NFPA Journal - May/June 2019 - 38

SAFD
I ask Hood later why he hadn't been
part of the new locker plan. "I try to fly
at about 30,000 feet-I'm strategic," he
says. "If I'm getting down hitting trees
and weeds, then I'm way too low and
I'm not giving somebody else an opportunity to do their job. I have really good
deputies and assistant chiefs and division chiefs, and it's their job to come
up with those efficiencies. I get into the
weeds with people, not with systems
and processes."

ANOTHER KEY FACTOR in SAFD's ascendance, observers say, has been Sculley's
shrewd financial management and
prioritization of public safety-aided in
part by Hood's natural gift for political
persuasion-which have resulted in
significant investments over the last
decade in SAFD's infrastructure. Part of
the investment has been out of necessity. In recent years, San Antonio has
been one of the country's fastest-growing cities, adding about 180,000 new
residents since 2010, sending the population north of 1.5 million. It is now
the seventh-largest city in the US, and
sprawls across almost 500 square miles.
Apart from keeping up with growth
and the increased demand that comes
with it, city leaders envisioned a
fire department that could do even
more, and they have been willing to
pay for it. Since Hood arrived, the
department's budget has doubled, to
roughly $330 million annually. SAFD
has added more than 260 uniformed
personnel; launched six new EMS
units and seven engine, platform, and
ladder companies; and established
new departmental divisions for safety,
planning and analytics, and incumbent
training. The influx of resources has
also helped the department launch an
array of innovative programs, such as
its mobile integrated health program,
which has dramatically slashed the
number of 911 calls, improved health
outcomes for patients, and reduced
stress on responders. The department
also recently piloted a first-in-thenation whole-blood program, which
allows paramedics to administer
life-saving blood to victims at the scene
of accidents. Department leaders say

38 | NFPA JOURNAL * M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 9

the whole-blood transfusions have
already saved lives, including a woman
last January who went into traumatic
cardiac arrest from severe blood loss
after a car accident. Saving someone in
that state is almost unheard of, SAFD
paramedics told me.
More than anything else, however, SAFD has invested heavily in
the health and wellness of its own
members. It has closed outdated
stations and spent millions to clean
up existing stations. It has also built
state-of-the-art fire houses that keep

"I try to fly at about
30,000 feet-I'm
strategic. I have really
good deputies and
assistant chiefs and
division chiefs, and it's
their job to come up
with efficiencies. I get
into the weeds with
people, not systems
and processes."

cancer-causing contaminants out of
living quarters. Each firefighter now
has two sets of turnout equipment so
that soiled gear can be immediately
laundered; fireground decontamination procedures have been ramped
up, and cancer awareness campaigns
have been launched. The department
has established an Office of Health
and Wellness, and opened a wellness
center, complete with an athletic
trainer, saunas, on-staff doctors providing free physicals and checkups, and a
fire fitness program. Detailed mandatory classes about important benefits,
such as worker's comp claims and
health insurance, have been designed
and are taught monthly to battalion
chiefs so they can make sure firefighters understand how to use them.
Hood, who in recent years has lost
four active firefighters to cancer-all in
their 40s-makes no compromises on
this front. He sees firefighter wellness

and cancer prevention as not only
essential for his members, but for the
community safety his department
provides. For firefighters to deliver
the best quality care to customers, he
says, they can't be based in rundown
stations or riding outdated apparatus;
likewise, they can't be out of shape,
injured, or sick. To this end, he has
taken some controversial steps, such
as mandating annual physicals for
firefighters and requiring that dirty
equipment, including SCBA bottles, be
carried outside of the truck cab. There's
been some grumbling, but Hood says
he doesn't care. "If I do something, it's
so you can enjoy your retirement and
live a long healthy life, and I really
don't feel bad about it," he says.
Several firefighters told me that,
above all, it's this concern for his
employees that has made Hood such
an effective, respected leader in San
Antonio. It also doesn't hurt that he is
more than willing to lead by example
rather than from behind a desk. When
his members are fighting a fire, more
often than not they see Hood out there,
too, no matter the hour, not to pose for
the media but to lend support.
"It's easy to go the extra mile for a
chief who we know cares about us and
will do the right thing," Giusti tells
me. "That's a huge morale booster,
when you see a chief who is actually a
firefighter-not a politician, not a businessperson, but a person."

WHILE THE TRAJECTORY has been
decidedly upward, SAFD has also had its
challenges. The city has been embroiled
in a very public and acrimonious dispute with the firefighter union over
its labor contract since the previous
agreement expired in 2014, leaving
firefighters without pay increases for
four years. The situation has sparked
lawsuits, allegations of secret recorded
conversations, union-backed city charter amendments, and a bizarre scene
where the union president held a press
conference wearing a fake fire chief's
uniform. Hood has seemingly managed
to stay above the fray, in both the media
and with his firefighters, focusing on
running the department and letting city



NFPA Journal - May/June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - May/June 2019

Contents
NFPA Journal - May/June 2019 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - May/June 2019 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - May/June 2019 - 1
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NFPA Journal - May/June 2019 - Contents
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