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Council approves shift change for Fire Rescue to 24/72 schedule to address retention, staffing
Summary
Greenville City Council approved a plan to transition Fire Rescue from a 24/48 schedule to a 24/72 schedule, a change presented as intended to improve work‑life balance, retention and recruitment; staff said implementation will require additional hires and use of vacancy work groups during transition.
Greenville City Council on Sept. 11 voted 5–0 to approve Fire Rescue leadership—s proposal to transition the department—s primary patrol schedule from a 24/48 model to a 24/72 model. Deputy Chief Jesse Harris presented the proposal and said the change responds to turnover and employee requests for more rest and regular weekends off. "We're the largest fire based EMS department in the state," Deputy Chief Jesse Harris told council, explaining roughly 83% of the department—s roughly 21,500 calls are EMS related and many employees cited work‑life balance concerns. Harris said the department lost about 99–100 employees over the past four years, many through lateral hires to departments with lower call volumes or shorter work weeks. Under the proposed 24/72 model, staff would work one 24‑hour shift followed by three days off (every fourth day), compared with the current 24/48 rotation (one day on, two days off). Harris said the change would produce fewer total shifts for many employees over a pay cycle and create more consistent weekends off. He also said the city would "hold harmless" employees— pay and benefits during the transition by adjusting base pay to offset the change in hours where necessary. Harris described a phased approach: the city has funding and authorized positions from prior council action and will hire laterally and from the academy to reduce reliance on vacancy work groups used to fill shifts now. He said the department currently staffs about 45–46 personnel per shift (about 138 operations personnel total), expects roughly 40 per shift under the initial redistribution, and relies on vacancy work groups while hiring continues. Harris said the long‑term goal is to eliminate work‑group usage by filling positions over time. Council members asked about retirement and pension impacts; Harris and staff said the pay‑and‑benefits adjustments were designed not to reduce retirement benefits and that the department produced spreadsheets staff and employees could use to confirm individual outcomes. After discussion, Council Member Blackburn moved and Council Member Willis seconded the motion to approve; the motion passed 5–0.
