Fire department shift scheduling software gives you all the tools to create and manage your fire department schedules with complete ease and efficiency. Check out these 5 best software solutions on the market today and find the right for you.
When scheduling your firefighters, there’s a lot at stake.
Having enough people on shift and on-call is essential for your teams to function well and be3 able to handle life-threatening situations. At the same time, overtime and overscheduling are occupational hazards associated with the long working hours of firefighters.
And that’s just the beginning.
While manually creating and managing fire department schedules is nearly impossible, the right fire department shift scheduling software enables you to schedule your team optimally in just a few clicks and automatically consider all relevant factors.
To make finding the right one just as easy, we’ve lined up the 5 top fire department scheduling software.
Let’s dive right in.
If you don’t have the time to read through our research, jump down to our quick comparison table.
Our Top Picks
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Best all-in-one fire department shift scheduling software
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Good for Automatically populating schedules.
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Good for creating open shifts.
Why trust us?
Our team of unbiased software reviewers follows strict editorial guidelines, and our methodology is clear and open to everyone.
See our complete methodology
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Tools considered
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Tools reviewed
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What to Look For in a Fire Department Scheduling Software Tool
When looking for great shift scheduling software for fire stations, keep an eye out for the following aspects and features:
- Ease of use: It’s easy to set up and offers an intuitive user experience.
- Customizability: It’s customizable to suit your team structures.
- Time-saving tools: It includes multiple time-saving capabilities that allow you to speed up your scheduling process.
- Availability: Your staff can submit their availability and pick up open shifts or find replacements when necessary.
- Notifications: It has multiple automatic notification options, such as when a new schedule is published.
- Error highlights: It highlights scheduling inconsistencies, such as double bookings.
- Integration options: It integrates with other related software, such as time clock or payroll software, or includes these capabilities.
- Price: It is cost-friendly and suits your budget.
- Support: It comes with good customer support to help you with any issues.
The 5 Best Fire Department Scheduling Software Tools of 2024
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Connecteam — Best all-in-one fire department shift scheduling software
Kicking off our list is Connecteam’s all-in-one fire department scheduling software. It gives you everything you need to easily create and manage optimal schedules, even on the go.
Its scheduling capabilities include time-saving tools and automations, self-service employee shift replacement, inconsistency flagging, shift instructions, notifications, an in-app time clock, and more.
Let’s look at Connecteam’s scheduling features and how they can optimize your day-to-day.
Time-saving tools
Aside from creating single or multiple shifts, fire chiefs can save time by simply copying shifts from previous weeks, duplicating existing ones, making shifts recurring, and using customizable templates for particular units or shifts that you can drag and drop right into your shift calendar view.
You can assign shifts according to each employee’s registered submitted availability and qualifications. You can also enable shift replacements and publish open shifts for eligible users to claim.
Error flagging
The fireman schedule app also helps you prevent costly scheduling mistakes by highlighting conflicts and inconsistencies in your schedules. It will, for instance, flag when an employee is double booked or their work hours exceed your set overtime limit.
Shift instructions
You can add information or instructions for your employees to each shift, such as notes, tasks, and attachments so that your team has all relevant information at their fingertips. This way, you can reduce unnecessary back-and-forth and streamline your processes.
Did You Know?Connecteam integrates with Google Calendar so your employees can transfer their shifts right from the app into their personal calendars.
Notifications
Connecteam’s customizable notifications ensure you and your personnel never miss any scheduling updates, changes, or requests. You can, for instance, set instant notifications for when users accept or reject a shift. This allows you to stay in the loop and immediately take action when necessary.
Time clock
With Connecteam’s employee time clock, your staff can clock in and out from shifts on their mobile phones or via the centralized kiosk app to ensure no one clocks in before they’re scheduled. This way, you can automatically log your team’s work hours onto accurate digital timesheets, which you can use to process payroll.
Streamlined internal communication
Connecteam’s robust communication features allow you to enhance logistical and operational communication. These include an in-app chat, news feed, and company directory.
