Home › Rotating shifts › California Swing
California Swing
One tour, three days off, two tours, three days off — the fire service alternative to the Kelly, on the same nine-day cycle.
- Shift length
- 24 hours
- Cycle
- 9 days
- Average week
- 56 hours
- Platoons
- 3
What the California Swing is
A platoon works one twenty-four hour tour, takes three days off, works two tours back to back, then takes three days off again. Nine days from start to repeat.
It is written 1-3-2-3, and it covers a station with three platoons on the same total hours as a Kelly — the difference is how the tours are grouped.
Where the Kelly spreads three single tours across the cycle, the Swing pairs two of them and buys two separate three-day breaks.
How the cycle runs
One nine-day cycle for a single platoon:
24-hour tourDay off
Swing against Kelly
Same hours, same nine days, different rhythm. The Kelly gives one four-day break at the end; the Swing gives two three-day breaks spread through the cycle.
Which is better is genuinely a matter of preference, and crews argue about it. Two shorter breaks suit people with regular commitments; one long break suits people who travel or work a second job.
The forty-eight hour block is the Swing's cost. Two tours back to back is a long time in the station, and a busy pair can leave you flat.
Related patterns
The Modified Detroit works the same way with different grouping, and departments run local variants under their own names — the arithmetic barely changes, but the rhythm does.
If your station runs one of those, it is a custom rotation rather than a named one, which is exactly what a saved template is for.
Who works it
Twenty-four hour tours across three platoons:
- Fire departments, especially in the west
- EMS and ambulance services
- Airport rescue and firefighting
- Industrial fire brigades
- Hazmat teams
- Some corrections and remote posts
The trade-off
What works
- Two three-day breaks in every cycle
- Same hours as a Kelly
- Only one back-to-back pair per cycle
- Predictable nine-day rhythm
What hurts
- Forty-eight hours on duty in one block
- Fifty-six hour average weeks
- The nine-day cycle drifts through the week
- No single long break like the Kelly's four days
Put it on your calendar
Twenty-four hour tours on a nine-day cycle, with the Kelly day that keeps the average honest.
Save it once and the cycle runs itself, with the day off in the right place every time round.
Common questions
What is the California Swing schedule?
A 1-3-2-3 fire rotation: one twenty-four hour tour, three days off, two tours back to back, three days off. Nine days in all.
How is it different from the Kelly schedule?
Same nine days and the same fifty-six hour average. The Kelly gives one four-day break; the Swing gives two three-day breaks and asks for one forty-eight hour block.
What is the Modified Detroit?
Another twenty-four hour pattern that groups tours differently. The hours land in much the same place; the rhythm does not.
Put the California Swing on your calendar
Save the California Swing once, tell BlueShifts the day your cycle starts, and the rest of the year draws itself. Leave, court and the work you take on your own time go in around it.
Scan to install — or hold it up for the officer next to you.
