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Milwaukee fire station reopens after shooting incident

The busy fire station reopened after half a dozen shots were fired at the station last week

By FireRescue1 Staff

MILWAUKEE — A fire station that was struck by gunfire reopened Wednesday.

Fire Station 13, one of the busiest in the state, was struck by gunfire Feb. 17; as a result, the station closed and crews were moved to another facility as a precaution. Half a dozen shots were fired into the station’s windows. Firefighters were inside the station at the time, but were unharmed.

Milwaukee Battalion Chief Dan Lipski said the incident was a loss for the community.

“Everybody that’s in this building chooses to be here, wants to be here, wants to serve,” Chief Lipski told TMJ4. “They have a drive to help people.”

Chief Lipski said closing the station likely impacted response times, albeit minimally.

“All of our members did receive peer support and counseling, to ensure that we didn’t have any sort of lingering, traumatic effect from the gunfire in what is effectively not only their place of work, but their residence for 24 hours,” Chief Lipski said.

Chief Lipski said the department is prepared and has a plan in place if a similar incident ever occurs again.

“We are prepared. I think we have a good roadmap for what we need to do to provide two layers of protection, one for our membership and one for the public we serve,” Chief Lipski said.

The shooting remains under investigation.

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