Richard D. Bracco is a battalion chief for the San Francisco Fire Department and a member of the Department’s Earthquake Task Force. He has been a member of the Department for twenty-one years, and was appointed battalion chief in 1990. As a company officer he responded to the Marina District fire following the 1989 earthquake.
Chief Bracco holds a B.A. in industrial arts from California State University, an A.A. in fire sciences from City College of San Francisco, and is currently enrolled in the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer’s program.
In addition, he is a certified Hazardous Materials Specialist, and Fire Investigator.
Chief Bracco served for more than three years as coordinator of the San Francisco Arson Task Force where he developed an arson early warning and reporting system.
He currently serves as a member of the San Francisco Fire Department Earthquake Task Force which is revising the Department’s disaster plan. He also was involved in development of the Rapid Assessment Program now offered by FEMA. He serves as a member of the Department advisory group to develop a USAR team for the City and County of San Francisco.
Chief Bracco is the OES mutual aid coordinator for San Francisco, and managed the Department’s responses to the 1993 Malibu fires, the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the Inverness fire of 1995 in the Pt. Reyes National Seashore. He is also a state-
certified strike team leader. He is also past chair of the San Francisco Fire Department’s Health and Safety committee, where he developed and instituted the safety officer program for fire and other emergency responders.
