It’s an annual ritual of mine that I don’t really enjoy: Toward the end of each year, I dig through my son’s school supplies to find a red, green and blue highlighter and begin the tedious task of marking my shifts on the upcoming year’s calendar. I work in San Diego, where we use the Kelly shift schedule. This schedule utilizes three divisions (A, B and C) that are represented by a corresponding color. I’m sure most of you work some type of crazy 24-hour schedule–maybe a modified Detroit, a 24/48 or perhaps the “25-man group chart.” The bottom line: There hasn’t been an easy way to merge your work calendar and your personal daily planner … until now.
The FireDayz Firefighter’s Planner replaces that generic, off-the-shelf calendar that you usually purchase with a firefighter-specific planner/organizer. “FireDayz is a company built by firefighters for firefighters,” explains Garrett Valles, a FireDayz team member and 15-year fire-service veteran. “This is a great product to organize your life.” Based on the quantity ordered, the folks at FireDayz will custom-create your planner to match your schedule and your needs, but more on that a little later.
In 2006, Valles noticed that many of his co-workers were also trying to merge personal and work calendars. “I did a lot of research and found that there was nothing better out there, so I decided to take the ball and run with it,” he says. So he teamed up with good friends and fellow firefighters Vance Alkire and Corey Powell to develop a tool to help firefighters stay organized, in addition to keeping track of job-specific items.
The FireDayz planner offers a “month-at-a-glance” page so you can view your entire monthly schedule, and also includes “week-at-a-glance” pages at the end of each month so you can add more detailed information. But it’s the back portion of the planner that really separates it from other calendars. In addition to space for documenting standard entries like mileage, expenses and personal goals, FireDayz offers a way to track shift trades and trade paybacks, comp time, overtime, training hours, exposures, vacation hours and sick leave. Additionally, the planner has an entire section of fire- and EMS-related refresher pages, including assessment mnemonics, 12-lead ECG placement, medical Spanish quick-reference, the wildland 10 Standard Fire Orders and 18 “Watchout Situations,” hydraulic quick reference, elevator operations and hybrid vehicle operations. My planner even has a section that includes phone numbers for our local fire departments, dispatch centers and hospitals.
Now for the details. For a custom-designed, full-size (5.5″ x 8.5″), color-coded planner, the minimum order is 350 units at $14 each, but the price drops as the number you order increases. They also offer a pocket planner (3.5″ by 6.125″) that starts at $5 each with a minimum order of 350 units. To help cut costs, FireDayz developed a black and white symbol system that replaces colors with symbols, and reduces the minimum order to just 50 units at $15 each for full-size planners and $6 for pocket planners. A major plus: 10 percent of all sales are donated to charities. For a full list of the prices, visit www.firedayz.com or call Valles at 808/277-2236.
Although the minimum order number might scare away some prospective buyers, I recommend this product. It’s a good opportunity for departments, agencies, associations or groups to offer an organizational tool to their employees or members. And it seems to be working. The planner was first released at a 2007 conference, and has already been custom designed for San Diego County, Los Angeles County, Santa Rosa (Calif.) County and Seattle. “We want to make the best product out there,” Valles says. “We will sit down with you and customize the calendar to whatever you need.”
Let’s face it: Our lives are getting increasingly hectic. With this firefighter-created product, it may be easier to balance your schedule with your kids’ school schedules, your spouse’s work schedule, music lessons, soccer practice and your (uniquely American) second and third jobs.
FireDayz Firefighter Planners
Pros
- Customized for your department;
- Comes with four wallet-sized calendars;
- 10 percent of all sales are donated to local charities; and
- Designed by firefighters for firefighters.
Cons
- -Minimum order required.
FireDayz
6466 Cowles Mountain Blvd.
San Diego, CA92119
Tel: 808/277-2236
Web: www.firedayz.com
