pfSense

Hello folks, first try posting a bug report here, didn't find it on a search so giving it a whirl. On Jul-15-2018 2.4.4 Development Release, no firewall rules are being shown on the web interface when I access it - PHP errors are logged when accessing these pages:

amd64
11.2-RELEASE
FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE #10 af4526707ed(RELENG_2_4_4): Sun Jul 15 03:36:48 EDT 2018     
root@buildbot3:/builder/crossbuild-ce-master/obj/amd64/FWJoMRHc/builder/crossbuild-ce-master/pfSense/tmp/FreeBSD-src/sys/pfSense
[15-Jul-2018 10:34:35 America/St_Johns] PHP Warning:  Illegal string offset 'schedule' in /usr/local/www/firewall_rules.php on line 495
[15-Jul-2018 10:34:35 America/St_Johns] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Cannot create references to/from string offsets in /usr/local/www/firewall_rules.php:495
Stack trace:
#0 {main}
  thrown in /usr/local/www/firewall_rules.php on line 495
[15-Jul-2018 10:34:55 America/St_Johns] PHP Warning:  Illegal string offset 'schedule' in /usr/local/www/firewall_schedule.php on line 45
[15-Jul-2018 10:34:55 America/St_Johns] PHP Warning:  Illegal string offset 'schedule' in /usr/local/www/firewall_schedule.php on line 48
[15-Jul-2018 10:34:55 America/St_Johns] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Cannot create references to/from string offsets in /usr/local/www/firewall_schedule.php:48

The firewall schedule page is inaccessible from the web interface. Clicking here provides just this text:

Warning: Illegal string offset 'schedule' in /usr/local/www/firewall_schedule.php on line 45 
Warning: Illegal string offset 'schedule' in /usr/local/www/firewall_schedule.php on line 48 
Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Cannot create references to/from string offsets in /usr/local/www/firewall_schedule.php:48 
Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown in /usr/local/www/firewall_schedule.php on line 48 
PHP ERROR: Type: 1, File: /usr/local/www/firewall_schedule.php, Line: 48, 
Message: Uncaught Error: Cannot create references to/from string offsets in /usr/local/www/firewall_schedule.php:48 
Stack trace: #0 {main} thrown

Lines 494-496 of /usr/local/wwww/firewall_schedule.php:

//build Schedule popup box
$a_schedules = &$config['schedules']['schedule'];
$schedule_span_begin = "";

Based on other bug reports, I suspect it's related to this blank setting line in my config:

<schedules></schedules>

but I'm not versed in PHP!

Thanks folks