Free shift calendar
Kelly schedule shift calendar 2027
The Kelly schedule is a fire service rotation built from 24 hour shifts: on for 24, off for 24, on again, off again, a third 24, then 4 straight days off. The cycle is 9 days long, and three platoons stagger it three days apart so one is always on duty.
This page lays the cycle onto the real dates of 2027 for a platoon whose first shift falls on January 1. Every shift starts one morning and ends the next, so each one shades two calendar days, and every off day that follows a shift begins with the ride home.
Kelly schedule (24h), 2027
The grid shows a crew whose cycle starts January 1, 2027; other crews run the same rotation offset by a few days. The 9 day cycle does not divide evenly into weeks, so the rotation drifts through the weekdays. Other crews get a similar year, just shifted. To line the pattern up with your real start date, use the interactive shift pattern visualizer.
The 2027 numbers
Full weekends off
12
Jan 1 crew; all crews: 11.6 on average (11 to 12)
24 hour shifts
123
each runs 7am to 7am the next day
Recovery days
122
the morning after each shift
Longest stretch
1
consecutive shifts
How many hours is Kelly schedule in 2027?
Worked in full, Kelly schedule in 2027 comes to 123 shifts of 24 hours: 2,952 hours, an average of 56.6 hours a week across the whole year. Every one of those shifts runs from one morning to the next, so each covers two calendar days. These figures assume every scheduled shift is worked: no overtime, no swaps, no sick days, no leave.
Put Kelly schedule 2027 in your calendar
One file, every shift of the year, ready for Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, or Outlook. Every shift imports as a 24 hour event, 7am to 7am the next morning. Edit the times after import if your department changes over at a different hour.
A perfect rotation fits in a calendar file. A real roster does not.
Swaps, overtime, and holiday cover break the pattern. Reading a real roster is what the Lumical app does: photograph it and every shift lands in your calendar, overnights included. We make it, so weigh the recommendation accordingly.
Common questions
What is the Kelly schedule?
A 9 day fire service cycle of 24 hour shifts: on, off, on, off, on, then 4 days off. Three shifts in nine days. Three platoons run it staggered three days apart, which puts exactly one platoon on duty every calendar day.
How many hours is the Kelly schedule in 2027?
2,952 hours for the January 1 platoon: 123 shifts of 24 hours, averaging 56.6 a week. The cycle itself averages 56 hours a week (72 hours per 9 days); the year figure differs slightly because a calendar year does not hold a whole number of cycles.
Why does the calendar count so many recovery days?
Every off day directly after a shift starts with you walking out of the station that morning, so this page counts it as a recovery day rather than a full day off. On Kelly that is half of them: 122 recovery days against 120 full days off in 2027. The 4 day break is where the full days live.
How often does the 4 day break contain a full weekend?
The 9 day cycle drifts two weekdays per round, so the break moves through the week and realigns every 63 days. In 2027 the January 1 platoon gets 12 full weekends with no shift touching Saturday or Sunday; across all platoons the average is 11.6.
Is this the same thing as a Kelly day?
Not always. In many departments a Kelly day is an extra scheduled day off inserted to pull the average below 56 hours, on top of whatever rotation you work. Both uses of the name trace back to 1930s Chicago. Where your Kelly days fall is a contract question.