Every firefighter's work schedule has a price tag, and most departments aren't calculating the full number. The schedule pattern determines how many hours each firefighter works per week, which determines how quickly they cross the FLSA overtime threshold, which determines how much the department pays before a single callback or holdover even happens. A 24/48 and a 24/72 can look like a simple difference on paper, but the gap in overtime exposure, personnel costs, and long-term retention plays out across hundreds of thousands of budget dollars over time.
This post compares the most common firefighter work schedules, breaks down how each one actually functions, and shows where the real costs are hiding for the people managing the budget.
Fire departments staff around the clock, 365 days a year. Fire shifts run on multi-day rotations designed to keep stations staffed above minimum levels at all times while giving personnel enough time off between tours of duty. Most career departments divide their workforce into platoons (sometimes called shifts or teams) that rotate through a repeating cycle. The number of platoons, the length of each tour, and the number of days off between them vary by department, but the underlying math always comes back to the same problem: providing 24/7 coverage without burning people out or blowing up the overtime budget.
The Fair Labor Standards Act adds another layer. FLSA gives fire departments the option to use work periods of 7 to 28 days instead of the standard 40-hour workweek, with overtime thresholds that scale to the length of the period. A firefighter on a 27-day FLSA work period, for example, doesn't hit overtime until 204 hours. The schedule pattern a department chooses directly affects how many hours fall inside or outside that threshold, which is why FLSA math and schedule design are so tightly connected.
A 24/48 firefighter schedule means firefighters work one 24-hour shift followed by 48 hours off duty, repeating on a continuous cycle. The department runs three platoons (A, B, and C shifts), and each platoon cycles through the same rotation continuously.
Under a 24/48, firefighters average about 56 hours per week. That number sits above the FLSA overtime threshold for most common work period lengths, which means departments on a 24/48 are almost always paying some amount of regular overtime as part of the base schedule. The 24/48 remains popular because three platoons are simpler to manage than four, and the rotation is predictable enough that firefighters can plan second jobs, family time, and personal commitments around it.
The downside is fatigue. Working 24 hours followed by only 48 hours off means firefighters on busy companies may not fully recover between shifts. Sleep research specific to firefighters has consistently found that shorter recovery windows compound cognitive and physical impairment over time.
That impairment carries budget consequences. Sleep-deprived firefighters are more likely to sustain on-duty injuries, file workers' compensation claims, burn through sick leave, and eventually leave the department altogether. Those costs don't show up on the schedule spreadsheet, but they hit the budget just the same.
A 24/72 firefighter schedule means firefighters work one 24-hour shift followed by 72 hours (three full days) off duty. This requires a fourth platoon (A, B, C, and D shifts), which means the department needs roughly 33% more personnel to maintain the same daily staffing levels.
The average workweek drops to about 42 hours. For FLSA purposes, that falls below the overtime threshold on most work period configurations, meaning the department's base schedule generates little to no built-in overtime. That reduction in baseline overtime costs can partially offset the expense of hiring a fourth platoon, though the net financial impact varies by department size, pay scale, and call volume.
Three consecutive days off between shifts gives firefighters substantially more recovery time, which research associates with better sleep quality, lower rates of cardiovascular events, and improved mental health outcomes. Those aren't just wellness talking points. Fewer injuries mean fewer workers' comp claims. Better mental health means less sick leave usage. And firefighters who aren't burning out tend to stay, which reduces the recruiting and training costs that come with turnover. When departments calculate the fully loaded cost of a schedule change rather than just the headcount math, the 24/72 often looks more financially viable than the sticker price suggests.
Marcus Edwards, Stationwise CEO, discussed this exact tradeoff on the Behind the Shield Podcast with James Geering, including how departments can calculate the real fully-loaded cost of a schedule change rather than relying on back-of-the-napkin estimates that miss the downstream payroll impact.
The cost is real, though. Hiring and training an entire additional platoon is a multi-year commitment that requires budget approval, recruitment pipelines, and academy capacity.
A 48/96 firefighter schedule means firefighters work two consecutive 24-hour shifts (48 hours total on duty) followed by four consecutive days off (96 hours). Like the 24/72, it runs on a four-platoon system. The 48/96 has been gaining ground, particularly among West Coast departments.
Four straight days off is a substantial block of personal time, and firefighters on a 48/96 commute half as often as those on a 24/48. The tradeoff is the 48-hour tour itself. On a busy engine or truck company, that second night can be rough, and some departments have added mandatory rest policies or nap protocols to address the fatigue concern.
Average weekly hours come out to about 56, similar to the 24/48. Some departments pair a 48/96 with a 24-day or 27-day FLSA cycle to manage overtime thresholds, but the details usually involve close coordination between fire administration and payroll.
A Kelly day is an additional scheduled day off given to firefighters at regular intervals to reduce their average weekly hours, typically for FLSA compliance. Kelly days are not a standalone schedule. They are a modification layered on top of an existing pattern (usually a 24/48) that brings average weekly hours down to a target number, most commonly 53 hours or fewer.
