LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Wolfforth Fire and EMS is moving to a 48 hours on, 96 hours off schedule, a change Fire Chief Lance Barrett said will improve quality of life for crews.<\/p>\n
Barrett said firefighters brought the idea to him after working similar schedules at previous departments. He was initially skeptical but changed his mind after researching the benefits.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of these guys have worked this schedule before and at a previous department, and they brought it to me, and I will be honest with you, I wasn\u2019t really a big fan to start with, but the more research and stuff I did and saw the benefits that where these guys could benefit from this and help them,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cYou know when you look at things like mental health and divorce rates in first responders, they are typically higher than the general population.\u201d<\/p>\n
48 hour shift will not effect efficiency <\/p>\n
He said working two days in a row will not be a challenge. The extra days of rest will allow crews to stay sharp and ready to take on any task.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo being here 48 hours allows our crews more time on duty to finish training evolutions, job task, when we work fire hydrants, doing business, surveys, stuff like that,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cWe have more time on duty to accomplish those things and still make the runs that we have to go make.\u201d<\/p>\n
Same level of commitment and service<\/p>\n
Barrett said the community will not see any changes in response times and service.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will never know its seamless for them, this a budget neutral change that we have, there\u2019s no cost to the tax payer in this at all,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cThey work the same amount of hours as the 24\/48, so as far as the general public is concerned, they will never know the difference, as far as monetary, job performance or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Impact of schedule change<\/p>\n
He said more time off will help crews better recover, maintain a healthy balance and prevent burnout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis allows them to have a true time off where they don\u2019t, they can live a personal life as well outside of the fire department,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cSo overall mental health, emotional health, PTSD, all that sort of stuff, healthy home life, we want our guys to do that, we want our guys to have that, we don\u2019t want to take that away from them.\u201d<\/p>\n
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