And so much more
In addition to robust scheduling features, Connecteam offers exceptional customer service, an intuitive user experience, excellent employee management tools, and full customizability, allowing you to adjust the platform to suit your exact needs.
Connecteam also offers a free for life plan – Get Started Now!
Key Features
Drag & drop
Customizable templates
Recurring shifts
Shift notes & attachments
Pros
Intuitive and easy to use
All-in-one solution
Great customer support
Budget-friendly
Cons
Needs internet or wifi access to work
Pricing
Free-for-life plan availablePremium plans start at $29/month for 30 users
14-day free trial, no credit card required
Start your free trial -
ESO — Good for: Automatically populating schedules.
Available on
- Web
- iOS
- Android
ESO is a fire department shift scheduling software that aims to make scheduling easy, intuitive, and cost-effective.
It offers multiple scheduling automation tools with which you can automatically generate and populate fire department schedules, handle last-minute changes, create open shifts, and manage time off. You can also manage employee overtime with in-app alerts for when staff members near or surpass their hourly threshold.
Unfortunately, ESO doesn’t provide pricing information and requires you to contact them to receive a quote.
Key Features
- Automated shift population
- Open shifts
- Time off management
- Shift bids
Pros
- Effective implementation process
- Good customer service
Cons
- Unintuitive user experience
- Features don’t work together cohesively
Pricing
Contact vendor for price Trial: No Free Plan: No
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Vector Scheduling — Good for: Creating open shifts
Available on
- Web
Vector Scheduling, formerly known as formerly Crewsense, aims to provide a scheduling solution that simplifies your workforce management and employee resourcing.
The software helps you maintain overtime compliance, comply with union and labor policies, automate shift bidding, and quickly deploy your teams. You can update schedules from anywhere and enable your personnel to view when they work, respond to shift swaps, open shifts, or schedule changes in real-time from your mobile phones.
To receive pricing information, you will need to contact Vector Scheduling directly.
Key Features
- Auto-accept
- Open shifts
- Intelligent rules
- Flexible reporting
Pros
- Easy to use
- Good employee self-help functions
Cons
- Limited alert-tone customization options
- Prone to bugs
Pricing
Contact vendor for price Trial: No Free Plan: No
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eSchedule — Good for: Creating shift templates
Available on
- Web
eSchedule’s Fire Department Scheduling Software aims to provide fire departments with powerful, time-saving features.
It offers various scheduling automation capabilities. These include schedule templates for different units or shifts, custom shift rotates, and auto-scheduling, allowing you to create instant schedules based on availability. Users can also trade and bid on shifts, which schedulers can view and approve or deny.
The annual cost of the fire department scheduling software depends on the desired features package and the number of employees. You’ll need to complete eSchedule’s Free Demo form to receive pricing information.
Key Features
- Employee scheduling
- Vacation/sick time tracking
- Online time clock
- Employee database
Pros
- Good accessibility
- Easy to use
Cons
- Insufficient reporting capabilities
- Limited scheduling automations
Pricing
Starts at $100/month Trial: No Free Plan: No
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Aladtec — Good for: Rotation scheduling
Available on
- Web
Aladtec is a fire department schedule generator software solution created to handle the complex shift rotations of organizations with 24/7 staff scheduling.
With it, employees set their availability as Preferred, Available, or Unavailable. You can create schedules based on availability, seniority, and work hours. Automatic scheduling is available for pre-configured recurring patterns such as 24/48, 48/96, Panama, or California.
Employees can furthermore sign up for open shifts and give away or swap shifts with other qualified personnel.
Unfortunately, also Aladtec lacks pricing transparency, requiring you to contact their sales team for pricing information.
