From 2020-2025, 23 firefighters left the Bryan Fire Department to work for departments that operate with a 48/96 schedule, which calls for each shift to work for two consecutive 24-hour shifts, followed by four consecutive days off.
In 2025, about $1.3 million in investment was lost, as well as a combined 35 years of experience.
“We’re hiring them off the street, we’re spending our time, money and resources, we’re getting fully certified and then they’re going somewhere else, and the schedule seems to be one of the key deciding factors for that reason,” Lt. Walter Noel said at a Jan. 13 workshop.
What you need to know
Currently, the BFD works off of a 24/48 schedule, in which each shift works 24 hours and then takes 48 hours off.
Through the current schedule, the BFD is struggling to compete for and retain firefighters, Noel said.
Since January 2020, just one fully certified firefighter or paramedic became employed out of 89 total hires, according to BFD documents.
“We’re having fewer certified applicants ... longer training timelines and higher costs,” Noel said.
It takes up to three years to replace a fully certified firefighter or paramedic, Noel added.
In comparison
Comparing schedules, personnel will have more time off with a 48/96 schedule, allowing for more recovery time, according to BFD documents.
“What this schedule allows us to do is cast a farther net and capture more qualified candidates,” Noel said. “We have a world-class fire training facility in our backyard. We also have Blinn College that’s spitting a tremendous amount of EMTs and paramedics and currently, we’re not capturing any of those.”
While the new potential schedule could help increase work-life balance, reduced burnout and stress, and higher job satisfaction and productivity, Noel pointed out the following disadvantages and potential requirements for those under the schedule:
- Must work nine full weekends a year
- Available on-call day every 21 days
- Every sixth year must work Dec. 24 and 25
Also of note
Noel noted the following neighboring agencies that operate with a 48/96 schedule:
- College Station FD
- South Brazos County VFD
- Brenham FD
- The Woodlands FD
- Spring FD
- Montgomery County ESD
- Robertson County EMS
- St. Joseph EMS
- Washington County EMS
“We're only further making it worse because we're the only one within a 1-hour radius that maintains this schedule,” Noel said. “Everybody else has already transitioned.”
Assessing the need
In a survey conducted in December, the majority of the personnel with the BFD were in favor of the 48/96 schedule.
What’s next
To avoid getting ahead of City Council and their formal decision-making process, Bryan’s City Manager Andrew Nelson will convene the appropriate department heads, which will include an executive team member and the Chief Finance Officer, who is on a family/medical leave until April 1, Bryan’s Public Information Officer Lacey Lively said.
The department heads will work with the BFS to develop an aligned recommendation for Nelson’s approval and a potential recommendation to City Council, Lively said.
If the new schedule is approved, it would first be a pilot program with strict oversight, as requested by Mayor Bobby Gutierrez and the council.
“I want to make sure that we have some type of protocol that says, ‘OK, we're going to look at this thing in six months ... one year and ... two years,’ and I want to make sure that not at any point that we're going to throw this on another council,” Gutierrez said. “At that point it will be eliminated and go back to where we were before because we should only have to deal with this thing once."
City Council has also requested the following data before making a decision on a schedule change:
- Report on how many current firefighters hold second jobs
- Data on percentage of current firefighters who live within Brazos County
- Turnover data
- Neighboring city attrition rates
