At Inver Grove Heights Fire Department in the city of Inver Grove Heights, Minn., Fire Chief Judy Thill has devised a 24-hour, year-round rotating schedule to make the workload more manageable for her on-call firefighters.
“We were receiving over 1,000 calls per year,” she said. “It got to be a lot on the volunteers. Between training requirements, weekly meetings, public education visits and their full-time jobs and family commitments, we’re asking a lot of them.”
Thill estimated a basic volunteer firefighter would spend around 10 hours per week working for the station. Add to that their additional firehouse duties, plus emergency calls, and it’s more like a part-time job of 20 to 25 hours per week.