Category Archives: Fire

The FireCareers.com and 9-11 memorial bus has made dozens of stops on its long journey already, and it came to South Milwaukee on Sunday — one of three stops planned for Wisconsin.

Check out the bus below … and see my previous post for more information on this cool effort.

One note on that fire scene on the side of the bus: It’s a couple of shots from the massive apartment building fire a few years ago near 18th and Drexel in South Milwaukee. The photos were taken by 4th District resident Nick Szablewski.

(Also, thanks to Lt. Glenn McCoy for sending the below photo along.)

On a weekend where we celebrate our independence, South Milwaukeeans also have a chance to remember a defining moment in our nation’s history.

The 9-11 Anniversary Manhattan to Manhattan Bus Tour makes a stop at the South Milwaukee Fire Department around noon on Sunday.

The goal? According to the flier I received from local firefighter Brian Bieganski:

To Visit and have fellowship with hundreds of police/fire departments and other organizations—collecting pictures with the bus at hosted stops while raising donations through the sale of 9/11 Patches, Decals, Pins and Flags. Net proceeds will benefit the FDNY Bravest Scholarship Fund, Terry Farrell Fund and the Feal Good Foundation—donated in New York on 9/11/11

The event is open to the public, so join me and stop by … and celebrate our everyday heroes while remembering the fallen.

As I wrote about earlier this week, we had the pleasure of honoring some local heroes at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, a group of police officers, residents and others who risked their lives and safety to keep others safe.

Of course, the South Milwaukee Fire Department has its own share of heroes.

Learn more about some of their great work in the department’s 2010 annual report, which we accepted at Tuesday’s council meeting. Among the highlights summarizing the department’s 117th year of existence:

• The department responded to 2,985 requests for service. Of those calls, 2464 were for emergency medical service, and 521 were for fire/rescue/service. This compares to 3,003 calls for service in 2008 and 2,940 in 2009.
• Dollar loss from fires also spiked to more than $2.9 million thanks to three big blazes: the Appleton Electric foundry fire, the total loss of a multi-family apartment building at 1504 Manitoba Ave. and major damage caused by a fire at 500 Willow Lane.
• The department made one capital equipment purchase in 2010, a 25-foot Steiger Craft rescue boat. The new boat replaces our 1984 Boston Whaler and was purchased primarily with grant funds from the Urban Area Security Initiative Port Security grant program.

According to the report cover note: “We are proud of our member’s efforts and outstanding safety record while performing their duties on these calls and serving with reduced staffing levels since 2007.”

I can’t agree more. Our department does more with less … and we need to make sure we do all we can to preserve this high level of service.