As the Jefferson City Fire Department considers moving to 48.5-hour shifts, fire protection districts in the Lake of the Ozarks area that have already made that change boasted the benefits of the shift.
The Jefferson City Fire Department and the fire department’s union, Local 671, proposed switching to 48.5-hour shifts, with 96 straight hours off. The department currently operates under 24.25-hour shifts, where firefighters work three days in a five-day span and have four days off.
If the Jefferson City Council votes Monday to authorize the move to the 48.5-hour shifts, the union hopes to implement the change in 2020.
The 48.5-hour shift is common in the firefighting industry. Several fire departments and fire protection districts have already shifted to 48-hour shifts, including nearby Sunrise Beach Fire Protection District and Lake Ozark Fire Protection District.
The Columbia Fire Department has discussed moving to 48-hour shifts, but there are no current plans to move forward with the switch, Columbia Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Brad Fraizer said.
The Jefferson City Fire Department doesn’t want to be “an island in the middle that’s not doing what most of the departments around us are doing,” especially if the change has benefited the firefighters, said Jefferson City firefighter Colin Wright, who was on a committee tasked with researching the 48.5-hour shifts.
Job attraction and retention
The Lake Ozark Fire Protection District changed from 24-hour shifts to 48-hour shifts about eight years ago. Sunrise Beach Fire Protection District firefighters also worked 24-hour shifts before making the change in 2013.
The 48-hour shift attracts more firefighters from a larger area, a significant reason the Sunrise Beach and Lake Ozark fire protection districts moved to it, said Matt Birdsley, assistant chief for the Lake Ozark Fire Protection District, and Jamie Karl, assistant chief with Sunrise Beach Fire Protection District.
The Lake of the Ozarks area does not have many residents who are working toward becoming firefighters, Karl and Birdsley said, so they have to expand their employment search beyond the area.
This means they try to attract employees from all parts of the state, from Kansas City to St. Louis to Springfield. The Lake Ozark Fire Protection District recently hired nine firefighters/paramedics who do not live in the immediate area, Birdsley said.
“If we didn’t have that schedule, it would be harder for us to recruit because they would have to commute or relocate and have to drive every day or every other day,” he said. “So it’s just harder and may not make as much sense for them to accept the job. That’s where the 48/96, we see a benefit to our side.”
With the influx of tourists in the summer, Birdsley said, the Lake Ozark Fire Protection District was worried about the shift change exhausting the firefighters. However, he added, they have not had any issues so far.
The Lake Ozark Fire Protection District responded to 1,295 calls for service in 2018 and 1,350 in 2017, according to its website. There are 40 shift employees at the Lake Ozark Fire Protection District, Birdsley said.
The Sunrise Beach Fire Protection District responded to 700-750 calls in 2018, Karl said. There are 16 full-time firefighters.
The Jefferson City Fire Department responded to 4,837 calls for service in the 2018 fiscal year — from Nov. 1, 2017, to Oct. 31, 2018 — according to the FY2018 Jefferson City audit.
There are 72 Jefferson City firefighters, said James Noah, Local 671 union vice president and 48.5/96 committee chair.
Health implications
One of the driving reasons the Jefferson City Fire Department is considering the switch is to help with firefighters’ health — particularly their sleep schedules, Wright and Noah said.
While firefighters currently alternate days they work until they get that extended four-day break, Wright and Noah said, they do not get much rest until the extended break because the firefighters are concentrating on obligations at home on their off-days.
“The problem you run into is instead of actually having a couple of days to recover and sleep and go to bed at a normal time and sleep to a normal time, it alternates us back and forth and there’s no extended period to really recover,” Wright said.
Under the current shift, Jefferson City firefighters come into work around 6 a.m. for a 6:30 a.m. report time and work until 8 or 9 p.m. They will then sleep at the fire stations until 6 a.m., unless they receive calls during the night.
There are also scheduled rest breaks throughout the day to help firefighters recuperate.
Day-to-day activities and responsibilities during a 48-hour shift would mirror the current daily activities, Noah said.
According to a 2006 study — conducted by Dr. Allison Hawkes with St. Anthony Central Hospital for West Metro Fire Rescue in Lakewood, Colorado — firefighters reported sleeping longer on and off shift when they were on the 48/96 shift. The study adds it is unclear why there was an increase.
If the firefighters receive multiple calls throughout the night, Noah said, they may receive more breaks for rest time.
“As a union, our No. 1 priority for our membership — as well as fire administration — is the safety of the personnel and safety of the people,” he said. “With that aspect of us running multiple days in a row, we would really manage that to make sure everybody is safe and that we’re not reducing services.”
