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OEPARTMENT of F!RE 46 COURTLAND ST., ~ - E, Atlanta, Georgie P.O. WILLIAMS CHIEF August 15, 1969 Honorable Ivan Allen, Jr. l~ayor, City of Atlanta City Hall Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Dear ~,:ayor A11 en: \.Je have been d2a 1 i ng 1·i i t 11 Co!.lmuni ty Re 1ati ons and ha ve accepted sc1 -.ie of t lie i r su g9estions r e l at iv e to eli ~i nat in g s ome pro bl e~s. Variou s polici es and fac t s pertainin g to this depa rtment ar e atta ci,ed. It is i nteres t i n0 to rinti"' th e follov,in g excer pt f rom t he Rep ort of th e Un ite d St ates Cor, 11:i is s ion on Civil Ri gi1 t s 1969 , er.t it led For P,11 the Peop1e ... By .All th2 Peop 1e \·.' hi ch has just reac hed t ;1 ; s of f·i ce : Despi te t he belated admission of fir e,nen into t he At lanta de ;:i artme nt and t he e 1ab orate procedures which s urroui1ded their introdu ction, t he Atlanta Fire Departme nt l1ad a l ar ge r pr oport io n of ;·1egro2s i n unifo rm than any ot her cen tral city i n the survey and a hi g!le r de gr ee of in teg r ation than many. 11 11 vJe are in th e proces s of re-vJriting th 2 Ru l es and Regul at ions of the Atlanta Fire Depart ment to e li nin ate any in equit i es i n tile ol d uoo k, to elir.1in ate any possi bility of discri mi nat i on or b1 e possi bili ty of any officer ove r - r eact in g 11Jit h authority . /'l.s s oo:1 as t hi s has been comp l et ed, it ',<J ill be pre sented to the Board of Fire Mas ters for their approval and aJopt ic:n. We would like to s tress t hat any fireman who has gri evances , has three methods by which to air t hem i n t iii s office: by comp l eti no a Form 52 (Specia l Request ) , go throug h t he Company Office rs ai1d Batta lion Chi ef, or by use of a Suggest ion Fonn available in all stations. Any justifiable gri e -.1 ances ~vill oe straightened out . Yours very truly, . Q C, LL,~ £ £ ~ p1_' O. HILLI Ai'i S, Chief Atl_anta Fi re De; artr.1ent POW: 11 a Encl osu re cc : Mr . W. T. Kni g.li t , Chairman Bo ard of Fi re i·1as t ers "HELP SAVE LIFE AND PROPERTY B Y PREVENTING FIRES" �~ - . -- -- The Atlanta Fire D2partment 1 s only interest is i n t he protection of lives and property from fire. Th e citizens of Atlanta should have an d des erve t he best fire protection avail ab l e. In order to accomp lis h th is , we must have the best trained, qualifi ed, and ex perience d personnel in res ponsi bl e positions regardl e~s of race, creed , or color. Fire De partment officers hi p must have leaders hip. One cannot gain l eadership Su bordi nates will no t look upon such an officer as a l eader. Life and prope rty is at stake. Decisions and actions of a fire officer are bas ed on knowl edg e and experi ence of t he job. Therefore, standards and qualifications must be kept high. Rather than lower the standards ~ th ey should be rais ed. if standards ha ve to be lov:ered so one can qualify. PROMOTIONAL POLI CI ES: Promotions in the Fire De partment are made accordin g to merit and fitness. The promotional system of the P.tl anta Fire Depa rtme nt is set by l av,. Anyone mee tin g t,1e qualifying sta nda r ds as set fort h by the Promotional Loard will be prrnnoted reg ardl ess of race , creed ~ or color. We will not and do not discrimin at e for or aga inst anyone meeting the quali fying standards of this system. Promot ion ai exami nat i ons fo r- Fi re Li eut 2nc.nts Jie h2 l d 2v2 ry t\·:o years. To qualify , a man must have had five years service in ·the Fire Departm2~t. Aft er t he examin ation , t he applican ts are li st ed accordi n~ t o th eir scores from a combination of th 2 wri t t en t est, trainin g scilool average , and seniority poi nts. This list is divided into gr_ou ps of 20 . The first 20 men are r at ed at oral intervi ews, an d t his score is added to th eir gr ades f rom the above three items . Promotions from t his list are made in order of the applicant's fin al score. So far , th e first 7 men have been promoted from th e Li eutenan t 's examin ati on held in March of 1969 . The first bl ack firemen started to vwrk in April 196 3, so t hat t hi s is t he first ye ar {-1 96 9) any of them have been eligi bl e to apply f or promot ion to Li eutenant . The re we re 153 app lic ants , of vJhom 6 v;ere bl ack. The fir st bl ack appli can t is in t he 6th group of 20 or approxi mately position 102 on t he li st. Promot ions to Fire Appar atus Ope r ator are made by appoi nt ment . The Cap tain at each st at ion makes t hese se l ections sub j ect to the approval of t he Batta li on Chi ef . . Th e men must have had at least t wo year; servi ce wi th t he Fi re Departm2 nt and have passed t he required dri ving test s at the Traini ng Sc hool . Th~re are nine bl ack firemen · in these pos it i ons . �HIRING PRACTICES: Eligib'le lists for Firemen are established every week after the weekly inte rvie\·1s. (During rla rch, April, and July of t his year, interviews were he 1d every two v,eeks.) As vacancies occur, the Fi re DepartTT1ent calls the men on a list in tiie order of their scores. Each person on the list of a certain date is contacted and offered ernp loyment before movin g to the next chro nological li s t. Once a man is on the eligible list, he is not by-passed unless the Fire De partment is unabl e to contact him by telephone or letter. Through July 25, of this ye ar , 60 white men were put on the eliJi ble list and 57 black men. Of these, 45 wh ite men have been employed and 41 black men. Of the 86 7 men in th e extingu i sh ing division , over 19% or 155 are black. Nine of these are Fi re Appa ratus Ope rators and 25 are on l•ii l i tary Leave. Firemen that l ea ve the department for rnilita·r y service are reinstated l'Jhen th e./ r eturn (this is a Federal La·:J ) and are usually returned to t he same station from \lh id, ti1ey l eft. RECRElHIOi~ CLUB: In January of 1959 , a group of firemen leased a 5.7 acre tract of land at Lake /1.ll atoon a fro:,1 tne government and organized a cl uo which was call ed At l anta Firenen ' s Recreat ion Clu b. Howeve r , the Fire Oepa rtm211t nor th2 City of Atl dnta has any j uri sdiction 6ver the activiti es of t hi s club. It is a private organi zation controll ed by a Board of Trustees compos ed of e leven men, 1,1;10 adhe r e to tiie i·lis he s of t he nw.jority of t he membe rs , and i s supported entirel y by dues paid by the membe rs and ma intained t hrough volunteer servic12s of t he merni.J ers. �