Greenville to consider moving fire rescue from 24/48 to 24/72 schedule, council to add item to agenda

Deputy Chief Jesse Harris told the Greenville Regional City Council at a Sept. workshop that fire rescue is proposing a phased change from the current 24/48 schedule to a 24/72 schedule to align staffing with the department’s EMS-heavy workload and to improve retention. “What we’re proposing is an adjustment to our schedule to bring us in line with an EMS schedule,” Harris said, citing that 83% of last year’s roughly 21,500 calls were EMS-related.

Harris and staff told council the proposed model would move the department from three shifts to four, introduce temporary “work group” days while additional positions are added, and hold annual salary steady while increasing hourly pay because employees would work fewer hours. Harris said the department has lost about 99 employees over four years and estimated about $100,000 in recruiting, training and overtime costs to replace a single departing firefighter. He identified March 1 as the target implementation date if council approves the plan and…