In the early hours of Sunday morning, a fire broke out on the 2400 block of South Eighth Street in Milwaukee, engulfing three homes in flames. The fire resulted in one fatality and left a Milwaukee firefighter with severe burns covering 49 percent of his body.
“I credit the drive, the dedication, the aggression, the smart firefighting in saving a life today. I’m telling you, we were about 30 seconds away from talking about planning a firefighter funeral today,” Fire Chief Aaron Lipski told WPR.
The fire erupted in the midst of a cluster of wooden homes known as Polish flats, where narrow spacing between the structures facilitated the rapid spread of flames.
Firefighters got the call at 4:49 a.m. and the first responding unit arrived in five minutes, only to find the fire already consuming multiple residences. Firefighters faced obstacles inside one home, including cluttered staircases, while attempting to rescue a trapped occupant.
At 5:05 a.m., the fire intensified, engulfing the area where firefighters were attempting to extract a victim from the attic. One firefighter became trapped by a flashover and called a Mayday. He sustained critical injuries but was rescued by colleagues through a top-floor window. Firefighters also reached the trapped individual, who had mobility issues, but she was pronounced deceased shortly thereafter, WPR reports.
The injured firefighter, a three-year veteran of the department and the son of a retired Milwaukee firefighter, faces a lengthy road to recovery.
Lipski said the fire occurred across the street and down the block from Station 31, shuttered by the city in 2018. Instead, firefighters faced a five-minute response time to reach the scene.
The city is planning to reopen some of the stations closed over the last 15 years in Milwaukee, and Lipski took a moment to thank city and county executives who are reopening stations..
“We finally have the belief in place among the policy makers that a proper city has a proper fire department. We’re reopening fire stations for the first time in my career,” Lipski said.
