Another boot has dropped in the San Francisco Fire Department’s leadership struggle.
San Francisco’s mayor received another letter expressing no confidence in San Francisco’s embattled fire chief on Wednesday. This time it’s from the department’s battalion chiefs.
Last week, the rank-and-file of the San Francisco Fire Department sent an unprecedented letter to Mayor Ed Lee in which they informed him they’ve lost confidence in Chief Joanne Hayes-White’s leadership.
With Wednesday’s letter, the battalion chiefs have joined the chorus calling for the chief’s resignation, echoing the rank-and-file’s “crisis of confidence.” They say the state of the fire department has become untenable and immediate action is necessary.
“We’re at a crisis point,” said Bryan Rubenstein, president of the San Francisco Fire Chiefs' Association. “We have real issues that need to be dealt with in the very short term.”
The initial complaint from the rank-and-file focused on the department’s slow response time on ambulance calls, but Rubenstein says it’s far more widespread, and much of it has to do with the believe that Chief Hayes-White doesn’t push hard enough on budget issues.
“We in the San Francisco Fire Chiefs Association have seen how the police department’s been able to go and get more recruit classes, while we’re also understaffed,” Rubenstein said. “We weren’t able to accomplish the same thing.”
Mayor Lee once again expressed support for his fire chief, but not quite as much as he did last week.
“The commission has the authority to work with me on making a change,” Lee said. “We recognize that, but we’re not there yet. We’re actually assessing what everybody’s opinions are and making sure that we have facts in front of us and not just opinions.”
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Chief Hayes-White’s office issued a statement Wednesday suggesting that the chiefs’ association’s letter might be in response to disciplinary actions she has taken to “professionalize” the department, adding that not all of the battalion chiefs were represented by the letter.
