Fire chief asks council to begin transition from 56-hour schedule, proposes $3.7M step toward a fourth shift
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Summary
Fire Chief Ken Pravitz told council firefighter health, lost time and staffing are top priorities; he proposed a phased plan — previously $4.7M, now a $3.7M request — to move toward an average 48-hour workweek by adding staffing and shifting schedules, and described health screenings and equipment upgrades.
Ken Pravitz, chief of the Virginia Beach Fire Department, briefed the council on three priorities: firefighter health, staffing, and supply-chain/fleet challenges. Noting the department has seen more than 40 firefighters with cancer diagnoses, he described expanded health screening and pilot installations such as a diesel-exhaust capture device on Engine 19.
Pravitz said lost-time due to injury and illness averages roughly 42 firefighters assigned to limited duty annually, totaling about 40,000 lost hours and about $1.6 million in salaries that must be backfilled. Staffing remains constrained — he reported 35 vacancies with hopes to recruit 42 new recruits to start the academy.
On schedules, Pravitz described the national shift away from long weekly hours and said he previously requested $4.7 million to build out a fourth shift; after discussions he revised that ask to $3.7 million to partially reduce average workload toward a 48-hour week. "I originally put in a request for $4,700,000 to build out a fourth shift in the fire department," he said, noting the revised $3,700,000 figure is intended to begin incremental changes to scheduling and recruitment to improve safety and retention.
Council members asked whether annual take-home pay would change (Pravitz said annual salary would remain the same and the hourly rate would adjust) and urged a study to define trade-offs, salary impacts and potential offsets such as reduced cycle pay. The chief and staff recommended a master facility plan to address aging stations as a separate, important CIP need.
Council did not make a funding decision at the session; staff recommended a reconciliation study to present options, costs and implementation steps for council review.
