SF Weekly Letters

SFFD Firefighter Chris Posey was critically injured in an arson house fire during early morning hours on February fifth. The firefighters union offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of the arsonist, as if doing so in the name of brother/sisterhood. But the arsonist didn’t put Posey in the house, nor did he ill-equip the seasoned professional with a weak crew and an inexperienced officer.
SFFD is seriously out of balance. What began as a progressive “affirmative action” style move is now a dangerous risk to San Francisco’s security. If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, no individual feels the pain of our journey like Posey. In both the hiring and promotional process SFFD adds “points” to individual’s tests depending on race and gender. For example, though a Chinese woman might score lower on her promotional exam than a white man, she could gain an additional 200 points as a woman and an extra 300 as a minority, placing her high enough to gain a lieutenant’s rank over her white male colleague. Unfortunately, experience and knowledge are not as generously distributed as extra points, thus Chris Posey’s predicament. Posey recently took the lieutenant’s exam but didn’t score high enough to gain promotion. The young female lieutenant who sent him into the fire, who has fewer years on the job than Posey and who waited twenty minutes before reporting there was a problem, did score well on the exam.
Chris Posey’s crew consisted of a driver, the new lieutenant and a female firefighter. This should not be a prescription for disaster, but in the new SFFD, it is. When Joanne Hayes-White took over the division of training more that ten years ago standards for physical strength, height and experience were drastically lowered. These weaker classes of firefighter cost San Francisco millions in disability compensation since many get injured during routine drills and operations, also requiring SFFD management to accrue overtime costs. Firefighters generally partner up when entering a blaze to keep an eye on each other. Chris Posey’s female partner did not or could not pull him from the fire scene when he was hurt. She left the burning house without injury and without Posey. All female firefighters do not fall into this category, but more than half in the SFFD are physically unable to carry a taxpayer to safety.
If Chris Posey survives he will never be a firefighter again. Traditionally, he should be given a fire department desk job. Nationally, fire department desk jobs, and there are many, are reserved for firefighters like Posey who are preretirement age with years of experience to offer but can no longer work in a firehouse due to illness or injury. However, in San Francisco the new class of firefighter preferring her desk chair to the fire-ground, now occupies these jobs. Chris Posey, should he survive, will most likely be forced to retire.
Subtract the additional “points” on recent exams, and reestablish pre-Hayes-White training standards and San Francisco residents may see a big, strong firefighter come to their rescue, in coming years. Young men still dream of firefighting and they do grow up and apply at the SFFD, they just don’t have enough points to get in. SFFD still has some big strong guys like Chris Posey, the kind who run into a burring building or structure collapse to rescue us, the kind who don’t hide behind desks, but at this rate they’ll continue to occupy hospital beds.
The mayor’s spokesperson declared, “San Francisco’s finest have been threatened.” Yes, that is true, and the mayor has more to do with it than he’d care to realize. The culprit, his fellow alum, is White in front of us. Now that we’ve found her, please donate the reward money to Chris Posey’s medical fund. He’ll need a wheel chair, around the clock assistance and handicap accessible upgrades to his home, if he survives.

SFFD Firefighter Chris Posey was critically injured in an arson house fire during early morning hours on February fifth. The firefighters union offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of the arsonist, as if doing so in the name of brother/sisterhood. But the arsonist didn’t put Posey in the house, nor did he ill-equip the seasoned professional with a weak crew and an inexperienced officer.
SFFD is seriously out of balance. What began as a progressive “affirmative action” style move is now a dangerous risk to San Francisco’s security. If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, no individual feels the pain of our journey like Posey. In both the hiring and promotional process SFFD adds “points” to individual’s tests depending on race and gender. For example, though a Chinese woman might score lower on her promotional exam than a white man, she could gain an additional 200 points as a woman and an extra 300 as a minority, placing her high enough to gain a lieutenant’s rank over her white male colleague. Unfortunately, experience and knowledge are not as generously distributed as extra points, thus Chris Posey’s predicament. Posey recently took the lieutenant’s exam but didn’t score high enough to gain promotion. The young female lieutenant who sent him into the fire, who has fewer years on the job than Posey and who waited twenty minutes before reporting there was a problem, did score well on the exam.
Chris Posey’s crew consisted of a driver, the new lieutenant and a female firefighter. This should not be a prescription for disaster, but in the new SFFD, it is. When Joanne Hayes-White took over the division of training more that ten years ago standards for physical strength, height and experience were drastically lowered. These weaker classes of firefighter cost San Francisco millions in disability compensation since many get injured during routine drills and operations, also requiring SFFD management to accrue overtime costs. Firefighters generally partner up when entering a blaze to keep an eye on each other. Chris Posey’s female partner did not or could not pull him from the fire scene when he was hurt. She left the burning house without injury and without Posey. All female firefighters do not fall into this category, but more than half in the SFFD are physically unable to carry a taxpayer to safety.
If Chris Posey survives he will never be a firefighter again. Traditionally, he should be given a fire department desk job. Nationally, fire department desk jobs, and there are many, are reserved for firefighters like Posey who are preretirement age with years of experience to offer but can no longer work in a firehouse due to illness or injury. However, in San Francisco the new class of firefighter preferring her desk chair to the fire-ground, now occupies these jobs. Chris Posey, should he survive, will most likely be forced to retire.
Subtract the additional “points” on recent exams, and reestablish pre-Hayes-White training standards and San Francisco residents may see a big, strong firefighter come to their rescue, in coming years. Young men still dream of firefighting and they do grow up and apply at the SFFD, they just don’t have enough points to get in. SFFD still has some big strong guys like Chris Posey, the kind who run into a burring building or structure collapse to rescue us, the kind who don’t hide behind desks, but at this rate they’ll continue to occupy hospital beds.
The mayor’s spokesperson declared, “San Francisco’s finest have been threatened.” Yes, that is true, and the mayor has more to do with it than he’d care to realize. The culprit, his fellow alum, is White in front of us. Now that we’ve found her, please donate the reward money to Chris Posey’s medical fund. He’ll need a wheel chair, around the clock assistance and handicap accessible upgrades to his home, if he survives.