Glossary

Fire and EMS scheduling glossary

Plain-language definitions for the shift patterns, staffing rules, and scheduling terms firefighters, EMTs, and department admins run into every day.

24/48 Rotation: A traditional shift pattern where a crew works 24 hours on duty, then has 48 hours off. Three platoons cycle through the pattern so one is always on duty. It averages 56 hours per week before Kelly days.
48/96 Rotation: A shift pattern of 48 hours on duty followed by 96 hours off. It reduces the number of commutes and shift changes per month and is popular with departments whose members travel a long way to work.

Anchor Date: A known date on which a specific team was on duty. RescueShift uses the anchor date and modulo arithmetic to project a rotation both forward and backward with no manual day-by-day entry.
Apparatus: Any fire or EMS vehicle such as an engine, ladder truck, rescue, or ambulance. Each apparatus has a minimum crew it needs to respond, which drives staffing requirements.

Battalion: A group of stations managed together under a battalion chief. In RescueShift, leadership roles can be scoped to a battalion so chiefs only manage their own stations and crews.

Callback: Bringing off-duty members back to work to cover a shortage, a large incident, or minimum staffing. RescueShift tracks callback coverage alongside rotation and sign-up shifts on one roster.
Combination Department: A department staffed by both career and volunteer members. Combination departments often run rotation for career crews and an open sign-up board for volunteers, which RescueShift supports as a hybrid model.
Coverage: Whether every station and unit has enough crew scheduled to respond. RescueShift merges rotation and sign-up shifts into a single roster and flags any unit that falls below its minimum staffing.

FLSA 7(k): A federal overtime exemption for fire protection and law enforcement. Instead of the standard 40-hour week, overtime is calculated over a 7 to 28 day work period. The common 28-day period sets the overtime threshold at 212 hours.

Hybrid Model: Using a fixed rotation for base staffing and an open sign-up board for overtime, callback, and volunteer coverage at the same time. The roster combines both so leadership sees one picture of who is on duty.

Kelly Day: A scheduled day off inserted into a rotation to reduce a member's average weekly hours, often to control overtime under FLSA. Kelly days add complexity to the cycle, which RescueShift calculates automatically.

Minimum Staffing: The smallest crew, often set by NFPA guidance or a union contract, required to keep an apparatus or station in service. Dropping below the minimum can mean taking a fire unit out of service.
Model A (Rotation): RescueShift's term for traditional rotation scheduling. An admin sets a repeating pattern and anchor date, and the system calculates who works every day going forward with no manual entry.
Model B (Sign-Up Board): RescueShift's term for open shift scheduling. Members claim available shifts from their phone, and monthly minimums are tracked automatically. It suits volunteer, per-diem, and overtime coverage.

Platoon: A group of members who rotate together as a unit, commonly labeled A Shift, B Shift, and C Shift. Also called a shift team. In a 24/48 rotation, three platoons cycle so one is always on duty.
PTO Request: A request for paid time off submitted through the app. It routes to an approver and runs a staffing impact check so an approval never quietly drops a unit below its minimum crew.

Roster: The daily record of who is on duty, at which station, and on which apparatus. RescueShift's roster merges rotation, sign-up, and trade coverage into one view for any date.

Slot Template: A reusable definition of a recurring open shift used on the sign-up board. Admins generate a month of open slots from templates with one tap instead of building each shift by hand.
Staffing Requirement: The number and mix of crew a station or apparatus must have on duty, such as one officer, one driver, and two firefighters. RescueShift checks the roster against these requirements and warns when they are not met.
Station Display: A read-only view of the schedule shown on a station TV or monitor. It shows today's crew, units, and coverage, replacing the physical dry-erase whiteboard without letting anyone edit the schedule from the display.

Trade (Shift Swap): Two members exchanging shift dates. A trade requires the partner to agree and an admin to approve, with a staffing impact check in between so the swap never leaves a unit short.

Whiteboard: The physical board in a station showing who works when. RescueShift replaces the whiteboard with a live digital station display that updates automatically as the schedule changes.

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