That's the Fire Wardens Sceptre, a symbol of the Fire Wardens Authority. It was carried in the cities starting back in colonial times when cities first began organizing fire departments and fire watches.  The cities were divided into wards and each ward had administrators for certain governmental functions called wardens,including fire wardens,who were the ultimate authorities of fire related issues within the ward. Along these lines, is where the term Warden came from when referring to the "Prison Warden". In WWII when London was bombed by the Luftwaffe, Zeppelins and Buzz Bombs, each ward had an appointed "Air Raid Warden" This comes to us from England, where they still use the concept in many parts of local government today. Tim Patrick