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OEPARTMENT o f FfRE 46 COURTLAND ST., s;. E . Atlanta, Georgia. P.O. WILLIAMS CHIEF August 15, 19o9 Honorabl e Ivan All en , Jr . Mayor, City of Atl3. nt a City Hall Atlant a, Ge orgia 30303 Dear ~ay or All en: t•/e have been de aling 1': it h Coum unity Re l ations and have a ccepted so1-.ie of t fle ir su gges tions r e l at iv e to c 1i n in at in g some pro ble1:is. Va riou s polici es and f a ct s pert ai ni ng to t his de partment a r e attac hed . ! t is i nte rest inn to n0t P the followin a excerpt from t he Re port of t he Un ite d States Cor.11:i iss io~ on Civil Ri gl, ts 1%9:· f:nt it .l c d For J\11 the PeoiJ 1e ... By All t he Peop l e \·.'hic h has j ust r2 a ched t hi s offic e : 11 D espite t he be late d ad:i1 i ss i on of fi r en12 11 in t o t he Atlanta de ;,) artrne nt an d t he e la bora t e p rocedu res w1 ich s urround e d th e ir introduction, t he At l anta Fire De partmen t !1ad a l a r ge r pr opo rti on of :·Jegroes i n unifo nn th an any ot he r cent ral city in the s urvey and a hi gh er degree of in teg r ation t ha n many. 11 vJe are in th e process of r e-1·1ritin g th e Ru l e s and Reg ulations of the At l anta Fire Depa rtme nt to e li ~i na t e a ny i nequ i t i es i n t he ol d ~oo k , to e li ~in ate any possibility of discr i mina ti on or ti-,e poss ib ility of any office r over-re act i ng wit h au tilori ty. As soon as th i s has be en comp 1eted. it iv i 11 be pr e s e nte d to the Board of Fire Mas te rs for t he ir app roval and adoption. W e would li ke to s t r e ss t hat any fire8 an who ha s gri e vances, has thre e me th od s by whic h t o a i r then in t i,is off ic e: by comp l et in g a Form 52 (Spe ci a l Req uest ) , go t hrough t he Cor1pany Office rs and 3att a lion Ch i ef, or by use of a Sug gest i 011 Fom ava il ab l e in all station s. Any justifi ab l e gri e vances ~v ill 0e straighten ed out. 0.J-,C, ·c:{.RLv<'~ Yours very t ruly, l,L 0. HI LLI AMS, Chie f Atlanta Fi re De;,artr.1ent POW: 11 a Enclosure cc: Mr. W. T. Knig_ht, Chairman Board of Fire Maste rs "HELP SA VE LIFE AND PROPERTY BY PREVENTiNG FIRES" �The Atlanta Fire Depa rtment s only interest is in t he prote cti on of lives and property from fire . The citi zen s of At l an ta shoul d have and dese rve t he be st fire protection avai 1abl e. In order t o accompl is ;, tl1 i s , we r:1ust have the best train ed , qualifi ed, and expe ri enced personne l in res~onsi bl e pos itions regardl ess of race , creed, or color. 1 Fire Dep artment officers hi p must have le aders hip. One cannot gain l eaders hi p if standards have to be lm·,e red so one can qualify . Su bordi nate s will no t iook upon such an officer as a l eade r. Life and property is at sta ke. De cisions and actions of a fire officer are based on knov1l edge and expe ri ence of t he job. Therefore, standards and qu alifications must be kept hi gh. Rat her than lower the standards, t hey should be rais ed. PROMOTIONAL POLI CI ES: Promotions in t he Fire De partme nt are made accordi ng to me rit and fitn ess. The promoti ona l system of the Jl.tl an ta Fire Dep artme nt is set by l avJ. Anyone me eti n'.J the qualifyi ng st anda r ds as set f or t h by t he Promotio na l Board vdll be promoted rega r dl ess of r ace, creed, or color. We will no t an d do not discri min ate for or aga i nst anyone meeting th e qu alifyi ng st anda rds of th is system . Promot i ona i exami nation~ f ut Fi re Li .:utcn a,1t::; ar2 h::: 1d c. ·:2.r~· t'::o ye ars . To qua 1·i fy, a man must have had f i ve yea rs service i n -~:he Fire Depa r t me nt . After the exami nation, t he a;-Jp licants are li ste d accordin 0 to t heir scor es f rom a comb i nati on of t h2 v1ri tten test, traini ng school average , and sen iority poi nt s . This li st i s divi ded into gr.cup s of 20 . The first 20 men are r ated at oral i ntervi ews , and t hi s score is added t o t he ir grades f ror, t he above three items. Promot i ans from t his lis t are r.iade in orde r of t he applicant s fi na l score. 1 So far , th e first 7 men have been promoted from t he Li eut enant s examin ati on he l d in Ma rc h of 1969 . The fi rs t ~l ack f iremen started t o work in April 196 3 , so that t his is t he f irst yea r (1 969 ) any of t hem ha ve been eli gi bl e to apply for promot i on to Lieuten ant . There were 153 app li cants , of whom 6 were bl ack. The f i rs t bl ack app l ic an t i s i n the 6th grou p of 20 or approx i mately pos i t i on 102 on t he li st. 1 Pr omot io ns to Fire Appara t us Oper ato r are made by appoi ntme nt. The Capta i n at each stat ion makes thes e se l ~ctions subje ct to t he approval of trie Batta li on Chief . . Th e men mus t nave i1a d at l 2ast t wo years service wi th the Fi re Dep artrn2 nt and have pas sed t he required driving tests at the Trai ni ng School. There are ni ne black firemen in these positi ons . �,. HIRI NG PRACTICES: Eligi ble lists for Firemen are established every 1tJee k after the weekly interviev,s. (During March, April, and July of t his year, intervi ev~s were he 1d every t wo ~"ee ks.) As vacancies occur, t he Fi re Department calls th e men on a list in t he orde r of th eir scores. Each pers on on the list of a certa in date is contacted and offered employment be fore movin g to t he next chronological li st. On ce a man is on the eli gi ble list, he is no{ by-pas sed unl ess t he Fire De partment is un ab l e to contact him by tel ephone or l etter. Thro'. 1gh July 25, of thi,s year , 60 ~'lhite me n \•/ere put on the eli gi bl e list and 57 black men. Of these , 45 white men have been employed and 41 black men. Of the 86 7 men in t he exti ng ui sh ing division , over 19% or 165 are black. Nine of t hese are Fire Appa r atus Operators and 25 are on Military Leave . Fireme n t ha t l eave t he de partment for mili ::a·r y service are rein~ta t~d when t hey r etu rn (th is is a Feder al Law) and are usuall y returned to t he s ame station from \·vhich ti1ey l eft. RE CRE.O.TIOi\l CLUB: In Janu ary of 1959, a group of firemen l eased a 5.7 acre tract of 1and at Lake ,.n.11 atoon a from t !le gove r nr11ent (ln d or gani zea a cl uo wh ich ~,as cal led At l anta Firenen' s Re creation Cl ub. Hm-1e ve r , t he Fi r e Depa rtm2nt nor t he City of At l ::nt a h:is any juris di cti on over th e activi ti es of th i s cl ub. It i s a pr ivate crgani zat i on contr oll ed by a Board of Truste es compos ed of e l even men, '. 1110 adhe re· to fr,e \,fis hes of t he nrn j or ity of t ~~e rnembe rs , an d i s supported ent i re l y by du ' s pai d by the membe rs and ma i ntai ne d t hrough volunt ee r services of t he meinliers . 1 