In response to a rash of fires that plagued SRO Hotels, the Mayor's Office, the Board of Supervisors and Community Based Organizations established a comprehensive strategy whose end goal was to assist the San Francisco Fire Department in fire prevention activities. The Fire Department's role is to offer and conduct an aggressive fire prevention awareness campaign targeting SRO occupancies in various district neighborhoods throughout the City and County of San Francisco.
Fire hazards are pervasive in SRO Hotels due to a variety of factors that includes: aged housing, tenant behaviors, and a general lack of knowledge about fire safety and prevention information. Since 1997, a series of fires in SRO Hotels occurred in the various neighborhoods resulting in a loss of 650 housing units and displacement of approximately 1000 residents.
The goal of the Fire Department's SRO Hotel Fire Safety Program is to conduct evening fire prevention and education workshops tailored to the building design and its residents. Our goal is to provide the residents with the knowledge of basic fire dynamics, prevention techniques, specific aspects of the life safety system present in their hotel, and the proper response before, during and after a fire. Maximizing their awareness of what must be done to prevent and, if necessary, survive a major fire in their building are major goals of the program. For more information, please contact the SRO Hotel Fire Safety Education Requests.
Participation in the SRO Hotel Fire Safety Program is only by request, made through the three major SRO Collaborative Groups:
Mission SRO Collaborative:
938 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Contact: Jorge Portillo (415) 282-6209 x 16 (or) x 12
Central City SRO Collaborative:
259 Hyde St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
Contact: Peter Masiak (415) 775-7110
Chinatown SRO Collaborative
1525 Grant Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94133
Contact: Angela Chu (415) 984-1468