San Francisco's top arson investigator says his department is "woefully short" of personnel, a situation he says is harming investigations at a time when there has been an uptick in fires in the city.
"My investigators are taking a beating," said John Darmanin, captain of the city's arson task force. "They are getting burned out. They are literally getting sick."
The arson task force includes investigators from the fire and police departments and district attorney's office.
Darmanin pointed to the series of arson fires in the Castro last month as one example of how investigations are being compromised: The protocol is for fire investigators to work in pairs, but only one was able to respond.
"She was overwhelmed," Darmanin said. "Anyone would be overwhelmed. She delayed her responses to one of the fires. That isn’t good business when you can’t staff your unit to the level that is required."