.MzM1.MzM1

OEPARTMEN T o f F IRE 4 6 COURT L AN D S T., ~ - E . Atl a n ta , Geo rg ia P.O. WILLIA MS CHIEF August 15, D o9 Honorab l e Ivan All en, Jr. Mayor , City of Atl ant a City Hall Atlanta , Ge orgi a 30303 Dea r t iayor All en: 1 He ha ve been deali ng 1·1it h Cm11nun ity Re l ati ons and have accepted so,·;ie of t he ir su ggest i ons re l at i ve t o e li mi nat i ng some pro bl e1:is . Vari ous poli ci es and f act s perta i ni ng to t his dep artment are atta ched . ! t is inte r es t i n~ to not,'.> th e fo ll ovJi ng excerpt f r om the Rep or t of the United Stat es Co1,11nission on Civil Rig ht s 196 9 , e nt i tled For /\11 th e Peo;J 1e . . . By .l\ll the Peop l e v;hich has j ust r2a ched t ,1i s of f ·ice : Des pite t he be 1ated ad;ni ss i on of fi r em2n i nt o t he ,l\t l anta de ;J artmen t and t he el aborat e procedu res which s urrounded t hei r i nt ro duct i on, t he At l an t a Fi re Departmen t ll ad a 1arge r pr opo rt i on of ;·leg r oes i n unifonn th an any ot her cen tral ci ty in t he s ur vey and a hi gi1er degree of integrat io n t han many . 11 11 vJe are i n t he process of re -v1rit i ng th 2 Rul es and Reg ul at i ons of the At la nt a Fi r e Depa rtment to e li @i nat e any i nequi t i es i n the ol d book, to eli ~in ate any possibility of di~cri min ati on or th e possi bil ity of any offi ce r ove r-reacti ng 1-Jith aut hority . As soon as t his has been comp l et ed, it i>Jill be presented t o t he Board of Fi re Masters for t he ir approva 1 and adopti en. We \voul d li ke to st r ess ti1a t any fi reman who has 9ri ~vances , has th ree met hods by whi ch to ai r t hem i n t iiis office: by comp l et in g a Fo r,n 52 (Speci al Req ues t) , go t hrou gh t he Company 0-ffi ce rs and Batt alion Chi ef , or by use of a Sugg es t ion Fo nn avai l able in al l s tatio ns . Any just ifiab l e gri e vances will be s tra i gh ten ed out. Yo urs very truly , /) ' 0, { ,(__ 1d~~ O. HILLI AMS, Ch ief Atl anta Fi re De; artr.1ent POW : lla Enclosure cc : Mr . W. T. Kni g_ht , Ch airman Board of Fi re !·1aste rs "HELP SAVE LIFE AND PROPERTY BY PREVEN TING FIRES" �The Atlanta Fire Department's only interest is in t he protection of lives and property from fir2. The citizens of Atlanta should llave and deserve t ile best fire protec.tion avai.la.bl e. In order to accornplisi1 this , i.-ve r:1ust nave tile best trained, qualified, and experienced personnel in res ponsible positions regardless of race, creed, or color. Fi re Department o ffi cershi p must have 1eadershi p. One cannot gain leadership if standards have to · be lov-:ered so one can qualify. Subordinates v1ill not look upon such an officer as a l 2ader. Life and property is at stake. Decisions and actions of a fire officer are based on knowledge and experience of the job. Therefore, standards and qualifications must be kept high. Rather than lower the standards) they should be raised. PROMOTIONAL POLICIES: Promotions in the Fi re Department are made according to merit and fitness. The promotional system of the Atl anta Fire Department is set by law. Anyone meeting the qualifyi ng standards as set fort h by the Promotional Board will be prrnnoted regardl ess of race, creed. or color. ~{e 1,1ill not and do not discriminate for or against anyone meeting the qualifying standards of this system. Promoti onai exam-inati ons for Fi re Li eutcii a~ts 0.r2 h21 d every t\·:o years. To qualify , a man must have had five years service in the Fire Depa rtm2nt . After the examin ation, t he appl icants are li sted according to their scores from a combination of the v1ritten test, trainin g school average, and seniority points. This list is · divided into gr_ou ps of 20 . The first 20 men are rated at oral interviews , and t his score is added to their gr ades fro~ the above three items . Promotions from t his list are made in order of t he applicant's fina l score. So far, the first 7 men have been promoted from the Li eutenant 's examination he l d in Ma rch of 1969 . The first bl ack firer;1en sta rted to work in April 196 3, so t hat this is t he first year (1 969 ) any of t hem have been eli gibl e to app ly for promotion to Li eutenant. There \'Jere 153 app licants , of whom 6 we re bl ack. The f irst bl ack app licant is in the 6th group of 20 or approxi ma t e·ly pos ition 102 on t l1e li st. Promotions to Fi re Apparatus Operator are made by appointment. The Captain at each station makes these se l ~ctions subject to the approval of the Battal i on Chief. The men mus t have had at least two year5 service with the Fi re Department and have passed t i1e required driving tests at the Training School. There are nine black firemen in these positions. �,. I-I IRING PRACTICES: Eligible lists for Firemen are establi shed every i\leek after the we ekly inte rvi e :1s. (During Harell, Apr"il, and July of t his year, inte rvi e~·Js were hel d every t wo v,ee ks.) As vacanci es occur , t he Fi r e Department calls th e men on a list in t he order of th eir scores. Each pe rs on on th e list of a certain date is contacted and offered e!·np loyme nt be fore movin g to t he next chro nological li s t. O~ ce a man is on th ~ eli gi ble list, he is not by- passed unl es s t he Fire De partment is unabl e to contact hi m by tel ~p hone or l ette r. 1 Through July 25, of this year , 60 wh ite men we re put on the eli ~i ble list and 57 blac k men . Of th ese , 45 white men have been employe d and 41 blac k men. Of the 86 7 men in t he ext i ng ui s hin g division , ove r 19% or 165 are black. Nine of t he se ar e Fi r e Appa r at us Op e rators and 25 are on r,iil it ary Le ave . Firemen t ha t l ea ve the dep ar t ment for mi 1i ta ry se rvic e ar e r eins t ated whe n t hey r etu rn (t his is a Fede r al Law) and are us uall y returned to t he s am2 station fr om \st hi ch t i1ey l eft. RE CRE.LffIQ:-.1 CL UB: In J anu ary of 1959, a group of fireme n l ea sed a 5.7 acre t ra ct of l and at Lake .8.ll at oon a f r o::1 t ne gove r nme nt and or ganiz ed a ciuo whic h was call ~d At l ant a Firene n ' s Re crea t io n Clu b. Howe ve r , the Fi re Depa rt r:12 nt nor t 112 City of At l anta ha. s any ju ri s dict i on ove r th e act i viti es of th i s clu b. It is a priv ate or gan i zati on controll ed by a Boa r d of Trus t ee s comp os ed of e l e ven men, w;1 0 ad he r e to ti-,e wis he s of t he ma jority of t he membe rs , and i s su pported ent i r el y by dues pa i d by t he membe rs and ma i nt ai ne d t i1 rou gh volunt ee r services of t he membe rs. �