Significance of Shift Calendar Colors for Firefighters
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| Firefighter Shift Calendar |
When you look at a Firefighter’s calendar, the first thing that stands out is the colors. The colors simplify the calendar to help Firefighters and their families keep organized by knowing which days are duty days and which are not.
Typically, Firefighters work a rotating pattern of 24 or 12 hour shifts. There may be as few as 2 shifts and as many as 26, like FDNY. The most common number of shifts are 3 for small to medium size fire departments and 4 for larger fire departments.
For example: A fire department has 3 shifts; A, B, and C. Each shift has 4 engines with 4 personnel each for a total of 16 Firefighters on duty a day. On January 1st, A shift is on duty. On January 2nd, B shift is on duty. And on January 3rd, C shift is on duty.
The shift pattern continues to rotate indefinitely. This is a very simplified version. There are many more complicated patterns that are out there. Either way, simple or complicated, these shifts are indicated by a color on a calendar. A shift may be red; B blue; and C green.
The standard colors on most shift calendars are going to be red, blue, and green. These are the most effective colors on any shift calendar because they are easily visible to the human eye. The three colors are considered the primary colors of the visible light spectrum.
