SF emergency unit's computer crashed during fire

Lt. Anne Tam helps a couple of the tenants recovery some of their belongings from inside the burned building, after an early morning fire forced about 45 people from their apartment complex at 920 Montgomery Street, Calif. on Saturday Jan. 1, 2011 less Lt. Anne Tam helps a couple of the tenants recovery some of their belongings from inside the burned building, after an early morning fire forced about 45 people from their apartment complex at 920 Montgomery ... more Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close SF emergency unit's computer crashed during fire 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A big-brass review of San Francisco's response to a New Year's Eve apartment blaze that left 48 people homeless turned into a jaw-dropper.

The big surprise: The Division of Emergency Services' main computer lost its Internet connection in the middle of the crisis, and workers couldn't get the backup system running because no one knew the password.

Word of the meltdown surfaced just the other day, when the Mayor's Disaster Council sat down to review the city's response to the North Beach fire.

Mayor Ed Lee and other city officials at the meeting listened with growing disbelief as an emergency services representative casually mentioned that the computer had crashed as the fire burned.

"Did you switch to the backup system?" asked Board of Supervisors President David Chiu.

"No," said the rep from emergency services.

"Why not?" Chiu asked.

"We couldn't find the password, and the only person who knew it wasn't there," the rep replied.

"How long was the system down?" Chiu asked.

"Two to three hours."

When Chiu asked what the agency had done in the meantime, the emergency services rep held up a notepad and said, "That's what we have pencils and paper for."

The division's chief, Rob Dudgeon, said the rep's explanation was "a bit simplistic." But, yes, he said, the connection failed, and the agency had to bring in a tech to reconnect the computer.

"The Internet makes things easier, but it's not like we can't operate without it," Dudgeon said. "We still had radios and cell phones. And it's not like we are going to have Internet connection if we get hit with the Big One."

Maybe not, but "we were all pretty surprised by the answers," Chiu said.

And he's asking for a full report.

Welcome, strangers: One way to read the latest University of California admission stats: Out-of-state applicants for UC Berkeley's freshman class next fall stood a one-third greater chance of being admitted than those from California.

At UCLA, foreign students were accepted at nearly twice the rate as homegrown applicants.

That's the upshot of UC's budget dance, in which out-of state students are far more attractive than they used to be because they fork over an extra $23,000 a year in tuition.

"We have to find a way to pay for this," Darek DeFreece, the alumni representative on the Board of Regents, said of the state's budget cuts.

Golden guards: The newly negotiated contract between Gov. Jerry Brown's administration and his friends at the 32,000-member prison guards union falls far short of the 10 percent savings called for in the governor's budget proposal.

It also allows the guards to bank and sell back their unused vacation when they retire. And the guards get a generous amount of time off - eight to 10 weeks a year.

True, the guards are being asked to take a 4.6 percent wage cut next year, plus kick in an additional 3 percent to their pensions, for a combined savings of $151 million.

In return, however, the state will increase its contribution to the guards' health care benefits by $86 million.

What's more, top-tier guards will get a 3 to 4 percent raise at the end of the four-year contract.

According to the state legislative analyst, when all is said and done, the state will fall $306 million short of its expected savings if the Legislature approves negotiated contracts for prison guards and five other unions.

Added irony: Ron Yank, the governor's chief labor negotiator on the deal, used to be the union's lawyer.

Yank told us he had "no clue" what the deal would cost, but that the deal was similar to what other unions got from former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Presidential pull: His national poll numbers may be on the skids, but President Obama's $35,800-a-head dinner for 60 at the Pacific Heights home of Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynn, sold out in a flash.

So did the $5,000-a-head breakfast at the St. Regis and a $35,800-per-couple, 20-minute coffee klatch.

"I had one latecomer ask me what he could get for $10,000," said one organizer. "The best I could do was a space on the rope line."

EXTRA! Catch our blog at www.sfgate.com/matierandross.