Editor:

I recently sent the email below to Mayor Lurie. I hope you’ll publish it. The Emergency Firefighting Water Supply (EFWS) has not been expanded to protect the Richmond and Sunset districts in their entirety. 

Mayor Lurie:

I’m reading about Phil Ginsburg’s expected departure. I strongly urge you to choose as the next Recreation and Park Department general manager someone who knows about stewarding open spaces, who is willing to acknowledge fire risk, and who is willing to help draft a citywide vegetation management plan. Public safety is an issue that should be acknowledged, addressed and prioritized.

Rec. and Park is responsible for the majority of City-owned trees in open spaces, including 30 acres of dense, unirrigated, unmanaged eucalyptus atop our tallest hill, at Mt. Davidson Park. If ignited, these trees can throw burning embers around the entire City. Arborists refer to the park as “a basket case”; it’s unhealthy and needs a lot of work. RPD staff knows how trees are falling over. 

Ginsburg has refused to acknowledge fire risk for the entire City, despite red flag wildfire warnings for San Francisco in 2024, a consulting arborist’s 2025 comment about high fire danger among unirrigated eucalyptus, and fuel reduction work being done by the SFPUC, UCSF and the Presidio Trust. 

Most cities and counties have a vegetation management plan. The City’s 2008 Emergency Response Plan, aka Hazard Mitigation Plan, recommended implementing a fuel reduction plan. To date, we don’t even have either a management or fuel reduction plan.

The risk to the entire City is heightened by the fact that entire neighborhoods are unprotected and will be left defenseless in the event of a conflagration. For example, my neighborhood lacks fire hydrants along the one-mile O’Shaughnessy border of the Glen Canyon Park eucalyptus plantation. We also lack a high-pressure firefighting system – no pipes or cisterns – despite the Board of Supervisors’ 2019 declaration of a “state of urgency” to expand the EFWS to unprotected neighborhoods.

I ask that you do all you can to prioritize keeping us safe from fire.

Denise Louie