Meeting for Shift Schedules

Option A: No change
Option B: We have a schedule and select a real life time, IE GMT-4 or GMT+5
Option C: We have a schedule and just dispatch calls at announced times, then announce the call end time

DCBurke wrote:We are a full time staffed station, which means there
are always people here. Since we are seldom a primary response station, I
may set it up for fire so that there are times when we've got the full
station "On-duty" other times when the trucks just have the officer and
two or three people on duty, and other times when it's no one in.

For
EMS, it'll be a similar shift set up, but for units. Obviously now
that's not feasible, since we've got two units, but once we have 2 and 3
of each type, I'll have it so BLS-1 is on duty at this time, 2 at this
time, 3 and so on and so forth.

Police will be totally different.
TAC officers are expected to be patrolling, on scene, training or doing
paperwork for a fair bit of time, however they don't have set shifts.
They'll be under the TAC OIC's command. Patrol will have the supervisor
at reach a fair bit (say 2/3 of the time) and the officers then will
just be on and off for patrol and what not. Since everyone works alone,
they'll be on at their convience. The supervisor will be on, and when
he's not on duty (not neccessarily just on this site, but available)
then a COPA rep, or the next highest ranking officer will assume the
Supervisor position. The next highest ranking officer will be chosen by
default, unless there are two people holding the same rank.IE Cpl Linda
would be the NHRO when Libor's gone, however when we get another Cpl,
Libor, as Patrol OIC would select the default NHRO for his absence.


This will not come without input though, so any chats about this, I'm taking to the meeting room, for discussion.

This is the excert for my plan. What do you guys think? An example for L-1 would be
Monday: 12am-8am, TO, two firefighters
8am-6pm, TO on complex (would respond delayed), two more firefighters
6pm-10pm, Full staff
10pm-12am Tuesday, No staff, TO on call.

That's the three types there would be. If say a call came in at 3am, and you weren't on duty, you'd rush to the complex in your POV and pop on your boots and grab your jacket then jump on the rig. If you were at the station, you'd prepare the truck to leave, IE close all cabinets, open the gate, gear up, etc etc. This time would be ideal for cleaning truck, etc, since you'd have time to put everything away.
And if a call came in at say 10:35, the TO Would respond along with everyone else, providing maybe a five minute delay in response. During the no staff time, it'd be a secondary only response for us, such as mutual aide calls.

For Police, the supervisor shift would be like this:
Monday:2pm-12am Libor
12am-7am NHRO 1
7am-2pm NHRO 2

Where supervisor would be Libor for the afternoon until midnight, then from midnight until seven am, it'd be the NHRO, then after him, another NHRO, or something to that effect.

For EMS when they expand, it could be like this:
BLS-1, 12-8
BLS-2 8-4
etc
And for EDRC, possibly:
Hospital on emergency callout, 8-2
Offduty 2-12
On call 12-8
Or something along those lines


What do you think? Opinions, suggestions, and the like are all welcome

I like this idea.

Only suggestion so we can modify it, is add an official time zone for our Phoxlind/Trulit area (If we haven't already). And then you can adjust peoples schedules accordingly relating to their time zone and availability.

I disagree with a shift schedule, as it's an online game, played by people across different time zones, so you might be on duty during your night, and not do anything. I think as well, that shifts aren't good because they mean we have a slightly slower response, and as we know, sometimes we barely get a quick response anyway.

Plan a shift that includes all time zones just for reference matters. I like this idea but yea, just post for the different time zones too. Also, weekends we're fully staffed right?

I would suggest that (like most VFD and paid on call departments) if a call is closer to the person in the POV and they have their gear they go straight to the scene instead of going to base. Resoning is ex. a sructure fire comes in at the kitson hospital, those of us whose houses are over there could go straight to the scene, assist in evac and what not. Those on base or closer to base would go pick up the rig and bring it to the scene.

Yes, weekend schedules would be something like 10am-12am full staff, 12-8 half staff or whatever.

