doesn't expect them to be delivered until next summer, Crispen said. In the meantime, SFFD's aging fleet can run the department more than $500,000 a month in maintenance costs to resolve a 'litany of mechanical problems,' Crispen said. Making repairs requires taking vehicles out of service, and it's hard to find parts that fit old truck and engine models. 'We're in a bit of a crisis at this point,' he said. The Board of Supervisors unanimously passed two pieces of legislation in May intended to expedite the purchasing process by removing bureaucratic hurdles. The ordinances are expected to reach Mayor Daniel Lurie's desk in the coming weeks. One ordinance would allow Lurie, Crispen and a handful of executive staff to court private funding for a period of six months, waiving the usual requirement under the city's behested payment ordinance that prohibits city officials from seeking donations from 'interested parties,' or people who might be eligible for city contracts in the near future. The second ordinance would allow the fire department to negotiate directly with fire apparatus manufacturers, going around the required competitive bidding process. Supervisor Connie Chan, who sponsored both ordinances, said that the twin pieces of legislation were designed to 'fast track' purchasing. 'While our firefighters here in San Francisco are consistently doing their best, the equipment is not keeping up with the demands,' the District 1 supervisor told the Chronicle. Three companies — Rev Group, Oshkosh and Rosenbauer — control as much as 80% of the fire apparatus manufacturing market, according to reporting by the New York Times. 'What is there to bid when it's really monopolized by three companies?' Chan said. Chan said that the board of supervisors has discussed allocating money from the city's budget for the purchases, but that finding the money has been 'difficult.' If Lurie signs the legislation, Chan said, she is hopeful that city officials can raise about $20 million in six months, enough for up to a dozen fire trucks. She expects that the expedited purchasing process could cut the time between ordering and receiving a fire truck down to one year. Chan said she did not know who might donate to the cause, but that she was confident the mayor could leverage his connections. Crispen said the legislation gives him 'some hope' that SFFD can buy the equipment it needs. The department is making a plan for soliciting donations, he said, and 'large corporations would be an obvious starting place.'