Key Features
- Rotation scheduling
- Daily scheduling
- Employee availability
- Shift signups
Pros
- Easy to implement
- Good employee self-help functions
Cons
- Unintuitive user experience
- Hard to navigate
Pricing
Contact vendor for price Trial: Yes Free Plan: No
Compare the Best Fire Department Scheduling Software Tools
| Topic |
Start for free
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reviews |
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N/A
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| Pricing |
Starts at just $29/month for the first 30 users
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Contact vendor for price
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Contact vendor for price
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Starts at $100/month
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Contact vendor for price
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| Free Trial |
yes
14-day
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no
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no
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no
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yes
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| Free Plan |
yes
Free Up to 10 users
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no
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no
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no
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no
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| Use cases |
Best all-in-one fire department shift scheduling software
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Good for: Automatically populating schedules.
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Good for: Creating open shifts
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Good for: Creating shift templates
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Good for: Rotation scheduling
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| Available on |
Web, iOS, Android
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Web
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Web
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Web
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What Is Fire Department Shift Scheduling Software?
Fire department scheduling software is a digital tool designed to simplify and partially automate creating and managing work schedules and sharing these with your fire rescue team.
It allows you to create optimal fire department schedules by considering every factor relevant to scheduling, such as your crew members’ submitted availability and qualifications. It also helps eliminate scheduling errors, such as double-booking an employee.
How Does Fire Department Scheduling Software Work?
While each fireman schedule app works differently and offers varying sets of features, they all allow you to set up automations and customizations according to your needs. This can include using schedule templates designed specifically for your units and shifts and enabling notifications for mistakes in your schedules.
You can create schedules based on your staff’s submitted availability and qualifications and publish and share these with your team members. You can also handle sudden changes, such as finding replacements.
Depending on the software, it may include additional scheduling features that help streamline your processes, such as a time clock or payroll, or offer integration options.
What Are the Benefits of Fire Department Shift Scheduling Software?
The main benefits of using a fire department schedule generator include that it helps:
- Save valuable time and effort: Automation options simplify the entire process of creating optimal and error-free schedules for your units.
- On-the-go access: Both you and your team can access the software from anywhere. This way, you can handle your team’s schedules while your crew can manage their availability and stay on top of their schedules from your mobile devices.
- Ensure firefighters aren’t overscheduled: With automated alerts, you can easily see if an employee has been scheduled for too many hours for easy overtime and labor law compliance.
- Streamlines payroll: Many scheduling solutions include time tracking features for generating digital time sheets that can be used in payroll.
How Much Does Fire Department Scheduling Software Cost?
The pricing of fire department schedule generator software essentially differs per provider and largely depends on the number of users and the feature package. Pricing can range from tens to hundreds of dollars per month. Particularly those that charge per user can get rather expensive if you’re working with a large team.
Remember that high pricing does not necessarily equal a better user experience. Our number one pick, Connecteam, offers premium plans at a set price of $29 per month for the first 30 employees.
FAQs
What is the best fire department schedule?
In most places, firefighters work long shifts that can include weekends and holidays. These shifts can be different from one city to another, but there are generally two types.
The two most common shift types for firefighters are:
- 24 hours on duty followed by 48 hours off duty.
- 10- to 12-hours shifts for three to four-days in a row.
How does a 48/96 schedule work?
A 48/96 schedule for firefighters means that they work a 48-hour shift, followed by 96 hours off. This means that they are on duty for two consecutive 24-hour shifts and then have four full days off before starting their next shift.
This schedule is commonly used in the firefighting profession because it allows firefighters to have longer stretches of time off, which can be helpful for things like rest and recovery, personal appointments and errands, and spending time with family and friends.
However, it can also be challenging because it requires firefighters to work long shifts and be on call for emergencies during the night, which can be physically and mentally demanding.
The Bottom Line On Fire Department Scheduling Software Tool
Undoubtedly, a firefighter’s work schedule is one of the most important aspects managers and chiefs must get right. However, you don’t have to do it all alone; through fire department shift scheduling software, this becomes a much more manageable task.
At a glance, you can improve team efficiency, avoid common mistakes and errors, have all relevant information in one central location, and you have increased accountability and visibility. By reviewing our choice of fire department shift scheduling software solutions above, you can save some much-needed time and energy creating your next fire department work schedule.