What I'm hearing is that some people were wondering about a time clock. I could do that, so that Phoxlind has a time zone, OR I could just leave it as it has been, so we can get calls when we have the most members (during evenings) that take place at 10 or so in the day. The schedule would then work so say on Monday, Ladder 1 gets a call at 6am, the on station crew could wake up, get the unit ready while everyone else responds. We have a lot of timezones covered (from PST to Norway)

The other option is I submit a schedule saying things like 2 firefighters, TO on duty, and then it'd be up to you guys to figure out who could work that shift, given the PATZ is say GMT-5. I personally don't really like having a time clock set up since I can't be on at certain hours, and I might wanna dispatch a call that would happen at a time I'm not able to... I think the just assuming a magical time when things happen would work, especially since calls take on average two days, so a call starting on the half shift might carry right over to a full shift, so at the end of a call, I could post that call ended at say 1245 PATZ, then the assumed time would be 1245 and you'd all disappear back to where ever.

Example:
Call at 5pm Ladder 1. Half the crew rolls to complex in POVs
Call ends at 7pm crew returns to station and hangs out for a bit, then after what feels like the shift should be over, you guys can disperse or stay or whatever. Sound okay?

And I agree, if you said you lived at the house next door to kitson, and they reported a fire, you'd just walk over instead of rushing to complex and back, but that's only if you have your gear. You're not allowed to otherwise. Only thing is, you can only go if you're next to the call. I want you to report what you're doing in the EAT first. Also for TOs or Supervisors, I don't want you guys going to the call all the time, respond in your unit occassionally as well.

i still feel like it should be a whoever shows up, showsup. I think you,burke, should take a study and place calls at different times through a couple weeks and see when the most people are active, and then use that as a base for most calls

The most active time is during nights from like 10pm-1 am mytime week nights and earlier weekends. That's the general rule of thumb

See first post for suggested options

I think that this whole city idea and shift idea's might work but might not work. Emergencies happen and we have to be ready Also how bout this you're not allowed to post in your home but to say I'm going to my rig while on calls and also since some of our unactive EMS we have to automaticly go to the complex and when not on calls your'e allowed to post in the city life area but do remember this is an EMERGENCY roleplaying game, this is a good idea besides also don't we do this sort of stuff in the break room

Home life is for off duty, IE not on calls, basically just to build our character's background.. Helps us with the realism. Like if you get married, or your kid gets deathly ill or whatever.

Schedules would just more or less let you use a POV or the resturant/home life area. After all, we can't always be at home an drespond to the complex, we're not volunteers afterall!

yea, but some of us dont even have povs

It's fine how it is now, adding real times would split up teams and make it so that someone may have to be up at 2 AM to be on shift not only interupting ert but real life as well. Making calls pre announced takes fun out of the uncertanty of when and where disaster strikes.

What we should be doing instead is working out a posting order to stop unescessary and spammy posts.

I personally like the way it is now. Whenever people are not on, due to real life things like sleep and school the shift schedule would not work. I personally am not going to stay up through the night where I am because I am on-call at the station. Right now the way it is, is good. If I'm not on, People can still make it like I am there, however if there is shifts it would be too hard to keep it up because of time-zones.

That's just my two cents.........

I don't really like it. Maybe if we were a lot bigger with more active members, I mean p-11 can't even get a crew to respond on 24 hrs. I think it should remain the same.

Okay, you guys shot down the option B

But Just my arguement for C (my vote) if it was like that, it'd add realism, yet at the same time, you guys wouldn't be up all night. I know when most people are on, so I post accordingly. If most people are on a 10 EST, then I'll post a call at 10 EST, yet it might only be taking place at 3pm, not 10.

Sound better?

Well...
Now that I see that there is a section for houses and such I think that the gun was jumped but hey, I'm willing to try out option c, and if it sucks, I'll let you know.

So we will know when a call is coming up?

It's usually dispatched the same time every time, in the night time, around 11 Newfoundland ST

ok I undderstand now.