The name comes from Chicago Mayor Edward Kelly, who introduced the concept in the 1930s. Kelly days reduce average hours without requiring the department to add a fourth platoon, but they create real scheduling headaches. Every Kelly day creates a vacancy that needs to be filled through overtime callbacks, cross-staffing, or adjusted minimums. Tracking which firefighters are on their Kelly day, when the next one falls, and how it interacts with vacation bids and shift trades adds complexity that compounds across a large department.
A debit day is the mirror concept. Instead of giving an extra day off to reduce hours, a debit day is an additional 24-hour work shift added at regular intervals to increase average weekly hours. Debit days are most commonly used with 24/72 schedules, where the base average of ~42 hours per week can fall below what a department needs for coverage or budget targets. By adding one debit day every 24 to 36 days, a department can bring the average up into the 46-48 hour range while still keeping the four-platoon structure and the longer recovery windows that come with it.
Debit days are particularly common in Washington and Oregon, and departments like Bloomington, IL have recently adopted the model as part of their transition from a 24/48 to a 24/72. It is a way to capture the wellness and retention benefits of the 24/72 without fully absorbing the cost of dropping to a 42-hour average.
The four most common firefighter shift schedules differ in hours on duty, hours off duty, number of platoons required, and average weekly hours worked.
The 24/48 schedule puts firefighters on duty for 24 hours and off for 48 hours, uses three platoons, and averages 56 hours per week. The 24/72 schedule puts firefighters on duty for 24 hours and off for 72 hours, uses four platoons, and averages 42 hours per week. The 48/96 schedule puts firefighters on duty for 48 hours and off for 96 hours, uses four platoons, and averages 56 hours per week. A Kelly day schedule modifies an existing pattern (most often a 24/48) by adding an extra day off at regular intervals, uses three platoons, and typically reduces the average to 53 hours per week or fewer.
Schedules with lower average weekly hours (like the 24/72 at 42 hours) generate less built-in FLSA overtime but require more personnel. Schedules with higher average weekly hours (like the 24/48 and 48/96 at 56 hours) cost less in headcount but carry higher baseline overtime liability.
Not every position in a fire department runs on a 24-hour rotation. Administrative staff, fire prevention officers, and training division personnel often work 40-hour weeks. Some departments build entirely custom patterns. Fresno County Fire Protection District, for example, negotiated a 66-hour workweek that doesn't fit any standard template. Even within a single department, multiple schedule types may be running simultaneously across different divisions and ranks.
Choosing a schedule pattern is ultimately a resource allocation decision, and the consequences show up in three areas that fire leadership watches closely.
Overtime costs are the most immediate impact. A 24/48 with Kelly days produces a different overtime profile than a 24/72, and the difference can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in a mid-size department. Departments that don't fully understand the FLSA interaction with their chosen schedule often end up surprised by overtime expenditures that were technically baked into the pattern all along.
Wellness and fatigue are harder to quantify but just as consequential. Recovery time between shifts directly affects how rested firefighters are when they show up for their next tour. Fatigue research in the fire service has linked inadequate recovery to higher rates of cardiac events, vehicle accidents, and mental health challenges. Departments that have shifted to longer-rest schedules frequently report reduced sick leave usage and improved retention.
Retention and recruitment are the long game. Firefighters talk to each other across department lines, and schedule quality is a real factor in where people want to work. A department that offers a 48/96 or 24/72 has a tangible recruiting advantage over one running a straight 24/48 with no Kelly days.
This is especially true with Gen Z candidates, who consistently rank health, wellness, and quality of life among their top priorities when evaluating fire service careers. Research from the Executive Fire Officer Program found that younger firefighters are drawn to departments that demonstrate a genuine commitment to firefighter wellbeing, and a schedule that builds in adequate recovery sends that signal before the first interview. Departments that ignore this are fishing from a shrinking pool.
Most departments manage these complexities through a combination of spreadsheets, legacy software, and institutional knowledge held by a few key people. That works until someone retires, a new MOU changes the rules, or the department needs to model what a schedule change would actually cost. Stationwise was built to handle all standard patterns along with fully custom configurations through a flexible pattern editor. When Fresno County needed a 66-hour workweek that no off-the-shelf system could support, Stationwise built it without breaking pay code logic or FLSA tracking. Automated pay code assignments, real-time staffing dashboards, and integrated timekeeping keep the downstream data accurate from the roster through payroll.
If your department is evaluating a schedule change or just trying to understand why overtime keeps climbing, the answer is usually buried in the interaction between your shift pattern, your FLSA work period, and your staffing minimums. But the financial side is only part of the picture. The schedule also determines how much sleep your people are getting between tours, how often they're exposed to cumulative stress and carcinogens, and whether the recovery time built into the rotation is actually enough.
Stationwise gives departments the tools to model scheduling and overtime tradeoffs while also tracking on-duty sleep deprivation and exposure data through built-in health analytics. Book a demo to see how it works with your specific configuration.
