06/02/2026
For generations, firefighters have accepted a unique reality: being away from home when others are gathered around the dinner table, missing holidays, birthdays, school events, anniversaries, and countless everyday moments with the people they love.
Whether you serve in a small-town department or a major metropolitan city, the sacrifices are remarkably similar. The calls don’t stop because it’s Christmas morning. Emergencies don’t wait because it’s your child’s birthday. Communities depend on firefighters to show up, regardless of what they’re missing at home.
For years, the standard firefighter schedule has been 24 hours on and 48 hours off. More recently, many departments have moved to 48 hours on and 96 hours off, with the promise of more consecutive family time, improved recovery, and better work-life balance.
But there is a part of the conversation that often gets overlooked: total career hours.
In many municipalities, firefighters work an average of 53 hours per week and are expected to complete 30 years of service to earn full retirement benefits—the same retirement timeline often required of employees working a traditional 40-hour workweek.
The numbers tell an important story.
Over a 30-year career:
• A 40-hour employee works approximately 62,400 hours.
• A firefighter working a 53-hour schedule logs roughly 82,680 hours.
• That’s more than 20,000 additional hours—the equivalent of nearly 10 extra years of a traditional 40-hour work schedule.
The schedule may look different, but the reality is the same: firefighters spend significantly more time away from their families over the course of a career.
This isn’t about comparing professions or claiming firefighters work harder than anyone else. Every profession comes with its own challenges and sacrifices.
But if we’re serious about conversations surrounding firefighter wellness, family life, cancer risks, mental health, divorce rates, recruitment, and retention, we should also be willing to discuss the total hours being asked of firefighters throughout their careers.
It raises some reasonable questions:
• If firefighters are working substantially more hours over a lifetime, should 20 years be considered a full career for retirement purposes?
• If 30 years remains the standard, should schedules be structured differently to better align lifetime hours with other municipal employees?
At the end of the day, this isn’t simply a discussion about schedules. It’s a discussion about time—the one thing no firefighter can ever get back.
Behind every firefighter is a family making sacrifices too. Spouses who handle holidays alone. Children who celebrate milestones without a parent present. Parents, siblings, and loved ones who worry every time the pager sounds or the station tones drop.
So today, thank you.
Thank you to the firefighters on the front lines who answer the call, day and night, often at great personal sacrifice.
And thank you to the families back home who share that sacrifice—the spouses holding things together, the children who patiently wait, and the loved ones who support those who serve.
Your commitment may not always be visible, but it is deeply appreciated. Service is a family commitment, and our communities are stronger because of all of you.
