SFFD Division of Training

The Fire Department's Division of Training has spent decades in more than one place. The department's annual report of the early 1970s lists it at 2310 Folsom Street under an assistant chief, one of the divisions on the organisation chart beside Fire Prevention and Equipment; the Fire Commission's journal of proceedings from 1975 names its chief and files its accident reports, down to a preventable collision involving a Division of Training pumper. Its structural problem is stated plainly in a Budget Analyst management audit put before the Finance Committee: the department's training and education functions were spread across the Division of Training, the EMS Academy section and the EMS in-service training section, and that fragmentation hindered integration of fire suppression and emergency medical training. The department said it supported consolidating everything under the Division of Training's name — but only once a common training facility was available, instead of the three separate training locations then in use. The division reports monthly to the Fire Commission on what it has done, and its recruit training captain has brought matters before the commission in public comment. The facility now stands on Treasure Island.