Public commenter urges Fire Commission to agendize Feb. 8 ride-along images by candidate Bilal Mahmud

Michael Petrellas, a longtime public advocate, urged the San Francisco Fire Commission on Feb. 28 to agendize an incident he said occurred on Feb. 8 when a political candidate photographed himself standing beside a San Francisco Fire Department vehicle and paramedics during a ride-along.

"As you can see in these images, he took photos showing himself next to an SFFD vehicle," Petrellas said, and told commissioners he would provide documentation and a short written statement for the meeting minutes. He identified the candidate in the images as Bilal Mahmud and said the candidate posted the photos and a written report on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Petrellas told the commission he believes the images and the candidates written account "violate your policy about you cannot document the ride along" and asked the commission to clarify and possibly tighten how ride-alongs are handled to prevent the appearance that department resources endorse a candidate.

Petrellas also asked the commission to provide basic transparency data about the ride-along program: how many people requested ride-alongs in a recent month (he suggested January), how many requests were granted and how many were denied. "I'm not looking for anyone's name," he said, "just numbers."

The commission took public comment but did not debate the allegation during the public-comment period. Commissioners and staff later received additional public comment from Petrellas requesting the ride-along figures and asking department staff to explain how ride-alongs serve public safety rather than private or political interests.

Next steps: Petrellas said he would provide the commission president and chief with documentation of the Feb. 8 incident and asked the commission to place the matter on a future agenda for discussion and policy clarification.