I don't personally know the SF story, but I'll bet local emergency services (fire, police, EMS, etc.) have determined all the target hazards and their priorities in a response pre-plan. And, I'll bet that SF pilot was being directed by Incident Command to those priority targets. Those target hazards (based on probability and scope of life-risk) will change dependent on time of day, large public events, weather, etc. For instance, they may assess Giant's stadium first if there is a World Series game in progress but ignore it if there wasn't. Also identified in the plan are the hazards that can "take out" a large population of people if damaged (i.e., chemical plants, large propane farms, nuclear power plants) especially those upwind of population centers. I would bet the plan is public record and would give the reporter a good foundation.