MILWAUKEE – A ten-year-old is dead and an elderly woman in critical condition following a fire on Milwaukee’s far northwest side Sunday.
Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said “hoarding conditions” impacted the department’s ability to conduct their work and rescue efforts.
The fire at 8520 North Servite Drive was one of three blazes the Milwaukee Fire Department fought within an hour and a half of each other. The second was a full house fire near 12th and Lincoln on the city’s south side resulting in no injuries, while the third at a duplex on the Lower East Side sent an adult female to the hospital with minor injuries. That fire took place about four blocks southwest of last Sunday’s fire at the Cambridge Apartments that critically injured a 76-year-old and injured two others.
Lipski stressing the importance to working smoke alarms in the home ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday:
”Please, please, please, check that you have at least one working smoke alarm in your residence” said Lipski. “If you live in an apartment, your landlord is required to provide you with a working smoke alarm. In either case, if you need a smoke alarm, you can always contact the Milwaukee Fire Department Smoke Alarm Hotline at 414-286-8980 – this is a 24-hour, bilingual hotline – please leave all requested information and we will come to your residence and install a smoke alarm and check any existing smoke alarms for functionality. The importance of smoke alarms in preventing the loss of life from fire cannot be overstated.”
