Kelly schedule
Three platoons on 24-hour shifts: work one full day, get two full days off, forever. The standard rotation for fire and EMS crews.
Also known as: Kelly shift schedule, 24-on-48-off, fire department shift schedule
- Shift length
- 24h
- Rotation cycle
- 9 days
- Teams
- 3
- Avg hours/week
- 56
- Longest stretch
- 1 day
- Longest break
- 2 days
The full 9-day rotation
One complete cycle for all 3 teams. Coverage is 24/7 (single station, one platoon on at a time): every day has exactly one team on each shift.
| Team | Week 1 | Week 2 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platoon A | D | D | D | ||||||
| Platoon B | D | D | D | ||||||
| Platoon C | D | D | D | ||||||
- Each row is one platoon across the 9-day cycle. Only one platoon shows a shift on any given day; the platoon marked is on duty for the full 24 hours.
- The 3-day rhythm (on, off, off) repeats exactly 3 times to fill the 9-day view, so the grid is really just the same 3-day cadence shown 3 times over.
- A shift that starts at 07:00 ends at 07:00 the next calendar day. The tile for "day 1" therefore spans into day 2 on a real calendar.
Build your Kelly calendar
Pick the date your rotation starts (day 1 of the grid above) and a team to see the next six weeks as real dates. Download the result for your calendar app or as a spreadsheet.
Calendar exports cover 26 weeks from the start date. Shift times use this page's defaults and can differ from your operation's clock times.
How the Kelly schedule works
The Kelly schedule is the standard 24/7 rotation for fire departments and many EMS services. Three platoons cover a single station, each working one 24-hour shift followed by 48 hours off, in a repeating 9-day cycle. Only one platoon is ever on duty at a time; the other two are resting.
The math is unusually simple for a 24/7 pattern: one 24-hour shift every 3 days averages out to 56 hours a week, well above the 40 to 42 hours most other patterns target. That is accepted as the cost of the alternative: two full days off after every single shift, more consecutive rest than any 12-hour pattern can offer.
Named for Chicago fire chief John "Smoke" Kelly, who introduced it in the early 1900s to cut firefighter hours down from a genuinely brutal continuous-duty system. Many departments now run a modified "Kelly Day" version that adds one extra day off every few cycles to bring the average closer to 50 hours.
How many people you need
Every position staffed 24/7 (single station, one platoon on at a time) on this pattern needs 3 employees, one per team, before you cover holidays, sick leave, and training. A planning buffer of around 25 percent on top is a realistic starting point; the exact number depends on your absence rates, which you can work out with our shrinkage calculator.
| Positions per shift | Minimum headcount | With 20% shrinkage buffer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 2 | 6 | 8 |
| 3 | 9 | 12 |
| 5 | 15 | 19 |
| 10 | 30 | 38 |
Pros and cons of the Kelly schedule
Works in its favor
- Two full days off after every shift is the longest guaranteed recovery window of any common 24/7 pattern
- Only 3 platoons needed per position, the lowest headcount requirement of any pattern on this page
- One shift change a day means only one handover per station per 24 hours
- Decades of use in fire and EMS services means the fatigue and staffing failure modes are extremely well studied
- The 3-day rhythm is trivial to memorize and plan personal life around
Watch out for
- A 56-hour average week is meaningfully higher than the 40 to 42 hours most other 24/7 patterns target
- A single 24-hour shift concentrates an enormous amount of fatigue risk into one block, especially overnight
- Only 3 platoons means almost no slack for absence, so a sick call is a real staffing emergency
- Overtime rules for 24-hour shifts are legally complex and vary sharply by jurisdiction and union contract
- A person can be woken repeatedly through the night on an active shift, unlike scheduled 8 or 12-hour blocks
Who runs Kelly
Fire departments
The Kelly schedule originated in and remains the dominant rotation for career fire departments in North America.
EMS and ambulance services
Many EMS agencies co-locate with fire and adopt the same 24-on-48-off rhythm for their crews.
Wildland and remote fire crews
Crews stationed away from home use the long off-blocks to justify the commute to remote postings.
Correctional emergency response
Some specialized corrections and hazmat response units run 24-hour shifts for the same low-headcount reasons as fire service.
Whichever industry you plan for, the hard part is rarely the pattern itself but keeping it fair as people join, leave, and swap. That is worth reading up on before you commit a team to one; our guide on making shift schedules faircovers the rotation-fairness tradeoffs in depth.
Common variations
- Kelly Day
- Adds one extra scheduled day off every 3 to 4 cycles, dropping the average from 56 to roughly 50.4 hours a week without changing the core 24-on-48-off rhythm.
- 48/96
- Doubles the block to 48 hours on, 96 off, used by some departments to further concentrate work and rest, at the cost of even higher single-shift fatigue.
- 4-platoon Kelly
- Adds a fourth platoon to lower the average to 42 hours a week and build in absence coverage, at the cost of one more full crew on payroll.
Compare with other patterns
4-on-4-off schedule
The simplest continuous pattern there is: work 4, rest 4, forever. Four teams on 12-hour shifts cover 24/7 with a cadence anyone can remember.
12h shifts · 16-day cycle · longest stretch 4 days
View pattern →DuPont schedule
A 4-week rotation of 12-hour days and nights whose signature feature is a full 7-day break every cycle, paid for with one 72-hour work week.
12h shifts · 28-day cycle · longest stretch 4 days
View pattern →Pitman schedule
The fixed-shift take on the 2-2-3 cadence: two permanent day teams and two permanent night teams, 12-hour shifts, and every other weekend off.
12h shifts · 14-day cycle · longest stretch 3 days
View pattern →Frequently asked questions
- How many hours a week is the Kelly schedule?
- The classic Kelly schedule averages 56 hours a week: one 24-hour shift every 3 days. The modified Kelly Day version adds extra days off to bring that down to roughly 50.4 hours.
- Why is it called the Kelly schedule?
- It is named after Chicago fire chief John "Smoke" Kelly, credited with introducing the 3-platoon, 24-hour rotation in the early 1900s to reduce firefighters' hours from a much harsher continuous-duty system.
- How many platoons does a Kelly schedule need?
- Three, at minimum, for one crew always on, one just finishing rest, and one about to start. Some departments add a fourth platoon specifically to lower average hours and build in absence coverage.
- Is a 24-hour shift safe?
- It is contested. Fire and EMS work includes long periods of downtime between calls, which is the main argument for 24-hour blocks, but fatigue researchers flag the pattern for decision-making risk late in a shift, particularly on busy nights.
- What is a Kelly Day?
- An extra scheduled day off inserted every few cycles specifically to reduce the 56-hour average closer to a standard 50 or 40-hour work week, without changing the underlying 24-on-48-off rhythm.
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