This from the South Milwaukee Fire Department …
On Friday night at 23:26 (11:26 PM) the South Milwaukee Fire Department received a call for a fire at Willowcrest Nursing Home. On arrival we encountered an active fire in the laundry room. Firefighters from South Milwaukee advanced hose into the fire room and were able to extinguish the fire quickly. We utilized our mutual aid agreement (working still) with Oak Creek, Cudahy, Saint Francis and the 128th Air National Guard who assisted in moving nursing home patients to protected areas of the nursing home away from the fire. With the frigid weather, evacuation of patients (all of which have mobility issues) was not an option. Nursing home staff and the South Milwaukee Police were also active participants in the patient movement.
The fact that the facility is protected by a well maintained sprinkler system (which activated) is a major contributor to the success of this event. There was an active fire in the laundry room!!! The sprinkler system kept the fire isolated allowing us the window we needed to advance hose and extinguish the fire (which is labor intensive). Without the sprinkler system, combined with the aggressive action by our firefighters this fire would have been catastrophic.
The cause is still under investigation and the Fire Chief can update anyone interested when he returns.
At this time there are no injuries to firefighters or civilians to report.
Thanks again to our firefighters for putting their lives on the line every day to keep us safe … and thank God no one was hurt.
South Milwaukee Blog 