Michael Ellis Dec 13, 2018:

Watches, shifts etc Thanks for interesting explanation, Deane. I agree a difficult translation. This is a recurring problem with KudoZ ; a direct translation does not always fit the specific context.

Deane Goltermann Dec 13, 2018:

@Watches and shift My suggestion is pretty context specific to the situation I read from the few sentences provided. These indicate to me that they relate to 'prolonged incidents' experienced here in Sweden during the extremely dry summer this year. That is, forest fires lasting days or weeks requiring full 24 hours' firefighting every day. Particularly the sentence about 'brandbilar ... låsta på plats' - presumably crewed for continuing operation in this kind of situation, while the people (crews) doing the work are rotated in and out. The folks rotated out don't go off-duty, but rather are sent to a nearby rest area for some R&R before being rotated back to the hotspot. This was constant news here throughout June and July, though, this being Sweden most of these fires were in unpopulated areas - as opposed to the recent weeks long incidents in California. Shift change and watches would apply to more normal situations, where firefighters are at the station ready to respond -- when the current 'shift' goes off-duty altogether. If my guess about the context is wrong...

A quick look at the rules applying to work hours for these extraordinary situations tells me it wouldn't be an easy translation

Michael Ellis Dec 13, 2018:

Watch change To be pedantic, in UK the groups of firefighters concerned are called 'watches'. Several naval terms were adopted by "Fire Brigades' as they developed - maybe it was so much water inland!

Chris Says Bye Dec 13, 2018:

this isn't just a change of shift?