Troubled S.F. Fire Dept. Gets New Chief

Mayor Art Agnos on Thursday named a veteran white firefighter as chief of the racially troubled Fire Department, but he addressed minority concerns by placing a black leader at the helm of a revamped Fire Commission.

New Chief Fred Postel, 46, who brought the first women firefighters into the department, will “maintain the superb firefighting department, and open the firehouse doors to women and minorities,” Agnos said.

Postel, deputy chief and director of training, was selected over Acting Chief Michael Farrell for the $101,839-a-year job. He and four new members of the Fire Commission were sworn in and will “get to work right away,” Agnos said.

Agnos said choosing Postel over Farrell “was a close call.” There were 34 candidates interviewed, 13 from outside the department. One of those, Seattle Fire Chief Claude Harris, was Agnos’ first pick, but he withdrew from the competition.

As director of training, Postel, was responsible for much of the progress made recently in hiring more minorities and women. The department, however, is still overwhelmingly white and male.

Postel gained first-hand knowledge of the racial tension in his department last year when he and two other top officers were roughed up and insulted by several drunk white firefighters.

The new president of the Fire Commission is James Jefferson, 44, president of the Black Chamber of Commerce and a veteran civil rights activist.

The new people at the top were selected to establish and meet specific goals, Agnos said.

“If the department is to progress to new levels of professionalism and rid itself of the image of racism and the lapses of conduct that divide and tarnish it,” Agnos said, “it must take firm and positive steps to bring women and minorities into the department and instill discipline, accountability and a renewed sense of honor, pride and respect.”

Postel replaces Edward Phipps, who resigned shortly after Agnos took office in January after a series of racial clashes that prompted a federal judge to brand the department “out of control.”

Despite its problems with the issues of hiring minorities and women, the San Francisco Fire Department is still considered to be among the best in the country at fighting fires.

The leader of the Black Firefighters Assn. praised the selection of Jefferson but criticized Postel as being “part of the system.”

“Obviously,” Robert Demmons said, “we would have preferred an outsider. Postel and the other (candidates) are members of the old system. . . .”

But Jim Ferguson, president of the firefighters union, was delighted with the news.

“He’ll make a very good chief,” Ferguson said. “I support him. He seems to be on the right track for integrating the department.”