LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jeffersontown Fire & EMS staff will soon get an extra day off in between shifts.
Right now, Jeffersontown firefighters, paramedics and EMTs work 24 straight hours and then get 48 hours off. But starting this summer, they're going to get an extra day to rest.
"There's lot of liability on us — I mean, a lot," Chief Mark Ohlmann said Thursday. "The things that we see anytime there's an emergency trauma, we're there."
Ohlmann took over the Jeffersontown Fire Department in July 2024 and has dedicated 34 years of his life to keeping people safe. Over that time, he's seen firefighter workloads grow.
"There's days that you're up all night long," he said.
Firefighters see a lot of traumatic events, which often leads to burnout, high divorce rates and PTSD. It also causes turnover and staffing shortages.
"We always have to be on," Ohlmann said. "That takes a lot of energy to be on your game at all times."
That's why Jeffersontown Fire & EMS plans to add an off day between shifts for firefighters, paramedics and EMTs. Starting in July 2025, their schedules will be 24 hours on the clock, 72 hours off.
"... giving them time to spend with their kids and that quality time at home," Ohlmann said.
Ohlmann believes his fire department will be the first to make this transition in the state of Kentucky. The chief's current firefighters will work 30 fewer days each year under the new schedule but he said their salary will stay about the same. That means their hourly rate will go up.
"Every time that they work overtime, it will be on that rate," Ohlmann said. "That's why this is so hard to have pulled off. We need to put our money into our people to see the retention."
He hopes it will make the firehouse a more appealing place to work. Jeffersontown has 11 firefighter openings and 4 EMS personnel positions to fill to make the new schedule run smoothly.
"I think it's time that we start investing into the quality and wanting people to be here," Ohlmann said. "We will take people that are already trained and they already have experience and we'll be hiring them in as laterals."
It takes six months to train firefighters, so, right now, the department is only looking for experienced firefighters to join the team.
The application deadline is March 31, 2025. You can learn more here.
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