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FeedTracy Jarman
Dialogue with Tom Blair
SAN DIEGO FIRE CHIEF TRACY JARMAN was just 2 when she moved with her parents to Escondido, where she grew up. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s in public administration from San Diego State University before she made a career switch and got her fire science degree from Miramar College. One of only two dozen female fire chiefs in the country, Jarman, 51, heads the second-largest department among that select company. She joined San Diego’s fire department in 1984, moved up to assistant chief in 2003 and was appointed chief in 2006. Jarman and her partner live in Del Mar Heights.
TOM BLAIR: Did you play with fire trucks when you were a kid?
TRACY JARMAN: I didn’t really. No.
TB: So when did it first occur to you that you might want to be a firefighter?
TJ: I was sitting at a drafting table, working for a civil engineering firm in Scripps Ranch, and that’s where I first saw fire crews from Miramar College. They used to lay their hose lines in the business park. One lunchtime, I was walking through the parking lot and saw my first woman firefighter. It never occurred to me it was an option. I had a degree in biology, and I was waiting for opportunities.
TB: That’s when you first saw firefighting as a realistic goal for a woman?
TJ: Well, if you were a girl, you used to be able to be a teacher, a secretary or a nurse. But I was in the first wave that started to look at other opportunities.
TB: Did you know from the beginning you wanted to be chief someday? Did it occur to you it was a possibility?
TJ: What I like about the city of San Diego is that it was a possibility——that the opportunity existed. If I did all the right things and learned what I needed to learn, developed the skills, gathered the education, sought out the right mentors and continued up the ladder, I always believed that was a possibility.
TB: During your 23-year career in the department, did you ever face discrimination because you were a woman?
TJ: I was fortunate I wasn’t the first female firefighter in San Diego. I was the 15th or 16th woman coming on, so many of the barriers and issues had already been addressed. So often I think it’s your attitude and how you approach the situation. I was fortunate to have good mentors, captains, good officers. The station where I first worked permanently was Rancho Bernardo. I spent about two years up there, and they taught me to drive the brush rigs.
TB: That must have made last fall’s fire there really hit home for you.
TJ: It did.
TB: Are there any advantages to being a female fire chief? Disadvantages?
TJ: I think it depends on the skill set you bring to the position. My organizational skills, my ability to multitask——those sorts of skills are key to the position. But it really doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or a woman.
TB: When you took the chief’s job a year and a half ago, you acknowledged the department lacked all the resources necessary for a city of 1.3 million. Did the recent firestorms drive that home?
TJ: They did——although that message was already out there. We often talk about needing 22 additional fire stations. Incrementally, we’re trying to address that. We have the temporary station in Mission Valley, and we’re going to open up Pacific Highlands Ranch in February, so it’s a start. But we have a long way to go——and it’s going to take time. Maybe this will be the catalyst to help us come up with a plan to start to address it.
TB: And yet your men and women were celebrated for their handling of the fires and their heroism.
TJ: I am so proud of my department and how they rose to the occasion to fight that fire.
TB: But what did they lack in terms of resources that might have made their jobs easier——or at least safer?
TJ: The biggest challenge is in the first 24 to 48 hours, when the local fire jurisdiction is pretty much on its own. After that, the state and federal government and the resources start to pour in. If I had more reserve apparatus——I mentioned this to the blue-ribbon task force. I had additional personnel; I just didn’t have the apparatus to put those personnel on. If I could have more reserve rigs, which wouldn’t necessarily require stations immediately. While we’re working on that part of the equation, could we put up more apparatus from the state or the county to give us more strike teams in the first 24 to 48 hours? I can’t wait to build 22 fire stations, but can we start to work on reserve engines or different tactical plans to do pump, run and return?
TB: San Diego Gas & Electric Company has been faulted for not clearing brush around its power lines. Could that have saved property and lives?
TJ: I think once the fire was going, with the winds of that magnitude, that wasn’t a factor. The question is: Is there some way to keep the utility lines in 90-mile-an-hour winds from sparking or starting the fire in the first place?
TB: And that wasn’t something the utility had control over?
TJ: Not really.
TB: Would it be helpful, though, if SDG&E undergrounded the lines?
TJ: Undergrounded. Insulated. Anything to keep them from sparking or snapping loose. But it’s always a cost issue, and at the same time we all need electricity. The trick is finding that balance.
TB: Should the county incorporate its fire departments?
TJ: The lack of resources in the county is the issue, and anything we can do to increase the ground resources in the region, we need to look at.
TB: By “resources,” you mean personnel and equipment, but what about having them coordinated as a county firefighting unit?
TJ: I think we need to look at that. Although I think we did coordinate much better than we did in the Cedar fire in 2003. I talked to all the local fire chiefs ——Escondido, Poway, Rancho Santa Fe. We coordinated resources, depending on where the head of the fire was at that point. And we have made improvements since the Cedar fire. Fire-Rescue Copter 1 going 24/7 was a key. So now I’m going after a second helicopter, because Copter 1 was down for 10 days recently. That’s a critical piece of equipment we need constantly. And we now have mobile data computers on the rigs, and the engine companies can see on a screen where the other companies are located. So when we were doing rescues in Ranch Bernardo, for example, we didn’t have to do radio traffic. We put out the address, and they could see who was closest and responding. The piece of equipment the computers replaced was a mobile data terminal. When we were still using those, there were some fire departments that had them as antiques in their museums. In fact, they were in the Phoenix Fire Museum. To get parts for ours, we had to go to eBay. Those are the challenges we had.
TB: What did you think of your predecessor’s decision not to evacuate his home during the fires?
TJ: Well . . . that’s a challenge. Considering he’s been a fire chief and has had 30-plus years of experience and understands fire behavior, he has more knowledge than the average citizen does. That’s his personal choice to make that decision. On the other hand, I don’t think it helps me as the current fire chief when I’m trying to evacuate citizens throughout the region.
TB: It sends a signal.
TJ: It does.
TB: A good deal of your 23-year career in firefighting has been in administration. How much time did you personally spend fighting fires?
TJ: I was a firefighter for seven years; engineer for three; and then a captain. As I got to the captain level, I got to spend more time in administration.
TB: So at least 10 years. When you were named chief, one of your former colleagues, Steve Salaz, called you brave. “She was aggressive,” he said. “When it was time to fight fires, she was always there.” Are you aggressive? Brave?
TJ: I am!
TB: I like your candor. Do you ever miss being out on the lines?
TJ: I miss it a lot. Steve and I were partners. So he would know, firsthand, whether I was brave or not.
TB: So which requires more bravery, fighting fires or fighting with politicians for the manpower and money you need?
TJ: Very good question. Actually, it’s fighting the fires.
TB: Speaking of bravery, were you prepared for the firestorm last summer when some of your firefighters claimed they were ordered to appear in the Gay Pride parade? Was it your order?
TJ: I wasn’t aware that was happening. I found out just before we started to march in the parade.
TB: Were they forced, or was it voluntary?
TJ: That’s all in litigation now, so I want to be careful on that topic.
TB: But it didn’t come from you? It came up from someone under you?
TJ: It came up through the chain of command. Issues like that typically do. Fire rescue’s been marching in it for 15 years or so. No problems.
TB: Four of the male firefighters filed a sexual harassment complaint. What’s the status of that?
TJ: I don’t know. We entered mediation. Now it’s in litigation.
TB: Most of us can’t possibly know what it’s like to be a firefighter. After a quarter-century in firefighting, you should know what’s real and what’s not. Tell us: Backdraft or Ladder 49?
TJ: Oh, Backdraft. That’s what I experienced.
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