{"id":210495,"date":"2026-03-18T22:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/210495\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T22:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:46:10","slug":"plano-fire-rescue-hires-22-firefighters-for-transition-to-24-72-shift-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/210495\/","title":{"rendered":"Plano Fire-Rescue hires 22 firefighters for transition to \u201824\/72\u2019 shift schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPlano Fire-Rescue<\/a> has hired 22 firefighters since last December as part of the transition to a \u201c24\/72\u201d shift schedule, Fire Chief Chris Biggerstaff said.<\/p>\n

Plano Fire-Rescue is the first all-paid fire department in Texas to adopt the 24\/72 schedule, which gives firefighters 72 hours off between each 24-hour shift instead of 48.<\/p>\n

Biggerstaff gave an update on the new schedule and how it will impact firefighters at a March 9 Plano City Council meeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How it works<\/p>\n

Under the current schedule, Plano firefighters work 56 hours each week, 16 hours more than the standard 40-hour work week, according to Biggerstaff\u2019s presentation.<\/p>\n

Once the five-year transition to the 24\/72 schedule is complete, each firefighter will work roughly 42 hours per week.<\/p>\n

\"visualization\"\/<\/p>\n

Plano Fire-Rescue is making the transition to 24\/72 using paid days off called \u201cKelly Days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[A Kelly Day] is basically like a vacation day that\u2019s inserted into your schedule,\u201d Biggerstaff said.<\/p>\n

For every 22 new hires, Plano Fire-Rescue can give each firefighter six Kelly Days, he said.<\/p>\n

The department plans to hire 22 more firefighters in 2027 and 2028 in preparation for the official switch to 24\/72 in 2029, according to the presentation.<\/p>\n

\"visualization\"\/The impact<\/p>\n

When Plano City Council approved<\/a> the 24\/72 contract with the Plano Firefighters\u2019 Association last September, city officials said the move would benefit both firefighters and residents.<\/p>\n

\u201c[This] ensures our first responders are rested, prepared and able to meet Plano\u2019s increasing call volume,\u201d then-Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Julie Holmer said.<\/p>\n

Biggerstaff also believes the schedule will help with hiring and retention, and said the department has already seen a \u201csignificant increase\u201d in applications since announcing plans to move to 24\/72.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing small group meetings throughout the department,\u201d Biggerstaff said. \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of guys that say, \u2018I\u2019m going to stay longer as a result of the schedule. I feel like I can physically do this longer because of the schedule.\u2019\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plano Fire-Rescue has hired 22 firefighters since last December as part of the transition to a \u201c24\/72\u201d shift…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[82465,120,160,18650,15243,15241,162,161],"class_list":["post-210495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-24-72","tag-firefighters","tag-plano","tag-plano-city-council","tag-plano-fire-department","tag-plano-fire-rescue","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}