Fire Chief: 'Fire Prevention Most Important Part of the Job'

San Bruno Patch recently sat down with Fire Chief Dennis Haag to talk about his role and what it's like running two fire departments: San Bruno and Millbrae. The following is an excerpt of the interview.

San Bruno Patch: I wanted to start off with the basics. What's your experience as a firefighter and a fire chief?

Dennis Haag: I started in the fire service in 1979 in Millbrae as a firefighter. I went into fire prevention, I don't remember the year. But then I became fire marshal, then fire captain, then I went to the assistant chief position, then to the division chief position, then fire chief in 2000 in Millbrae.

In 2007, the opportunity came up as a shared service combination. We had already been doing battalion chiefs with shared services. And the city managers and city councils were agreeable to go ahead and take another step with the fire chief position. So here we are.

Patch: What is your favorite part about running a fire department on the Peninsula?

DH: Coming from the line, I kind of know what the line personnel have to do. The customer service we provide to the community is the priority, and it's what I take most pride in.

Fire prevention is the big component that most people don't see. Whether we're doing inspections or the public safety element or the fire service, that is kind of always under the radar, although it's probably the most important part of the job.

Patch: So you mentioned that one of the things that people don't necessarily see all the time is the fire prevention. How many public safety incidents do you take pride in preventing every year?

DH: The previous fire chief is an example. He (was chief at the time of) a fatal fire. The smoke detectors didn't work. So they wanted us to provide smoke detectors to people in need. We'll do the installation if you can't, and so forth and so on.

And even though smoke detectors are mandatory, and those types of things we want to be proactive on, obviously, it's like WMD (weapons of mass destruction).

We're trying to initiate a certain program here in the city of San Bruno, for example, but you don't get interest until you have a 9/11 or you have some big event that perks everybody's attention and then everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon and take it and use it to their advantage. It's a tough thing to do, but it's the reality that we deal with.

Patch: The shared services agreement, that's a big topic on the Peninsula, especially since we're talking about budget cuts and especially because we're seeing a trend. At one of the last (San Bruno) City Council meetings they brought up the topic of the grand jury report that was basically encouraging the cities on the Peninsula to go further in their shared services agreements. But I think one of the things you all highlighted, and one of things I've heard as I've spoken with other city leaders, is they take pride in San Bruno's — especially the fire department's — shared services agreement with Millbrae. What's made that relationship successful?

DH: Well, I think we have two similar agencies. Since 2000, when we dropped boundaries, our organizations worked together closely regardless. So it wasn't another agency trying to take over another agency. It was more about the opportunities that we saw, and we said, "Look, can we maintain the same level of service, deliver that service and actually save money too?"

So it wasn't seamless, but it was very close to seamless. And because our staffs had worked collaboratively before — you know, we had been through consolidation discussions years ago — we weren't strangers to one another.

Patch: Is there anything else you want to add?

DH: The one thing about the grand jury report is that, in regards to consolidation, it seemed to think it's very easy to do. It's a lot more complex than you might think with different agencies. But it is what it is, and we try to do the best with what can do.