Wright and Noah said it is not common for them to receive several calls at night.
The Lake Ozark and Sunrise Beach fire protection districts have similar schedules under the 48-hour shift.
Sleep deprivation and fatigue were one of the biggest concerns of fire administrators with the Lake Ozark Fire Protection District, Birdsley said, especially during the summer months.
They, along with the Sunrise Beach Fire Protection District fire administration, keep the lines of communication open and adjust the schedule if they need to, Birdsley and Karl said.
“It has not been an issue with us having someone working 48 hours straight,” Karl said.
At Lake Ozark Fire Protection District, if a firefighter must come in after a 48-hour shift due to a coworker calling in sick or a large fire, he or she cannot work more than 72 hours total, Birdsley said.
The shift change may also decrease employee sick time, Wright and Noah previously said.
While some studies suggest swapping to 48-hour shifts may decrease sick time, Birdsley and Karl said, the Lake Ozark and Sunrise Beach fire protection districts saw neither an increase nor a decrease in employee sick time.
Job satisfaction
The alternating 24.25-hour shift schedule not only disturbs firefighters’ circadian rhythm, Wright and Noah said, but it also impacts firefighters’ time outside of work, which could negatively impact their job satisfaction.
Firefighters could also spend more time with their families and less time commuting, Wright said, leading to higher job satisfaction.
“If you look at some of the places that have gone to it, they now say, ‘I get to go home and finish my projects. I now get to decompress. I now get to be there for my kids in the morning when they go to school,’” Wright said. “When I go home (now), it’s ‘Hey, kids, how’s it going? Is everyone awake? OK, out the door.’ I’ll get to be there now more in the morning to see them off to school.”
According to the 2006 study, firefighters reported less interference with their personal lives when they swapped to the 48/96 shift, adding they had more time to spend with family and friends.
The study also states 91 percent of respondents said they were “very satisfied with this job” when they were on the 48/96 shift versus nearly 87 percent of respondents working 24-hour shifts.
Next steps
If there is a chance to promote recruitment and better employee retention while improving job satisfaction, Jefferson City Fire Chief Matt Schofield said, “then it’s something that we should look into and explore further.”
If the fire department receives the OK from the council to move forward, they would hold a one-year trial period and would ask for feedback from firefighters and fire administration throughout that time. Once the union and fire administration received feedback, they would decide whether to continue with the 48-hour shift or extend the trial period.
If approved by the City Council, the work agreement between Jefferson City and Local 671 would have a two-year escape clause for either party to swap back to the 24.25-hour shift schedule if the 48.5/96 schedule is not effective.
“This is not something we’re trying to rush, and if we have to put it off another year to perfect it, we’re fine with that because we’re trying to get it right,” Wright said. “Our No. 1 priority is making sure we’re the best fire department possible. That’s why a lot of us are pushing for this because a lot of us feel like this will help attract the best-qualified people, and we feel like it will help benefit our members.”
In November 2018, more than 77 percent of Jefferson City firefighters approved the initiative, Wright previously said.
The Lake Ozark and Sunrise Beach fire protection districts had trial periods before swapping to the 48.5/96 shift.
The Lake Ozark Fire Protection District even added a “Christmas clause” to their work agreement to ensure one shift did not work both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day during their 48-hour shift, Birdsley said.
As long as the Jefferson City Fire Department “takes the time to set it up right” — and collaborates with the employees, Birdsley said — he believes the shift change could be a success.
Schofield, Noah and Wright said the priority is to remain budget neutral and maintain the level of service.
The Fair Labor Standards Act allows firefighters to have longer work periods than the traditional 40-hour work week. Firefighters can work 53-hour work weeks — 212 hours in 28 days — before receiving overtime pay.
The firefighters work an average of 56 hours in a week, Schofield said.
The fire department currently works 24.25 hours continuously according to its normal duty cycle — 27 consecutive days when employees are assigned to a repeating nine-day schedule, according to the work agreement between Jefferson City and Local 671.
The amended work agreement, if approved by the council, states a shift would be 48.5 hours and the Fair Labor Standards Act pay cycle would be 27 consecutive days during which employees are assigned a repeating cycle every six days.
The work agreement also “exempts them from overtime incurred from working their regularly scheduled shifts,” Schofield said.
“A firefighter who works nothing other than their regularly scheduled shifts would not be paid at an overtime rate,” he added.
Cole County Emergency Medical Services voted last month to continue using a 48-hour shift schedule after experimenting with it for a few months. Cole County EMS plans to have another vote later this year regarding whether to keep the shift schedule.