HomeMy WebLinkAboutFire Commission 2022-11-09 Minutes
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San Rafael Fire Department
1375 Fifth Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901
City of San Rafael Fire Department
Fire Commission Meeting
Minutes of the Regular Meeting
November 9, 2022
Via ZOOM
Present: Absent:
Chair Larry Luckham Vice Chair Nadine Atieh
Stan Burford Thomas Weathers
Ken Johnson
David Fonkalsrud – Alternate
Donna McCusker – Alternate
Deputy Chief Bob Sinnott
Chair Luckham called the meeting to order at 4:00 P.M.
1. Open Time for Public Expression
There were no members of the public in attendance.
2. Approval of the Minutes – October 12, 2022
Chair Luckham called for changes or additions. There were none. Commissioner Burord moved
to approve; Commissioner Fonkalsrud seconded. The minutes were approved by unanimous
vote of those present.
3. Fire Foundation Report – Commissioner McCusker
The FF got approval for military style Tee shirts for firefighters and family to wear to public
events. Those have arrived as Chief Sinnott has one. Dr. Mizroch contributed $2,500 for this
project. Fund raising is underway with Dr. Mizroch and Pat Kendall preparing letters to go to
corporations in December asking for donations to the Foundation. The FF is working on an
“adopt a fire station” program for neighborhoods. The FF is investigating a new technology face
mask that the Foundation might be able to get for the department and is looking at a proposed
grant of $9,000 for swim gear. Chair Luckham asked if the new Tee shirts will be available for FC
members. Commissioner McCusker will check. She also reminded those who have not picked up
the earlier shirts to do so.
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San Rafael Fire Department
1375 Fifth Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901
Chair Luckham once more expressed a thank you to Len Thompson who brought the idea of
creating a foundation to San Rafael and who spearheaded its creation. The work of the FF is
greatly appreciated.
4. Commission Member Reports
a. Commissioner Johnson reported on an insurance industry meeting where he noted
several bills in the legislature that pertain to firefighter workers compensation. Ken sent
out an email to the Commissioners with the details.
b. Commissioner Fonkalsrud reported on seeing a lot of vegetation management activity
around the city including Peacock Gap and McNears. He also mentioned working with
city staff on public information related to fire safety. Chair Luckham offers thanks to the
Marin Wildfire Prevention Agency and the voters who approved that for providing the
funding to make these things happen. He also recommended that we keep in mind on
line advertising in addition to “dead tree” advertising since that’s the way many people
get their information today.
c. Commissioner Burford reported that he echoes David’s comment regarding the
vegetation management effort in his neighborhood where there has been chipper
activity. He also commented on a recent full page ad in the Marin IJ by the MWPA about
fire safety. And he suggested that if Commissioners had ideas for fire prevention ad
messaging we might try to form a relationship with MWPA that would allow the FC to
suggest ideas, like the Lithium battery risk, with MWPA to be included in their
advertising. Commissioner McCusker pointed out that the FF has resources and if the FC
has ideas she could take them back to the FF. He also reported that in his neighborhood,
Fairhills, some neighbors are skeptical about the parking boxes, but he’s working with
his HOA to answer questions and point out the need. Commissioner Johnson then
pointed out that most insurers, like CHUBB, are now asking at every renewal if the
insured has any of those batteries on their premises. Chair Luckham pointed out that
lithium ion batteries are almost everywhere these days. Referring to an article about a
high rise fire in New York that also involved a spectacular rescue of a resident, that the
fire was started by a lithium ion battery when a resident was repairing an electric
bicycle. He then went on to discuss the chemistry of lithium ion versus regular alkali
batteries and why the risk is greater with lithium ion. Commissioner McCusker asked if
there is any restriction on disposing of lithium batteries in the collection boxes at fire
stations. Chief Sinnott confirmed that there is not.
d. Chair Luckham reported on the history and accomplishments of retired Fire Mechanic
Steve Rutkowski who was a genius at not just apparatus maintenance but also at
designing and fabricating solutions to problems. He recently presented Steve with a
trophy made from a special wrench Steve had made to service the turret on the aerial
ladder trucks. He also got himself trained to do the annual maintenance on firefighter
air packs (SCBA’s) which can otherwise cost $160 a year for inspection and maintenance.
I created the Photo 50 website years ago after a discussion with Chief Gray about
department history, or lack thereof, to document the current history. It started with
going on fire calls and taking photos. I did the same with other department events. Later
after being asked to take some photos at fires for our then Fire Investigator Brad Mark, I
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San Rafael Fire Department
1375 Fifth Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901
got interested and got trained as an investigator. Along the way I added a few things of
historical interest including a digital copy of the Daily Fire Log Book from January, 1911
to December, 1921. More recently I’ve scanned and added several booklets on fire
prevention and fire investigation that belonged to my predecessor as Chair of the Fire
Commission, Chuck Daniels, who was an investigator for the San Rafael Fire
Department, the Marin County District Attorney and other Marin departments. You are
invited to take a look at http://www.srphoto50.com .
