r/Firefighting • u/Granthaymaker5 • 1d ago
General Discussion Looking for 48/96 guys who can help me out
Looking for guys who work on 48/96 departments. Our department is researching it and would love people to talk to. Please pm me if you can!
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u/jps2777 TX FF/Paramedic 1d ago
In before the 24/72 circlejerk
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u/rilie 1d ago
How exactly is less hours not better?
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u/jps2777 TX FF/Paramedic 1d ago
I'm just saying it because the 24/72 crowd on this subreddit always interject themselves into every question about 48/96
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u/BeachHead05 1d ago
Yeah but the 1-2-1-4 is way better than 1-3-1-3
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u/ryanlaxrox 21h ago
Any east coast departments running these shifts?
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u/Resqguy911 19h ago
Washington DC and half of its neighbors are 24/72 the other half are 24/48. And then there is NoVA 3 cycles of 24/24 then 96 off. Gross.
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u/SmargelingArgarfsner Go Get Em Brothers! 16h ago
We run 1-2-1-4 and its the best. Northeast small city.
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u/No_Zucchini_2200 19h ago
Florida Boca Raton has had 24-72 since pre-2000.
Departments starting to run 24/72 or Super Kelly are starting to grow in numbers.
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u/zerogivencvma Career FF/HM Tech 7h ago
We run 1-3-1-3 and I love it. The consistency is easy for planning. Unlimited swaps too
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u/Agreeable-Emu886 1d ago
Because you have to hire an entire shift and people want to make the exact Amount they’re already making despite working 14 hours less on average
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u/incompletetentperson 1d ago
Dude i will gladly take a pay cut. Itll never happem with department though, would require hiring 1000 people
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u/Agreeable-Emu886 18h ago
I would fully agree but that’s a tough sell to all the people working a billion hours. It’s less overtime as well, this sub is full of people stating they’d do it but wouldn’t take a pay cut to do so. You’d be looking at some zeros in the near future, FWIW as well. The majority of 4 division departments don’t run 4 per truck either
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u/incompletetentperson 13h ago
I mean we are a gigantic department and our payroll/benefits is easily our largest cost. So adding an entire shift wouldnt really be financially feasable. Logistically it would be a nightmare as well just hiring all the positions
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u/Agreeable-Emu886 12h ago
It’s certainly feasible when there are large departments like FDNY and boston doing it. That being said it would be quite a task. I would have to imagine at a larger department it would take several years and 1-2 schedules to bridge the process.
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u/aintioriginal 2h ago
More time with family and to make more money on other job. Anything with greater than 48 is a win.
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u/Character-Chance4833 1d ago edited 1d ago
Because you have to force your admin and city to hire an additional shift. That's the hard part.
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u/Neither_Breakfast136 1d ago
It is better, but most departments don’t have the means to hire an additional shift so arguing the point here is kind of meaningless. *someone who is currently moving to a 24/72
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u/Competitive-Drop2395 1d ago
You're just jealous that Plano apparently is going to pull it off and Allen is right behind them.
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u/jps2777 TX FF/Paramedic 1d ago
Oh we're watching closely. My dept is very comparable to Plano and Allen
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u/Competitive-Drop2395 1d ago
We are direct neighbors and are watching too. Problem we have is, we just had a schedule change, and the city is WAY to cheap to hire another shift. Can't wait to see how they managed to pull this off!
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u/Character-Chance4833 1d ago
Lol, everyone one in the metroplex is watching. Hell, we're an hour away with no traffic and we're watching it happen as well.
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u/Agreeable-Emu886 18h ago
You can almost bet they’re gonna be running 3 man trucks and will be taking some 0s in the near future
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u/TX_Bardown 1d ago
Ya know, I don’t think I’d like 24/72. Also in the metroplex. And 48/96. But good for them 🤷🏻♂️
I like the plateau of 48 hours to handle our business, and 4 days off still beats 3.
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u/FFshorty_19 1d ago
I think the schedule is great. My commute is little over an hour, so staying there for two days make the commute worth it once a week.
It’s a busy department and I think two days is solid even at a busy house.
You can put vacation on one day and do a trade for another to stretch out your vacation picks through out the year if you chose to.
Umm I got family and kids so if my kids get sick I’ll just call out for those two days and care for my kids the whole week easy.
People live out of state and it’s easy for them to make trades and put vacation where needed.
Overall I would say the members of our department like the schedule.
The department adopted this schedule like 5-8 years ago I think
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u/Neither_Breakfast136 1d ago edited 19h ago
We switched in January, didn’t cost the department any extra maybe a 10k total difference for the year total.
I like it, it took a while to get used to being home so often. We also usually swap Mando’s with someone else so we can have a day off in between.
The con is I find myself getting more easily frustrated on regular 48’s with the public and sometimes the crew
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u/wernermurmur 1d ago
If you have to have three shifts (lots and lots of us do with no hope of change in the horizon), I think 48/96 is the best, provided there is not a bunch of shit scheduled day 2.
There are only two departments in Colorado that have a 48 hour work week, everyone else is 56. But yea, please keep telling me 24/72 is better. Bro, I know, believe me. But we’re not gonna get there anytime soon, and we are trying.
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u/chuckfinley79 27 looooooooooooooong years 19h ago
Never worked 48/96’s but I know it wouldn’t work at my department.
No sleeping during the day and have to be up in the morning for shift change even if we’re working a 48 no matter how many runs you made last night.
It will only work at departments that care about their employees and treat them like adults.
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u/ReplacementTasty6552 18h ago
We went from 24/48 to 48/96 for a year trial. Switched back to 24/48 per the crew’s request.
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u/Namaste1994 16h ago
Reach out to Irmo fire department in Columbia South Carolina.
Busy station neighboring us and they run that schedule no problem whatsoever.
They’ll even send you a PowerPoint if you ask.
They were against it and now they run it
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u/GFSoylentgreen 10h ago edited 10h ago
In high HCOL areas where the call volume is <10 calls per 24, per station, and administration allows you to catch-up on sleep when needed, take it easy on Day-2, it’s great.
Only five commutes a month, 10 days off per 48 hours of vacation time. OT is easier to dovetail onto tours before or after, good crew cohesion-continuity.
Every department in my region is on a 48/96 out of necessity. Everyone has a 60-120 minute commute, even longer in winter.
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u/EjackQuelate 10h ago
48/96 is a beautiful thing. Especially when you get 2 calls a day.
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u/bonafidsrubber 7h ago
It’s a beautiful thing if you don’t have a captain who is a slave driver on projects at the station and then you get calls and more 3am calls and then wake up and more cleaning, calls, 3am call, wake up, clear the station. If the guy in charge can’t ever tell the chief “no” it’s going to suck.
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u/Hillbillysmoke-eater 5h ago
We’re looking at starting trial run of 48/96 JAN26. The wife ain’t happy about it right now but I think she’ll come around once she gets used to it
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u/TheMiddleSeatFireman Edit to create your own flair 1d ago
All depends on call volume. Running 10-15 calls a tour and spread out not too bad. Running 24+ a tour with 5 after 10pm each night, it sucks a big ol bag of you know what. Day 1 off can be great or it’s a wash because you sleep all day. Taking 1 tour off and being off for 10 days is great though. Watch your holiday rotations. 3 shifts with the wrong start day and 1 shift will get alllllll the major holidays for 4 years in a row.