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CITY Of-- AT L_I\NTA OEPARTMENT of F IRE 46 COURTLAND ST.,~- E. Atlanta , Georgia P .O. WILLIAMS CHIEF

1.ugust 15, 1969

Honorab l e Ivan All en, Jr. May or , City of At l ant a City Ha 11 Atlant a, Georgi a 30303 Dear ~ay or All en: l/e ha ve been d2ali ng 1·1i t h Co!.lmunity Re l atfons and have accepted so1·.1 e of t h2ir 1 su gge stions r e l at ive to e li ~i nat i ng s ome pro bl e~s. pertai ni ng to this dep artmen t ar e attac hed . Variou s polici es and fac t s I t is ir.teres t i n~ to not ,°' th r: follo-.1in a exce r pt from tile Repor t of th e U.i ited States Crn, 11ni ssion on Civil Ri gr,ts 196 9: cntit .l ed Fer .11.11 the Peopi e . .. By Al1 th e Peop l e v1:1 i cil has j ust reached t i1i s off-ice : " Desp ite t he be l ated ad:nission of fir eme n into t he Atlanta dc;Ja r t rnen t and t he e 1ab orat e proce du res w: li ch surr0Ui1ded th eir i ntroduction, t he At lanta Fire Dep artmen t had a l arg e r proport i on of ['leg r o2s i n unifo rni than any ot her ccntra 1 city in t he survey and a hi gher deg ree of integration t han many. " We are in th e process of re -w riting th e Ru l es and Regu l ations of th e Atl anta Fire Departme nt to e li r,1in at e any i nequit i es in t i1e ol d uoo k, to eli r:iin ate u.ny possibility of discri mi nu.ti on or b12 possi i::d lity of any office r over-rea cti ng with authority . As soon as th i s has bee n cor:-1pl eted, it ,vill be pre sented to ti1e Board of Fire Masters for t heir approval and adopt i on. i•Ie 1vould like to stress t ;1a t any firer;ian who has ci ri evances , has t hr ee met hod s by which to air them in t iiis off ice: by comp l eting a Fam 52 (Spec i al Reques t) , go throu gh the Company Office rs ai1d 3att a 1ion Chi ef, or by use of a Sugge s tion Fonn available in .a ll stations. Any jus t ifi able grie vances ~'i ill oe strai ghtened . out . You rs very truly , QC, t,Ll.R.t~~ pl_' 0. HI LLI AJ.1S, Chief Atlanta Fire De;, artr.1ent POW: 11 a Enclosure cc: Mr. 14. T. Knight, Chairman Board of Fire l·la sters "HELP SAVE LIFE AND PROPERTY BY PREVENTING FIRES" �The Atlant a Fire DE!partment's only i nt erest is i n t he protecti on of lives and property fro;fl f ire. The citize ns of Atlanta shoul d have an d dese rve t ;1e be st fire protecti on avail ab l e. In order to accomplis h t his , we must have t he best trained, q~alifi ect , and expe ri enced pers onnel in res ponsi bl e positions -rega rdl ess of r ace , creed , or color. Fi re Dep art-nent o ffi cers hi p must ha ve le aders hip. One cannot gain l eade rs hi p if standards have to be lov1ered so one can qualify. Su bordi nates v-ri 11 no t l ook upon such an officer as a l eade r. Life and property is at sta ke. Decisions and actions of a fire officer are bas ed on knowl edge and expe ri ence of t he j ob. Th erefore, stan dards and qualification s must be kept hi gh. Rath er than lower the standards, t hey s hould be rais ed. PROMOTIONAL POLICIES: Promotions in t he Fire Departme nt are ma de accordi n~ to me rit and fi t ness. The promoti ona l sys t em of the l\tlant a Fire Dep artment is set by l av,. Anyone mee ti ng the qualifyi ng sta ndards as set f crt h by th e Promot io na l Goa r d will be promote d reg ardl ess of ra ce, cree d, or color. We will not an d do not discri min at e f or or ag ai n~t anyone meeting the qu alifyi ng standards of t his sys t em. Promot i on a i exami nc1 t ions fo r Fi re Li eut enc.nts ure h2 l d cv~ry t ·1c years . To quali fy, a man must have had fi ve yea rs serv i ce i n -~he Fi re Depa rtm2~ t . Aft er the examin ati on, t he app lican ts are l i st ed accordi nc; t o th eir s cor es f rom a combi nati on of t h2 \'iritten t est , trai ni ng school aver age, and seni ority poi nts . This lis t is divided into grou ps of 20 . The firs t 20 me n are rat ed at oral i nt ervi ews , and t hi s score is added t o t heir grades fron t he above th ree i tems . Promot i ons f rom t his lis t are made in order of t he app licant's f i nal s core. So far, th e f i rs t 7 men have been promot ed from t he Li eut enant' s examinati on held in Marc h of 1969 . The f i rst blac k fi re~en st arted to work in April 196 3, so t hat th i s i s t ~e f i rst ye ar (1 969 ) any of t hem have been eli gib l e t o ap ply f or promot ion t o Li eutenan t. The re we re 153 app licants , of wh om 6 were bl ack. The fir st bl ack app li cant is in t he 6th group of 20 or approxi r.1ately positi on 102 on t he l i st. Promotio ns to Fi re .Appar at us Ope r ator are made by ap poi nt me nt. The Capt ai n at each stat ion makes t hese se l ection s sub j ect to the approval of t he Bat t ali on Chi ef . . Th e men ~ust ha ve i1 ad at l east two yea rs service wi th the Fi re Oepa rtm2n t ar. d ha ve pa ss-ed t r1e required dri ving t ests at the Train in g School . There are nine bl ack f i remen in these positions . �- ~ ~ -·- HIRING PRACTICES: Eligible lists for Firemen are established every \<1eek after the \'ie ekly intervie\·1s. (During ~larc h, Jl.pril, and July of this year, interviews were held every t vJO weeks.) As vacancies occur, t he Fi re Department calls the me n on~ list in the · orde r of th eir scores. Each person on the list of a certain date is contacted and offered emp loyment before movin g to th e next chronological list. Once a man is on th e eligible list, he is not by-passed unl ess t he Fire De partment is unabl e to contact him by telephone or letter. Thro,,!gh July 25, of this year , 60 wh ite men were put on the eligi ble list and 57 blac k men. Of these, 45 \vhite me n have been employed and 41 blac k men. Of the 86 7 men in t he extinguishin g division, over 19% or 165 ar e black. Nine of t hese are Fire Appa r at us OiJe rators and 25 are on fsiilitary Leave. Fireme n that l ea ve the depa rtment for military service ar e reinstat~d whe n t hey retu rn (this is a Fede r al Law) and are usuall y returne d to t l1e same station from \';h ic h they left. RECREATIOi'·l CLUB: In Janu ary of 1959, a grou p of fireme n l eased a 5.7 acre tract of land D.t Lake i~1l at oona fro;;1 ti1e Jove r nme nt and organ ized a cl ub whic h vias can ed Atl anta Firer.1e n 1 s Re creat ion Clu b. Ho:·;e ver, the Fire Depa rtn12nt nor the City of At l dnta has any jurisdiction over the activiti es of th i s clu b. It is a priv ate or ganization cont r oll ed by a Board of Truste es compos ed of e leven men, \'/ilO ad he r e· to tile vvis he s of t he majority of t he membe rs , and i s su pp orted en tirely by dues pa i d by the membe rs and ma int ai ned t hrou gh voluntee r services of tr,e m2,ntJ2 rs . �