A Milwaukee (WI) firefighter was shot while he and other responders were responding to an EMS call, according to media reports.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the unidentified firefighter, 46, suffered a graze wound to the right side of his head and has since been treated and released from the hospital. The report said firefighters were in the process of transferring a patient who was having trouble breathing over to a private ambulance service when shots were fired.
Milwaukee Firefighters Local 215 released the statement below:
“Last evening, members of the Milwaukee Fire Department and a private ambulance provider came under fire at approximately 0130 hours. The private ambulance was struck twice and a fire fighter was injured as a result of this incident.
I am here today, not to blame anyone, because that does not solve the issue/issues at hand. Our city is in crisis. When the Fire Department responds to any incident, it is to mitigate any emergency at hand or to render medical assistance to all who need it. We are not trained to respond to “shots fired” or “fight in progress.” That is not our scope. We are ALWAYS on the front line ready and willing for all citizens. I am here today to simply ask that our Mayor and Common Council understand the severity of the situation at hand. Over the course of the last decade, the Milwaukee Fire Department has been systematically dismantled. We have lost critically needed staffing and front line apparatus necessary to meet the needs of our constituents. We daily provide these services professionally, seamlessly and with extreme timeliness. During a budget cycle some 4 years ago, the late Alderman Dudzik, prior to casting his vote for the continuous cuts to the Milwaukee Fire Department, he predicated his vote by stating, “I don’t want to cut the Fire Department just to cut and then come back years later realizing that we had cut too far”. His words were prophetic. The cuts HAVE gone too far. We are currently running with two brownouts as we speak. The City administration took 4 engines off the front line in the 2013 budget cycle.
Today, as I stand before you, this is not just a city issue. The metropolitan community of Milwaukee is also feeling these adverse effects. Due to the diligence of our organization, the leadership of the MFD Administration and our brothers and sisters of the communities that surround Milwaukee, we have joined efforts to provide services to all of our communities commonly referred to as “shared services.” This has been extremely beneficial and quite frankly, unprecedented. The issue at hand is, due to the budget cuts to the Milwaukee Fire Department, the shared services agenda has been extremely difficult for our partners in the metropolitan community. Their run volumes have been exponentially increased sometimes as high as 20% as a result of the numerous holes in the city of Milwaukee Fire Department. We are using suburban tax dollars to meet the obligations of our very own Fire Department.
I am here to plead with the Common Council and our Mayor to reconvene and take up funding the Milwaukee Fire Department fully. We do not have time to sit and wait. Our call volume is through the roof, our metropolitan partners are exiting their communities to render assistance to Milwaukee because of the gaps created by the budget cuts. This incident is a wake up call. This is NOT a scare tactic. This actually happened. I urge my elected officials to restore these brownouts and the decommissions from 2 years ago. Our constituents, our community and our protective service providers are directly in the line of fire.”
RELATED
