In early November, a Providence fire captain, Zachariah Kenyon, clocked 96 hours in a row — the equivalent of two 48-hour work weeks.
The 45-year-old’s marathon tour of duty follows much argument over the restructuring of the firefighters’ shift schedule, ordered in August by Mayor Jorge O. Elorza.
Instead of working 42 hours per week in four shifts firefighters are now working in three shifts of 48 hours every six days, or an average of 56 hours per week.
One vocal critic of the change, Paul A. Doughty, president of the firefighters’ union, went on Twitter to address the mayor:
"...still think your plan is safe? Rescue Captain Kenyon just worked 96 hours straight. 96 hours. Your plan is a disaster!!!"
So a firefighter worked 96 hours straight? We wondered if that really happened. And if so, how?
We reached out to Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Pare, Doughty and Kenyon, who also has a leadership position in the union, serving on its board and representing about 80 fire employees in special services divisions. Of course, we were interested in Kenyon’s story, but initially we just wanted to see the records.
Kenyon gave us a personnel record that shows he reported to duty on the morning of Friday, Nov. 6, around 8 a.m. and he remained on duty for a 96-hour period that ended Tuesday, Nov. 10, around 8 a.m.
The personnel record also shows that Kenyon had originally been scheduled to work two 10-hour shifts, one on Friday and another on Saturday followed by two 14-hour overnight shifts on Sunday into Monday and Monday into Tuesday. This adds up to 48 hours on duty over 5 days.
Kenyon ended up on duty for each of the four scheduled shifts plus all hours in between, according to the record.
The captain accepted one overtime shift and he was ordered to stand duty for the other three shifts. This is how he explained how he came to be on duty for 96 hours and Pare confirmed it.