Four firefighter/paramedics in Naperville started working eight-hour shifts this week as part of a staffing plan designed to get more people on duty when they're needed most.
The typical firefighter's hours are 24 hours on the job, 48 hours off, and that's not changing at the large Naperville department, which operates 10 stations with a daily minimum of 42 firefighter/paramedics on the job. But now four of the department's members are working 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday in what Chief Mark Puknaitis calls a "power shifting" program. The shift transfers personnel into the daytime, when Naperville's population spikes with workers, and when Puknaitis said the department fields 54 percent of its 14,600 annual calls.
With more than half of all calls coming during one eight-hour span, Puknaitis said it makes sense to increase the staff, while still keeping the union-negotiated minimum of 42 on hand during the other 16 hours of each day.