Well, what if we would convert to a more volunteer style? in the first hour of a call people respond to station, after that response is closed. or maybe they would have to respond to scene in POV? just my 2 cents

((Wow you used my shift idea.))

Maybe Burke can send out a PM to see when we're all most available. Based on the responses we can see who can be on certain shifts. That's where the different time zones help, as everyone can be up at a different time. This would be a lot easier in the summer and on weekends, because we don't have school. A lot of people can't post during the day because they're at school, so evenings and during the night are the best times because most people will be on. Well I can't be on a morning/afternoon shift during the week. I can be on from like 4pm-9pm my time. Depending on sports practice and stuff, I might not be on for like an hour or two, but I'd try to be on as much as I can. Just an idea.

Thing with that is, then you're commiting your time to this, which I don't want nor do I expect because I see many people falling out if they can't make a shift, their team gets mad, and they quit.

yea^^^^ I mean this is fun and everything, but honestly, im not gonna want a shift, even if its free time for me, and sit on here for 5 hours and wait for a call, honestly i have other stuff i could be doing then

my opinion is that its just to unpractical to form a shift b/c of peoples scheduals. i think that people should be able to decide if they want off and just resond pov to the scene if theres a call. or if theres a lack of staffing have people respond to the station to get the equipment out.

I don't want people to just decide if they will respond in POV, because we'll get two things, people that were just at the station breakroom ending up responding in POVs and people who never ride with the truck, leaving it mostly POVs

The reason I like option C so much is you're not waiting around for a call. It'd be the same as now, but if it came in on say a real life saturday and the time the EAT put out was 1548 then the shift for that time would respond... That way if it's full staff, half staff, no staff, whatever. That's the thing currently winning. I Think we can call Option B a no for sure, since it wouldn't work realistically. I think what's being misunderstood is that people think they have to wait around for a call when their shift is.

Say I worked fire, and we responded to a fire as mutual aid at 1825 which was a half shift time. If it was in Trulit, I'd respond to the station, but say my buddy on the pumper is a resident of trulit, and is actually two streets over, and he was also at home when this call came in, he'd respond. Real life, the time might actually be 1120pm in my timezone, and next week the same time, another call could come in at 0545 PATZ... Make it easier to understand?

i do agree with option C

I like option C

I am still liking the volunteer option, but maybe i'm not completly comprehending option c. I just feel that a volunteer system would work best for the timezone issue. If a call come out when you are on you respond, if not you observe or if they call put out a 211? then you respond POV

Okay, lets use this example to make it clearer.

The schedule is half staff for 12-17 Phoxlind Area Time Zone (PATZ)
You're not on the shift that's at the station.

A call comes in at 1300h, so what happens is the crew at the station preps the truck while you guys rush in and jump on board. The only way you know the time is what's posted in the EAT. the station schedule would be posted at the station, as a pinned topic.

If a call came in at say 1745 when there was no one at the station, it would look like a volunteer response, when everyone rolls into the station in POVs and what not.

If the call came in at say 1045 when the station had everyone there, then it'd just be a regular response... That clarify things?

yea thats a good idea, but then it requires some of us to sit on our computers during our shifts?

No, the calls will still come in at any time. the time it is in phoxlind will be posted in the EAT. so a call may be posted at 10 at night, but the time in the EAT would say like 6 in the mornig and thats the time we would look for on the shift list.

ahhh ok that makes more sense

Yes!

so basicly if were not on our shift and a call goes out then we respond POV or do we just not respond at all?

Oh ok that's a good idea. It's pretty simple, call comes in during a time, you're on that shift, prep the truck and wait for others. Got it!

And if you're not at station, then you respond in POV, unless it's next door to your predetermined address

Gotcha

Thanks for explaining it to me it helped alot and i like it!

Alright sounds good. I guess we've got ourselves a new system!

Alright, looks like option C wins. I'll be doing up shift schedules from COPA shortly.. It'll be the responsibility of the Truck Officers or Division heads (whoever is specified) to assign certain units to said shifts.