Assignment office outlines staffing, mandatory recall and Prop F compliance

Captain Edward Chu, who leads the Fire Department’s Assignment Office, described the unit’s daily responsibilities and its role enforcing minimum staffing standards during the commission’s Oct. 25 meeting.

"I have a staff of 6 personnel, 1 uniform, 5 civilians," Chu said, describing operations that include answering hundreds of phone calls and emails, managing overtime and mandatory lists, processing payroll inputs and coordinating OES deployments. He detailed the vacation-round process, vacancy bidding and the handling of temporary modified duties and light-duty assignments.

Commissioners asked about recall and out-of-state personnel. Chu said the department maintains a recall plan that is exercised annually and provides "24 hours to return to work" in a disaster. He also explained that application and credentialing processes from out-of-state candidates create workload for EMS and HR units and that the department is evaluating alignment with national certification (NREMT) to streamline candidate processing.

Captain Chu also addressed minimum staffing under Proposition F, saying the office monitors daily staffing levels and enforces mandatory lists when volunteers are insufficient to meet the required minimum.

What’s next: Commissioners thanked Chu for the walk-through and requested additional detail on numbers of members living outside California; staff agreed to return data about recall and residency counts.