AUSTIN, Texas — Austin Fire is facing a hiring deadline as the department works to fill nearly 100 positions in time to reduce workweeks under a new labor agreement.
The workweek reduction is part of the labor contract the city signed with the Austin Firefighters Association in December 2025. The contract creates a new schedule and shortens the average workweek by three hours.
Austin Fire Division Chief Mark Bridges said the new schedule beginning next October will cut the average workweek from 53 hours to 49.8 hours. Bridges described it as “the Austin schedule,” saying, “Where are members work 24 hours on, 72 hours off. They come back for 48 hours on and then have 72 hours off.”