By Kevin Fagan
The San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO — Joseph Medina, who was once described as “a pistol of a firefighter” and rose to become San Francisco’s first minority fire chief, is dead at 75.
He died Oct. 26 at a hospital near his home in El Dorado Hills El Dorado County from complications after a stroke, said his son, Michael Francis.
“He loved being a firefighter,” Francis said. “He always said he wanted to be back in the field. He loved the camaraderie, and it was a good brotherhood for him.”
Mr. Medina was fire chief from 1992 to 1996, a period when the department was under a federal court order to diversify its workforce. The city’s current chief said he displayed “great leadership skills.”
“He led the department at a challenging time, and he led it with great pride and great expertise,” said Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White, who in 2004 became the city’s first female fire chief. “He worked his way up the ladder, but he never forgot where he came from.”
Mr. Medina was born in Solano County, raised in San Francisco, and served as a corporal in the Marine Corps during the Korean War. After his honorable discharge, he delivered salami and milk in San Francisco while he earned a fire science certificate at City College of San Francisco. He became a city firefighter in November 1962.
He served on the fire lines, drove engines and eventually became fire marshal in 1982. In that job, he revised the city’s fire code to more closely reflect its ethnic populations, such as recognizing the intricacies of regulating Polynesian fire-walking.
The Fire Department was ordered by a federal judge in 1988 to diversify its ranks, and when then-Mayor Frank Jordan appointed Mr. Medina fire chief in 1992 the tension over that order was still palpable. Mr. Medina, whose parents were from Spain, was a logical choice because of his emphasis on ethnic sensitivity and his deep knowledge of the department, many said.
“He’s a pistol of a firefighter,” then-Fire Commission President Jack Ertola said at the time. “He’s a firefighter’s firefighter.”
By the time Mr. Medina retired in 1996, the department had gone from being 15 percent minority with no female firefighters in 1988 to an organization that was 33 percent minority and 6 percent female.
Mr. Medina is survived by his wife, Carol Medina of El Dorado Hills; three sons, Francis of El Dorado Hills, Joseph Medina of San Francisco and Michael Medina of Winters; a sister, Nancy Pfeifer of Eureka; and seven grandchildren.
Services will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. at St. Monica’s Catholic Church, 470 24th Ave., San Francisco. A rosary will be recited at the church Monday at 7 p.m.
Copyright 2010 San Francisco Chronicle