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6.C. - Page 2 of 35 In June, 2018 the Bay Area News Group (BANG) investigated the fire safety inspection programs of major fire departments across the Bay Area, including the Redwood City Fire Department. The investigation by BANG found that fire departments were failing to conduct these mandated inspections. Based on this article the Grand Jury undertook a compliance review of all ten fire departments/districts in San Mateo County. The Redwood City Fire Department completed 100% of all mandated inspections within Redwood City and San Carlos by the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2018/2019, the annual inspection cycle used by the fire department. SB 1205 became effective in January 2019 and now requires all fire departments to submit Annual Reports to their governing bodies or administering authorities regarding their compliance with the state's mandate for annual fire safety inspections. ANALYSIS Staff has reviewed the Grand Jury's findings and recommendations and has prepared a letter for the Mayor's signature in response to the Grand Jury Report. The response demonstrates the City is supportive of the implementation recommendations made in the report. Grand Jury Findings: As noted above, the City is required to respond to each finding in the report, stating whether the City agrees with the finding, or disagrees wholly or partially with the finding. Finding 1: California Health & Safety Code Sections 13146.2, 13146.3 and 17921(b) and regulations require fire departments to conduct annual inspections of all public and private schools, hotels, motels, lodging houses, and apartments in their jurisdictions (mandated annual inspections). City Response - The City agrees with the finding. Finding 2: From 2015 through 2018, the following three fire departments conducted inspections of over 90 percent of the mandated buildings in their jurisdictions, as shown in Table 1: • Menlo Park Fire Protection District • North County Fire Authority • Woodside Fire Protection District City Response - No response per Grand Jury instructions found in the "Request for Responses" section. Finding 3: The disorganization and incompleteness of the data submitted by the San Mateo Consolidated Fire Department for 2015 through 2017 (which it inherited from its predecessor fire departments) was such that it could not be analyzed by the Grand Jury. However, data submitted by SMCFD for 2018 was well organized and showed 100 percent of schools and 82 percent of the apartments, condominiums, hotels and motels within its jurisdiction were inspected that year. City Response - No response per Grand Jury instructions found in the "Request for Responses" section. City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org 91