San Francisco Mayor London Breed named Jeanine Nicholson the city’s next fire chief Wednesday morning.
Nicholson, a 25-year veteran of the Fire Department who had been serving as deputy chief of administration, becomes the second woman to hold the position and the department’s first openly gay leader.
She succeeds Joanne Hayes-White, who announced her intent to retire in October after 15 years as fire chief. Hayes-White was among the first dozen women to enter the department when she joined in 1990.
“She has been on the front lines fighting fires, and she has saved lives as a paramedic, and she has done the complicated work as a deputy chief to manage multiple divisions,” Breed said at a brief press conference. “This woman is tough, this woman is resilient, this woman is a leader. I am confident she will be ready to lead the department on day one.”
Nicholson will be sworn-in as chief following Hayes-White’s departure, which is expected in May.
Nicholson said she was excited to work for the Breed administration, which is “full of bold new ideas.” Among her priorities, she said, will be disaster preparation, as well as addressing the a swelling volume of emergency calls attributable to the city’s homelessness and the opioid crisis.
“I don’t think I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t feel nervous,” she told reporters. “It’s an awesome responsibility and I take it incredibly seriously. It’s a team effort.”
Nicholson also said it is “an honor” to be the city’s first gay fire chief.
“Because of my position and job in general, I have been a role model for many LGBTQ youth, and I will continue that,” she said. “I know I keep saying everything is an honor, but it is. And I don’t take that lightly.”
She was one of three names the San Francisco Fire Commission presented to Breed in recent days. Battalion Chief Michael Thompson and Stockton Fire Chief Erik Newman were also on that list.
“The city will be in very capable hands with Chief Nicholson leading the San Francisco Fire Department and we’re both committed to a smooth transition,” Hayes-White said.
Nicholson joined the department in 1994 and worked for more than two decades as a firefighter and as a paramedic, rising to become a captain and a battalion chief. As deputy chief of administration, she oversaw a number of divisions, including homeland security, human resources and investigative services.
Her successful battle with an aggressive form of breast cancer also raised awareness about the health risks facing female firefighters on the job.
Nicholson’s appointment was also praised by Firefighters Union Local 798, which represents the department’s workforce.
Back in January, the union expressed concern that an initial list of candidates drawn up by the Fire Commission didn’t include enough names from within the department. Breed and the union are closely tied, dating back to her time on the Fire Commission. Local 798 was also spent over $800,000 in independent expenditure money to get Breed elected back in June.
Breed asked the commission to reopen the process and add more names.
“Deputy Chief Nicholson is a proven, well-respected leader who has risen through the ranks of the SFFD. San Francisco firefighters have confidence in her ability to work collaboratively with our members in the field to guide our department in the right direction,” Shon Buford, the union’s president, said in a statement.
Chronicle Staff Writer Trisha Thadani contributed to this report.
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