How many hours is your shift?

[Redcell19512]

We work 12 hour shifts. Two 12 hour days, two 12 hour nights, four days off. In some 7 day periods we work 36 hours, some 48. Last year on our short weeks we'd have to pick up an "extra" 12 hour shift to keep us at 48 hours, lest we lose money from our paycheck. Management realized that with our rising call volume the employees were getting burned out. To help relieve this we went to the BELO plan (I don't remember what it stands for.

Basically, we work our four 12 hour shifts then get four days off without any extras. The company figured out everyone's annual salary at 48 hrs a week (that's 40 hours straight, 8 hours of OT) and and split it up so that we get the same pay check every pay period throughout the year whether we do a 36 or 48 hour week. If we do happen to sign up for an OT shift, that shift is added on top of our "BELO" pay. In the end I'm working an average of 42 hours a week and I get four days off between tours but I'm getting the same pay as last year at 48 hours a week with those nasty "extras" in the middle of my time off.

The longest we normally allow anyone to work is 18 hours straight. We do have a policy that allows 24 hour shifts in the event of an emergency. We enacted that plan one time in the last 10 years for a massive blizzard. Personally I think 18 hours is too long. If we're in a bind I'll do my 12 shift on the street and maybe pick up a 3 hour football standby but that's about it.

[CBEMT]

My last two 24s (one per week)I never turned a wheel. That doesn't count the two 12's with the same result.

I'd be pretty pissed off coming in for 5 days straight to do nothing. The quicker I get it over with the better.

As a qualifier to the statement, in my jurisdiction and type of agency (both withheld for privacy), it's pretty much impossible to much more than 4-5 calls in a 24. And that's assuming you work a Friday or Saturday. In my last job, a 24 was going to buy you at least 12 runs. The company record stands at 21, from the bad old days.

[WANTYNU]

My last two 24s (one per week)I never turned a wheel. That doesn't count the two 12's with the same result.

I'd be pretty pissed off coming in for 5 days straight to do nothing. The quicker I get it over with the better.

As a qualifier to the statement, in my jurisdiction and type of agency (both withheld for privacy), it's pretty much impossible to much more than 4-5 calls in a 24. And that's assuming you work a Friday or Saturday. In my last job, a 24 was going to buy you at least 12 runs. The company record stands at 21, from the bad old days.

So how do you get to practice your skills?

[CBEMT]

I have a paid-on-call 911 gig elsewhere.

[WANTYNU]

I have a paid-on-call 911 gig elsewhere.

I never thought of this, but maybe I should ask: "How many jobs do you do a shift", but then is it fair to compare 8 hours to 12, or 24?

And I don't want to imply anything of the the folks that don't do that many jobs a shift, as a job is a job, and just as important to the person / people calling for our help.

The idea of this thread was to get to the question; are you over worked?

Any ideas, opinions?

[Dustdevil]

The idea of this thread was to get to the question; are you over worked?

LOL! Thanks for breaking it down for us. Sometimes we're a little slow on the uptake, so you can't beat around the bush with subtlety.

No, I am definitely not overworked. Underpaid? Definitely! But not overworked.

[Michael]

throwback to the days when firetrucks had square wheels because of the infrequency with which they actually rolled out on anything. There was little chance that they would actually do anything in 8 hours time

Knowing virtually nothing about firefighting, please let me ask for clarification.

I recall being told, when I asked how/why EMS became (in many places) a subdivision of firefighting to begin with, that the past decades have seen fire-prevention through technologically improved devices and community education become so successful that firefighters were left idle, and so absorbed EMS responsibilities in order to stay productively employed in a related field (I'm trying to use opinion-neutral language here - how'm I doin'?).

So my understanding has been that firefighters used to be busier extinguishing fires than they are now, and branched into EMS as a result. Your comment, Dust, suggests the opposite. Here's where your lamented love of history can come in handy! 'Splain please.

[CBEMT]

Knowing virtually nothing about firefighting, please let me ask for clarification.

I recall being told, when I asked how/why EMS became (in many places) a subdivision of firefighting to begin with, that the past decades have seen fire-prevention through technologically improved devices and community education become so successful that firefighters were left idle, and so absorbed EMS responsibilities in order to stay productively employed in a related field (I'm trying to use opinion-neutral language here - how'm I doin'?).

So my understanding has been that firefighters used to be busier extinguishing fires than they are now, and branched into EMS as a result. Your comment, Dust, suggests the opposite. Here's where your lamented love of history can come in handy! 'Splain please.

More or less you've got it. The other key factor in the decline of fire activity for our brothers in red is the incredible rise of real estate prices.

During what many old hands of the fire service refer to as "The War Years," of the 60's, 70's and early 80's, (even 90's in some areas), many old buildings- single-story residential homes, to multiple-occupancy tenements, right up to full-blown mill buildings, were insured for more money than the property itself was worth.

Thousands upon thousands of greedy landlords and building owners hired people to set fire to their own buildings and collected the insurance money.

But in the late 80's, property values began rising considerably all over the country, especially in places like NYC and Detroit, where arson for hire had been a HUGE business. As a result, property and insurance policies began to equalize, and soon there was no real cost/benefit for the landlords to risk arrest and prosecution torching a building that was worth just as much leaving it alone.

Between this phenomenon, increased fire prevention, arrests of serial arsonists (the ones who didn't do it for the money), and improved fire codes with more sprinkler requirements, regular fire duty became a thing of the past in many cities. No more running from one fire to the next to the next to the next- not even on Devil's Night, thanks to neighborhood watches.

[CBEMT]

I never thought of this, but maybe I should ask: "How many jobs do you do a shift", but then is it fair to compare 8 hours to 12, or 24?

And I don't want to imply anything of the the folks that don't do that many jobs a shift, as a job is a job, and just as important to the person / people calling for our help.

The idea of this thread was to get to the question; are you over worked?

Any ideas, opinions?

At my FT job, during my 12-hour day a call is extremely rare. The 24s vary, once school's back in session I'll probably be good for 3-4 a night, the day is unpredictable.

At the 911 job, I work 12-hour days primarily. The most I've done in a shift is 5, some people do 8, some none at all.

I don't feel overworked, and I think my pay is adequate at the FT given our call volume.

[Michael]

CBEMT - I don't know how to coordinate your account with Dustdevil's square-wheels account. :?