24 hour shifts

Does anyone use the 24 hour hour shift?
Has anyone switched from the 2 days, 2 nights, 4 days off to the 24 hour shift?
What are your opinions pro and con?

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Permalink Reply by Mike Walker on January 22, 2008 at 9:54pm

All I've ever worked is the twenty-four hour shifts. I love it. We work 24 on, 24 off, 24 on, 24 off, 24 on then 4 days off. Can take one shift off and have 6 days off in a row.

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Permalink Reply by Leo Cartwright on January 22, 2008 at 11:52pm

We in the state of Victoria, Australia have very strict Occ Health and Safety laws. The state government apposes our 10/14 roster that we work now. If they had their way our employers and government would have us return to 8hrs shift. Bugger That! At present we do 10hr day shifts X 2, then 14hr night shifts X 2. (at the end of the 2nd 14hr shift you wish it was an 8hr shift, but we won't tell management).
Our State police work 12 and 8 hrs shifts. I would be surprised if they would let us do 24hr shift due to the OH&S. but is has been raised around the mess rooms.
Leo

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Permalink Reply by Joe Molis on January 23, 2008 at 1:49pm

ELMIRA!!!!

My sister graduated from Elmira College!!!! What a small world...

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Permalink Reply by Joe Molis on January 23, 2008 at 1:49pm

What department?

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Permalink Reply by Timothy Overly on January 23, 2008 at 4:05pm

Hey Joe, My Engine Company is first due at Elmira College. Go there a lot. Fire Alarms, EMS,etc.

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Permalink Reply by Mike W. on January 23, 2008 at 4:48pm

I HAVE WORKED 24 HOUR SHIFTS FOR 30 YEARS. WHEN I FIRST STARTED, CALLS WERE FEW AND SLEEP WAS OFTEN. I WAS RARELY TIRED AND LIFE WAS GOOD. I AM OLDER NOW AND OUR CALL VOLUME HAS TRIPLED. UNFORTUNATELY, OUR STAFFING LEVELS HAVE REMAINED THE SAME. I JUST CAME OFF SHIFT AND WAS UP ALL NIGHT. IT WILL TAKE ME A GOOD TWO DAYS TO RECOVER AND THEN I AM BACK ON DUTY. EVEN OUR YOUNGER GUYS AND GALS ARE GETTING BEAT UP NIGHT AFTER NIGHT AND MORE FIREFIGHTERS ARE USING UP THEIR SICK TIME INSTEAD OF BANKING SOME OF IT.

I AM BEING PROMOTED TO CAPTAIN AND WILL BE GOING TO 40 HOUR WEEKS. I WILL MISS MY 24 HOUR SHIFTS JUST LIKE I MISS RIDING ON THE TAILBOARD. LIKE 24-HOUR SHIFTS, RIDING THE TAILBOARD WASN'T ALL THAT IT WAS CRACKED UP TO BE. IT HAD ITS BAD MOMENTS ESPECIALLY DURING THE WINTER MONTHS.

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Permalink Reply by nita on January 23, 2008 at 9:44pm

All I have ever worked is 24 on 48 off. We change at 0700. We had some guys that wanted shift change at 1800 hrs. so we did that on a trial basis. I hated it!! So your shift change time is also an issue...it just feels like you're off longer if you swap at 0700.
I've heard of some of the other schedules like the one's mentioned here but I'm kind of set in my ways, I guess...plus I think it's easier to plan your part time job(if you have one) working 24/48

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Permalink Reply by Marc Hansen on January 23, 2008 at 10:06pm

While I cant answer for fire calls(my dept is all vollie) my full time job is on an ambulance that works 24's. We only work 2 24's week with a two week swing. 1 week you may be monday and thursday and the next week would be sunday and saturday(our schedule runs monday to sunday). As long as house work is done and stations are cleaned you can nap during day and dispatch does a pretty good job of giving non emergency stuff out on a turn basis so if you've run back to back emergencies one of the other trucks will do the non-emergency trips when they come in.
As far as start times we have 2 stations that start at 0800 and 1 that starts at 0700. I've worked a few midnite to midnite 24's over the years(and they were miserable). I like the (2) 24's a week better then the 24 on 72 off, mostly because every third week i dont have (3) 24's and the company likes it because it saves them overtime pay.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Molis on January 24, 2008 at 5:26pm

We have a committee meeting on Monday. In all honesty its probably not going anywhere but it is worth a try. I have been on the 2 days / 2 nights / 4 off schedule for 17 years and am pretty much sick of it. For the past 2 years overtime has been extremely good (24-48 hours weekly). But of course that means long hours in the station and many weekends away. Plus add in a part-time job (25 hrs/wk) and you are working over 100 hours a week consistently.

I despise putting a par-time job ahead of the fire department but without a contract for years is enough. Enough bitching!!

Thank's to everyone for their input!

Any other topics you guys want to chat about?

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Permalink Reply by Captain Chaos on January 24, 2008 at 10:32pm

I've been on 24's for my entire 30 year career. We did try 48's for a year and went back to the 24's. I know many who really like the 48's though. Working 24's has never been a problem for me or most of the people I work with. You actually get used to it pretty easy. We are a decent sized Department, run over 55,000 calls a year. Some of our stations are pretty busy, 25+ a day. Seeing that I have quite a bit of seniority, I prefer to work at a slower house that gets more sleep than others, but when I was younger, I enjoyed being busy and worked at the busier places. Not uncommon to be up all night. Usually for me, the day off in between days was more than adequate to recover. We work a 4-4-6 schedule. Four days on with a day off in between each day, then a four day break, four more shifts and then a six day break. I wouldn't want to work any other schedule.

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Permalink Reply by T.J. on September 13, 2008 at 2:09am

The city near use that my dad's on used to be 24 on 24 off, but now they're 12 on 12 off, but we've still got a department just south of use that's 24 still.