Keene NH Firefighters Embrace 24-Hour Shifts

Keene firefighters are now working 24-hour shifts, a long-awaited change in schedule, thanks to a new contract between their labor union and the city.

The Professional Firefighters of Keene Local 3265 finalized contract negotiations with the city after several months, and the new shifts began Sunday.

Keene Fire Chief Mark F. Howard said the 24-hour shift is the only major change in the contract, but it’s been a sticking point for years. He said the past few contracts at the fire department have been one-year agreements, mostly because the union continued to push for the schedule change.

The new contract will carry the department through June 2022. When an agreement expires — as the last one did in July — Howard said crews continue working under the terms of the prior contract while negotiations are ongoing.

While the department hasn’t worked 24-hour shifts in recent years, Howard said this won’t be a first for the city.

“Back in like the ’60s and ’70s, when there was three shifts, they did work like a variation of a 24-hour schedule. Different from what we’re doing today, but they did do that,” he said.

Over the decades, he explained that the department gradually transitioned to its latest schedule, in which firefighters worked two 11-hour days, had a day and a half off, worked two 13-hour nights and had another three days off.

Under the new contract, Keene firefighters will work 24 hours straight, with two shifts per workweek. Howard noted that the department benefits from having only one shift change per day.

The 24-hour shift structure is popular in departments across the country. In a 2016 presentation by the International Association of Fire Fighters on the growing trend of 24-hour shifts in Canada, the organization said it doesn’t take a position on the issue, considering it a local matter.

But the presentation said the 24-hour shift is the most common in the fire service, with 70 percent of U.S. firefighters working the schedule.

The association also noted that there are no conclusive studies indicating that the health and safety risks of the shift are “any more significant than working a rotation with shorter shifts.”

To the contrary, Howard said Local 3265, the Keene chapter of the international association, provided studies that showed a 24-hour schedule can be more conducive to helping firefighters recuperate between shifts. Rather than “bouncing from days to nights, days to nights and then time off” as with the department’s old schedule, he said, employees can have more structured time to rejuvenate.

He added that the schedule will be under review for a while to determine its effectiveness. One measurable change, he said, might be a decrease in sick days taken.

“It’s a new thing within the contract. The chief reserves the right to change it back within the contract,” Howard said. “You know, we’re going to look at: Is there cost benefit to it, and is it overall a benefit, not only to the employee but to the department as far as operations?”

Representatives from the Professional Firefighters of Keene Local 3265 were not reachable for comment.

———

Visit The Keene Sentinel (Keene, N.H.) at www.sentinelsource.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.