MILWAUKEE — In what Milwaukee Fire Chief (MFD) Aaron Lipski told Wisconsin’s Afternoon News was simultaneously one of the closest calls and proudest moments of his time in this role, MFD rapid response teams helped save a Milwaukee firefighter who suffered severe burns while saving someone from an attic fire.
Chief Lipski told John Mercure and Julia Fello he visited the injured firefighter on April 22 as the victim continues a stretch of many consecutive surgeries to address burns across his body.
“The severity of the burns — it’s very serious, and he’s undergoing a series of surgeries,” Chief Lipski told WTMJ. ” This is going to be a long haul for him to recover. He is an extremely [serious, passionate firefighter]. He needs to come back.”
Milwaukee’s Fire Chief also told WTMJ it would be a “long haul for him to recover,” but that he’s in a good position to focus on his recovery.
“This may seem a weird thing to celebrate, but it is, at a minimum — he is alive. He is alive. He is in pain, he’s going through a lot, but he’s alive. He’s here. And he will recover,” Chief Lipski said.
He explained that in this instance, heated gasses which are not always visibly present as an open flame pre-heated the space in a way he compared to an oven. As the heat increased past a certain point, an ignition was triggered and vastly increased the danger present for firefighters and victims alike.
“It was an extremely tense, scary moment for everybody. Our firefighters — so many things went exactly right and they did so many things exactly right that morning,” he told WTMJ.
The victim’s father was described by the Milwaukee Fire Chief as a renowned retired fire lieutenant whose role in training and educating firefighters has made a vast impact on the region. Ultimately, he pushed for the Milwaukee Fire Department to advance its rapid intervention training that eventually helped save his son.
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