San Diego Fire Chief Nominee Vows to Speak Out on Changes

Longtime San Diego firefighter Tracy Jarman promised Tuesday that if confirmed as chief she will be “outspoken” about the Fire Department’s needs -- not an easy thing to do in a city with a long history of skimping on fire protection.

Jarman, 50, the city’s acting fire chief, was nominated Monday by Mayor Jerry Sanders to succeed Jeff Bowman, who resigned in frustration over a paucity of resources and lack of political will at City Hall to do much about it.

Jarman’s nomination is set to be considered next week by the City Council, where approval is virtually assured. Two council members were on the committee that recommended Jarman to Sanders.

“Mayor Sanders has asked me to be outspoken, to tell him the truth, to tell him what the situation is,” said Jarman, who joined the department as a firefighter 22 years ago and since 2003 has been one of two assistant chiefs.

The two most outspoken chiefs in recent history have been Bowman and Earle Roberts, both hired from outside agencies. Bowman was hired in 2002 from Anaheim; Roberts was hired in 1979 and quit in 1984, citing many of the same problems that frustrated Bowman.

Other chiefs have come to the top job after long experience in the San Diego department and, possibly as a result, have been considerably less public in any criticisms over funding and political leadership.

The department failed this year to receive full accreditation from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International, a professional watchdog group. Among other deficiencies the commission found was that crews at many of San Diego’s fire stations failed to meet the five-minute standard for arriving at major fires or calls for paramedic service.

By nearly any measure -- number of firefighters, number of stations, quality of equipment, adequacy of training -- the San Diego department has fewer resources than other big city departments, an outgrowth of the city’s long opposition to taxation.

San Francisco, for example, has twice as many firefighters, although it has barely half the population of San Diego.

In October 2003, the Cedar fire swept into the city limits from an unincorporated area, destroying 306 homes in the Tierrasanta and Scripps Ranch neighborhoods and burning 28,676 acres inside the city. A report later found the Fire Department’s ability to fight the blaze was slowed by lack of manpower, equipment, training and adequate communication systems. Much the same conclusion was reached after fire swept through the Normal Heights neighborhood in 1985, destroying dozens of homes.

Still, a measure on the March 2004 ballot to raise the hotel-motel tax to boost police and fire services failed to get the needed two-thirds approval. City officials, including Sanders, have declined to sponsor a second attempt.

Sanders said he has asked Jarman to deliver a report within six months about reshaping the department. “There are certain fiscal realities that Tracy will have to address and weave into her plan,” Sanders said.

One of those realities is that Sanders and the City Council are trying deal with a $2-billion pension deficit without the politically-risky tactic of seeking a tax increase.

Councilwoman Toni Atkins, a member of the committee that reviewed applicants, said that Jarman, as a longtime city employee, “knows our constraints.”

But even as the city struggles with the pension debacle, there have been some upgrades in fire protection. Early this year, for example, a temporary fire station was opened in Mission Valley, more than two decades after Roberts said a permanent station was needed in that crowded section of the city.