Firefighters union accuses chief's top aide of mishandling funds

The San Francisco firefighters union has accused one of Chief Dean Crispen’s closest aides, Adrienne Sims, of mishandling union funds, a dispute that could soon move from an internal labor fight to formal scrutiny by authorities.

Sims, 54, serves as Crispen’s chief of staff and has worked for the San Francisco Fire Department since 2001. The union, San Francisco Fire Fighters Union Local 798, said it believed Sims handled money improperly and planned to report the matter to authorities. Later reporting said Sims disputed any wrongdoing, said she would repay certain charges and had been on leave since early April.

The accusations matter because Sims is not a peripheral employee. She is a longtime department insider who sat close to the command structure of one of San Francisco’s most visible public-safety institutions. A CALJAC profile described her as a 22-year veteran of the department and an instructor with the IAFF Partnership Education Program, while Local 798’s current executive board lists Sina Riahi as treasurer, showing Sims is no longer in that post.

Crispen’s own rise adds to the stakes. Mayor Daniel Lurie named him fire chief in January 2025, and he was sworn in on January 21, 2025, as the 27th chief of the San Francisco Fire Department. The dispute now lands inside a department that depends on trust, discipline and clear lines of accountability, especially at a time when labor relations can affect staffing, morale and public confidence.

The fire department’s current Local 798 Unit 1 memorandum of understanding runs from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2026, giving the conflict immediate significance inside an active labor framework. San Francisco Fire Department budget documents say the agency’s mission includes fire suppression, emergency medical services, fire prevention and maintaining a work environment free of harassment and discrimination.

For San Franciscans, the allegation goes beyond accounting questions. The city expects fire officials to handle both public money and union relationships with the same care they bring to emergency response. If the dispute deepens, City Hall may have to confront a harder question: whether the department can police its own internal finances and keep a fight over union funds from becoming a broader test of accountability around Crispen’s inner circle.