Community Corner

Fallen S.F. Firefighter was Former Alameda County Sheriff's Deputy

Lt. Vincent Perez died Thursday morning after being injured fighting a fire in San Francisco. Two other firefighters were injured, and one is still in critical condition.

Bay City News Service — The San Francisco firefighter who died Thursday after being burned in a house fire is a former Alameda County Sheriff's deputy.

Lt. Vincent Perez, 48, was one of three firefighters injured in the blaze, which was reported at 10:44 a.m. at a four-story home in the city's Diamond Heights district.

Perez, a 21-year veteran of the department, died at San Francisco General Hospital about 11:50 a.m. Still in critical condition is firefighter and paramedic Anthony Valerio, 53, according to Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White.

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The third firefighter, a woman whose name was not immediately available, was treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation and minor burns and was released.

Hayes-White said Perez was a classmate of hers when they entered the department's academy in 1990. In addition to being a sheriff's deputy, Perez had also served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Find out what's happening in Alamedawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"His whole life was spent serving the community," she said.

Perez's two brothers are also public servants. One is a San Francisco police officer and the other is an Oakland police officer.

Dozens of firefighters gathered to salute Perez as his body was taken from the hospital to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy.

"Our hearts are heavy, and they will be for a long time," Hayes-White said.

This is the first time in eight years that San Francisco has lost a firefighter in the line of duty. In January 2003, 40-year-old firefighter Melinda Ohler died after falling from a fire engine as it responded to a call.

The cause of Thursday's fire remains under investigation, fire department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said.

Talmadge said some firefighters reported seeing a "flashover," or heat explosion, inside the home, and around that time, an emergency alarm was activated by one of the firefighters inside the home.

Dispatch received the alert and notified the incident commander, who tried, but was unable, to reach the firefighter by radio, Talmadge said.

Additional crew members were sent in, and they found two firefighters down and "pretty badly burned."

Four residents were inside the home when the blaze started, but they all escaped without injury, authorities said. American Red Cross personnel were speaking with the home's occupants during the afternoon.

Tom O'Connor, president of the San Francisco firefighters union, said fires in the Diamond Heights and Twin Peaks areas are especially hard to fight.

"All the houses are kind of upside down," with a story or two at street level and at least one or two more stories down the hillside, O'Connor said.

"If things go wrong, you're in the worst possible area" since the flames will shoot upward from the lower levels of the home, he said.

O'Connor said a firefighter died in another house fire in the same neighborhood in 1995.

Mayor Ed Lee came to the hospital Thursday afternoon to pay his respects to the firefighters and their families, as did several other city officials, including police Chief Greg Suhr and Supervisors David Chiu and Ross Mirkarimi.

Lee said, "This reminds all of us how dangerous this job is" and asked for the community to pray for the recovery of Valerio, who suffered extensive burns and other injuries in the fire.

Former mayor and current Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom also issued a statement Thursday afternoon, saying the firefighters' "heroic actions will never be forgotten."

Lee and Newsom were supposed to attend a news conference Thursday afternoon to discuss the expansion of the city's technology industry, but the event was canceled after officials got word of the firefighters' injuries.

Lee has ordered all flags in the city to be flown at half-staff.


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