San Francisco Arson Investigation Unit in Disarray

It is common knowledge that the Mission neighborhood in San Francisco has experienced a frenzy of building fires. In several of those fires people died, and many residents have been displaced.
But recently the San Francisco Fire Department “removed the head of its task force,” after he made requests for additional staffing. An article by Ted Goldberg from KQED states there is a backlog of unsolved investigations that number in the hundreds. As of 2010 over 300 cases have been unresolved. Captain John Darmanin admits he was pushed out for speaking out by the inadequate staffing in the arson investigation unit at the San Francisco Fire Department. He made several attempts at fire commission meetings to explain the arson investigation unit is not staffed adequately. So the response was to remove him. Additional investigators have been hired, but they are still in training. Discovering the cause of residential building fires is very important to fire victims. Arson investigations give closure to fire victims.