Fire chief reports COVID absences, new training site purchase and equipment deliveries

Chief of Department Janine Nicholson delivered the department’s operational report for the period since the May 11 meeting. Nicholson said 38 department members were out with COVID and that none were hospitalized. "38 members are out with COVID, and 7 of those members out on longer term leave," Nicholson said, and added that the department has not seen hospitalizations in this uptick.

Nicholson announced the city now owns a 4.5-acre parcel on Carol Avenue intended for a training center, closing a transaction with the private company Prologis. She said legislation to acquire an adjacent, port-owned parcel has passed the Assembly unanimously and moved to the Senate; if approved by the governor, Nicholson said the department could have more than seven acres for the training site by year’s end.

The chief also reported recent personnel and equipment milestones: 25 members graduated from the H3 Level 1 (EMT) academy and entered the field; mobile air units and new fire engines have been distributed to the field (the report noted nine engines in the field and later clarified eight are in service with another pending delivery); and an award for turnout personal protective equipment was granted to All Star Fire Equipment.

Deputy Chief Tom O’Connor described homeland-security battalion control drills, a Sentinel urban search and rescue exercise in Santa Rosa and neighborhood emergency response activities; he also said 50 candidates were medically cleared for the 130th fire academy. O’Connor highlighted a community paramedicine headquarters remodel at Station 49 and other facility work. He described a planned training module and potential dispatch integration for a program called Code Joshua, which would allow families to register sensory and behavioral information for first responders.

Commissioners asked follow-up questions about medical-record scanning, driver’s-license checks and the status of the port-owned parcel; Nicholson said each personnel or property matter requires case-by-case handling and that the department continues to work with the mayor’s budget office on budget priorities.