Next, I would like get back to in person meetings. The county has lifted most
restrictions. The San Rafael City Council is now meeting in person. Not sure who has to
authorize that. Chief Sinnott agreed to bring it up with Chief White next Monday. By
show of hands it appears that most of us would like to resume in person meetings. The
conference room at the PSC has the capacity to connect to Zoom so hybrid meetings are
possible. The request was then made formal with a proposed start date of January,
2023.
I also want to discuss the article in the IJ recently announcing that the Marin County
Sheriff is withdrawing from the agreement to provide dispatching services to SRFD and
other Marin agencies. It took me by surprise. SRFD switched from providing fire and
medical dispatching in house to the county communications center on March 2, 2009.
Prior to that date we had relied on primitive dispatching equipment and 2 dispatchers to
cover 24X7X365. The switch was the result of a lot of consideration and planning. The
county has a new and well equipped communications center in a hardened building and
the move was another step in the direction of consolidating emergency services in the
county. With all due respect, Marin County has way to many chiefs including both fire
and police. The county should have only two fire departments, maybe even only one.
We have been slowly moving toward consolidation for years, Chief Gray was
instrumental as was Chief Sinnott when he was Larkspur Fire Chief in helping with
boundary drops and coordinated response. I think the direction should be toward
consolidation rather than breaking things up which this seems to be. If we should be
paying more, we should do so.
5. Fire Chief’s Report
Chief Sinnott started by pointing out that the two antique hose carts are now in a
building at Gerstle Park along with a large fire alarm panel. It’s all been untouched for
years. But everything is in excellent condition. He took Chief White up to see them last
week. The hope is that we might be able to put the smaller hose cart on display in the
lobby of the PSC. That might even include moving it by hand with a procession and
ceremony.
In addition to Chief’s written report he mentioned that Station 55 might be ready for
occupancy before the end of the year, Station 54 probably in February. The 55 crew will
be very happy to have the construction over and back to a new station with the
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San Rafael Fire Department
1375 Fifth Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901
temporary quarters gone. The Station 54 crews are however quite happy being dual
housed at Station 52 where Engine 52 runs some of their calls, call volumes are down.
However, the BC’s are stuck in a windowless room in order to make room. Old Station
54 was such a decrepit mess the crews will be very pleased with the change. Station 55
has always been a great place with nice views, etc. Chief Gray is really to be thanked for
pushing through all these new stations and the PSC.
Academy 25 was an extended academy aimed at giving the new folks more training
before they get out to the field since although they are all paramedic qualified coming in
many have had no field experience after training. The hope is that this will cut down on
early washouts. The training staff including Nurse Educator Katie Pannell were
celebrated for their contribution to the success of the academy.
The comm center news came as a shock to all the fire agencies. The comm center
dispatches for all Marin County fire agencies except Marin County Fire which has its own
dispatch center. They justify having their own dispatch because they are also a Cal Fire
contractor which imposes certain requirements, including that there be an on duty
Captain that can override any dispatch decision. But the Marin County Fire dispatch is
outdated and Chief Weber sees this as a possible opportunity to upgrade their dispatch
and take on dispatching for all of the Marin fire agencies possibly run by Marin County
Fire, but this would be run by fire agencies for fire agencies without the distraction that
sometimes comes with a mixed police/fire/medical center.
Chief Sinnott pointed out that although we have multiple fire agencies in the county we
all work as one, with the same training, the same standards, and the same equipment so
that personnel in the county can go to work on any other agencies calls working
seamlessly.
Fire on October 27 on Woodland, was a cooking fire that the occupant tried to
extinguish, unsuccessfully. It completely burned out the origin unit on the first floor with
heavy smoke damage on the unit above. Both of those were uninhabitable. The rest of
the units in the building were undamaged. It was determined that there were 9
occupants in each of the damaged 2 bedroom, 1 bath units. Nine each! Snapshot of the
housing issue out there.
November 2 we had a single family house fire on First Street an unoccupied residence,
hoarding situation, where the resident had been living elsewhere for months. The fire
appears to have been incendiary, that is intentional. There was evidence of multiple
point of ignition in a hallway. MCFIT and SRPD CSI are investigating.
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San Rafael Fire Department
1375 Fifth Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901
Chair Luckham called for any additional comments. Hearing none he closed the meeting at 5:17 P.M.
after acknowledging personal responsibility for talking way too long and running the meeting into
overtime.
Prepared by: Chair Luckham